Washington class 598 scratch buiding thread

[anonymous]

Stephen,

My dad worked at Mare

Stephen,

My dad worked at Mare back in the early 60's. As I recall he worked on the 598. It was his favorite at the time. Mine too which is one reason that I'm doing the boat.

I'm trying to make it as scale as possible since the other kits out there are so off. Hoping to have kits available later this summer.

Thanks Stephen,

Steve

[anonymous]

Starting on the parting board

Starting on the parting board now. I'll post pictures when I have it all together.

Here's another picture.

Steve

[desert boat]

I'd like to hear/see a

I'd like to hear/see a liitle more about the B-17 also! That 598 boat sure is looking good.

[anonymous]

Well I'd love to show

Well I'd love to show you more of the B-17. But being this is subs only you'll have to go over to E Zone to see more under the scale props section.

It's a EAM B-17. 100% scale 73 inch span all electric (gas sucks!). I'm just doing a beta build and test flying for the company which is something I do often for model airplane companies.

Thanks for your comment on the boat!

Steve

[anonymous]

First here's the method I

First here's the method I used to create the correct outline in on the board before I cut it out using a Jigsaw. A square and a pencil attached to it did the trick.

Here's the parting board assembled. The top is particle board mounted to 1 X 3s.

There are supports under the hull glued to the inside of the 1 x 3s to support the hull exactly at the seam line I made using a surface tool and a sharpie attached to it.

Next step will be to wax the hull and slop some Bondo in the slight clearances between the parting board and the hull. Pull the hull out once set up and then I can sand the Bondo smooth to the board.

Last after the hull is waxed up and placed back in the parting board I can drill a series of 1/16 holes in the hull at the top and place 1/16 wire in the holes that will later be pulled out to create the vent holes as this will be a female mold and the ABS will be sucked down into the mold rather than a male that's pulled over a male form.

This keeps the geometry the same. Especially at .080 thickness ABS.

More to come.

Steve

[anonymous]

Now that the parting board

Now that the parting board is made I waxed the hull with Partall and a bit of Vaseline. Laid the hull in the board and filled the gaps with Bondo. Once this is dry I can sand it flat to the board giving a perfect seam.

You can use clay as well but this will make it completely even with the board. As this will be a female mold the cutting line for the ABS hull will be exactly at the bend. another reason to go with a female mold over a male as the male process will make a bit of a round at the cutting line making it difficult to find the true line.

I learned this from the Dumas Akula. Although they had a line on the inside of the hull much of it was lost to this curve causing me to sand of the seam line a bit more than one should have too.

Steve

[anonymous]

So the board is all

So the board is all sanded flat now and this is the result. This method can be used for any mold, glass, stone or silicon.

Steve

[anonymous]

Well the molds came out

Well the molds came out perfect! Took two people to lift them apart but perfect.

Now to clean up the sides a bit for the vacuum former. Tool the missile deck a bit and it's time to make hulls.

More to come of course.

Steve

[anonymous]

Got the molds to the

Got the molds to the vacuum former. His table is 8 ft. and is used mostly for aircraft parts. So I'm in good shape and can now design that even larger boat.

I should have some hulls next week and will post the results here. Next step is all Merriman's. Once I have the sail and other parts from him I can build the boat.

Another couple of months I can sell the first kits.

Steve

[Stephen Vick]

Hi Steve,

Steve Vick here... I

Hi Steve,

Steve Vick here... I didn't realise you were in the SOCAL area.
Drop me a line Via E-mail (stephen.vick@ccsg7.navy.mil).
I would love to get together and compare notes. It is funny, but I used to live a few blocks from Dave Merriman in Virginia and we talked about Washington class SSBN's back then. It is a small world. get your crew together for a run to San Diego
sometime, I can show Y'all around CVN 76 Ronald Reagan.
Take Care,
Steve

[anonymous]

Steve,

Man you got it. I'll

Steve,

Man you got it. I'll send you that email. Never ever been on a Navy ship before. I would just love that!

Closest I ever got was Mare when my dad worked on subs there in the 60's. Saw lots of Gato class parked in the moth ball fleet they had back then.

Thanks a bunch Steve,

Steve

[anonymous]

Well guys forget about the

Well guys forget about the vacuum forming. Although I got some parts enough to build a one off for myself these could never be made from my molds as kits. The vacuum former butchered my molds. Broke them in tow and then repaired them not even telling me.

They did a bad repair job too and just filled the cracks with bondo and didn't even sand it down right to match the contours of the original tool.

So I'm going to get the molds back from them next week. Repair them properly. Cast some thick epoxy masters of the hull and deck and send them to Merriman who will take over at this point and make silicone molds to produce all epoxy parts. this means the kit will be more expensive but well worth it.

I will post the build of the one off from these bad parts, I'll be making the sail and appendages as single one off parts so I can have a boat in the mean time. Should be fun but in no way will this be a accurate representation of the finished project that will have all the scribing and scale details.

Although this will be still scale in out line it's just something for me to use this wonderful 3.0 D&E miniatures WTC in.

It's not over yet but these guys sure screwed me up good. Never again. If I can't control the parts making form now on it doesn't get done. I worked my butt off on those tools and they treated them like dirt. I am not happy hear.

Steve



Edited By U812 on 1120372398

[anonymous]

Well there's hope for this

Well there's hope for this after all. I flat sanded the halves on a flat board with 80 grit sand paper glued to it with 3M 77.

The fit is very good even without an index. Good sign. Going to glass the sail and add to it. then i'll hog out the foam. Missile deck fits well. It only took a couple of hours to get it this far.

Tomorrow I'll glass the sail and get started on the tail cone and appendages.

So far so good.

If the vacuum former hadn't used so much mercury to pull these breaking the molds this would have worked well as a ABS kit. I'm going to build another larger vacuum form table of my own for future projects so I can control the making of parts better myself.

Steve

[desert boat]

Hang in there Steve ...

Hang in there Steve ... I still believe vacuum forming will be the saving factor of this hobby. With the prices of materials and chemicals going up like they are, fibreglass hulls may be on their way out. With your experience and drive, I'll bet you get your own large table going and have much success in the future. Keep up with the good work!

[anonymous]

Well thanks Ray!

Steve

Well thanks Ray!

Steve