Washington class 598 scratch buiding thread

[anonymous]

Well guys here we go finally. David Merriman was kind enough to help me with this project. He sent me one of his Skipjack hulls and a 3 inch D&E WTC.

What I plan to do here is glue the hull together. Clean it up and cut it mid section and add the scale 100 ft. section for the missiles. Once that's done I will make a two piece over lapping mold out of stone in which the ABS will be pulled into.

Next step once I have the hull is to make the missile deck. This too will be ABS vacuum formed.

Next I'll send David a few hulls and he'll make the appendages and sail using his usual technique of alumalite from RTV molds.

I know. Why ABS? Mew mew. Well guys after making RC jet fuses for my jet kits the epoxy started making me real sick. The doctor said no more.

Now not unless one of you out there want to make me a mold for free and run a bunch of hulls I'll assume there will be no further questions with regards to ABS. It works good and you'll like it. The quality of the pulls will be far better than the Dumas stuff. Not to mention David's fine parts he will make for this kit.

That's right. A kit. I will be selling them and they will work in harmony with David's excellent 3 inch WTC.

I will post step by step my progress here. This way you can see the enormous amount of work and care that goes into a kit like this.

It's 1/96 scale BTW.

In the pictures you see all the equipment to get the boat going. A brand new Hitec Laser radio. 1500 maH pack. Subsafe and a Thor SC-20. D&E miniatures WTC.

The only thing I'm missing is the APC which is on order with Mike and I should get it anytime now since they were on back order.

Hope you enjoy the thread and I hope there is interest in the kit too. Let me know if you are.

Thanks guys!

Steve

[anonymous]

U812,
Bravo for you ! Fiberglass

U812,
Bravo for you ! Fiberglass makes terrific boat hulls, but is way overkill for most applications. I have an Engels Patrick Henry that I converted to a wet hull RECABS boat with great success, but you have brought the whole hull building process into the new century. ABS should provide a much more cost effective way to build the model.
Do you plan on selling just the hull shell alone? I suspect that there are quite a few guys who would like to buy just the hull shell, and put an existing WTC in it. I know I would, if the price is right.
Regardless, congratulations on your new project.

[anonymous]

Chuck,

Thanks for your support. I'm

Chuck,

Thanks for your support. I'm thinking on the price still. Sort of waiting until kit is made to see exactly what's involved before I do that.

I will just sell the hull kit. The appendages and sail will be included of course.

I see you have some pretty nice boats. Oh and Happy almost birthday! I just turned a whole 53 last Saturday.

Again thanks for the support. This will be a nice break from jets and not the last either. Something from WW2 next. My favorite period in time.

Steve

[bigdave]

Way to go my friend,

Way to go my friend, I wish you great success. Is it to late to ask for a 571 in that size? Ha Ha! Dave.

[anonymous]

Thanks Dave! Too late yes.

Thanks Dave! Too late yes.

It will be great to see the whole boat rather than that sorry sail sticking out of the ground. She'll live again!

Steve



Edited By U812 on 1110497664

[turbobearcat]

Thanks Dave! Too late yes.

Thanks Dave! Too late yes.

It will be great to see the whole boat rather than that sorry sail sticking uo out if the ground. She'll live again!

Steve

571= Nautilas? the first Atomic powered sub?

I thought it was docked on the east coast somewhere?


Mark

[anonymous]

Finally some progress today. I

Finally some progress today. I cut the hull of the Skipjack. Made the wire cut templates off the ends of the cut hull sections by tracing around them.

Sandwiched a block of white foam between the two templates and used my wing cutting bow and wire cut the missile section

The white un even stuff you see is model fill to fill some of the flaws in the cut. When dry I'll sand the cylinder smooth and glass the section to the Skipjack hull.

After that I will prime the whole thing so I can see the flaws and then I'll putty and sand again. You guys know the routine.

She came out about 48 inches. My largest boat so far. Nice and big. For me anyway. We'll work up to that 8 footer slowly but surely.

Steve

[steve nuttall]

I just turned a whole

I just turned a whole 53 last Saturday.

Steve

Ho heck

You got me beat by almost 1 1/2 years
I'll be 52 this year

[JWLaRue]

>>> It will be great

>>> It will be great to see the whole boat rather than that sorry sail sticking out of the ground. She'll live again!

He's referring to the sail of the GW. The Nautilus is still in one piece (well, except for certain parts of her reactor) and is moored at the Submarine Force Museum at Groton, CT. She's now a national landmark and is open for tours.

-Jeff

[anonymous]

Steve,

So your an old guy

Steve,

So your an old guy huh? LOL!

Jeff,

Yep that's right. the Nautilus would be a nice one to do. I know it has been done but I don't think there are any on the market?

Type 17 is my next project.

Steve

[steve nuttall]

Steve,

So your an old guy

Steve,

So your an old guy huh? LOL!

Yeap; but with a 9 year old to keep me young

heheehhe tough to keep up with her

[anonymous]

Hey,

I have a hard enough

Hey,

I have a hard enough keeping up with my dog when I walk her! LOL!

That's great Steve. As you know your never too old. Not to mention how modeling and toys always keeps you young!

Steve



Edited By U812 on 1110930634

[anonymous]

http://www.subcommittee.com/forum/glassed plug2.jpg

Well progress is slow.



Well progress is slow. I had to remove the section and put a 1 inch dowel through the whole plug locking it in to the nose, foam section and tail with epoxy. This makes it very strong to pound on.

Then today I sanded and glassed the missile section with West Systems epoxy taking a risk as the stuff makes me feel sick. this caused me to have to stop production on my RC jet gets last year. But I used a good mask, gloves and it was a small amount I worked with out doors. So far so good.

Here's a pic of the glassed section. I'll have to put on another coat. I only used 2 oz. cloth as I didn't want a lot of build up keeping things level to the rest of the hull.

Steve

[anonymous]

Thanks to Jim Christley and

Thanks to Jim Christley and david Merriman I got a good drawing finally. the picture I took doesn't do it justice. It was too large to fit my scanner.

This gives us the missile deck location and details as well as the sail and appendages. It's smooth sailing from here and we could have done it without Jim Christley and his infinite resources.

So we have a winner of that free 598 kit!

Steve





Edited By U812 on 1111027233

[anonymous]

Well I'm back to the

Well I'm back to the Washington after I finished this CGI work up for a client.

Sanded down the glass and filled it with bondo spot putty. Tomorrow I'll sand that down and make a beauty pass and it's ready for primer.

Shortly after that the molds we'll be made. Find a vacuum former with a big bed to pull this 48 inch hull. I have a couple of local leads but if anyone in my area who is reading this knows or has such a vacuum form machine big enough please let me know.

Steve