PaintChip's Blog
PaintChip's Blog

Asheville-class Patrol Gunboat Mark II

Welcome Guest ( Log In | Register )

Rating 5
Entries on 21-September 06

entry Sep 21 2006, 08:19 PM
Since my first attempt at using the Dumas USS Crockett kit ended up with a warped hull and I didn't get warm-fuzzies with a manufacturer of fiberglass hulls I'm starting from scratch and attempting a Mark II of a model smile.gif I'm not locking myself into the USS Crockett (PG-88) but instead working towards just building an Asheville-class Patrol Gunboat. Once I get the hull done I'll christen her with one of the names and numbers...most likely I'll go with PG-92, the USS Tacoma.

The scale is going to be 1/32. The original Dumas PG-88 kit is more along the lines of 1/39 scale so this one will be a bit larger with a scale length of 62" vs. the Dumas 54". Not a huge difference but I figure that since I am starting from scratch I could use the larger scale so that she will match up with my 1/32 Lindberg PT boat and also to be able to take advantage of accessories and figures available in the 1/32 and 1/35 scales (many armor models are in 1/32 and many "54mm" figures are actually 1/32 scale).

To begin the Mark II project I took my blueprints and used a photo manipulation program (Ulead's PhotoImpact) to enlarge them from the original scale of 1/96 up to the 1/32 scale. Then I plotted out a few copies of the plans to have as both reference and to use as templates. The frames were a bit more work to do as on the plans the frames were displayed as halves...I had to take the half and copy it, flip it and join them together to get a whole frame. The frames got printed out in 1/32 scale on a laser printer (I used 11"x17" paper to have plenty of room).

An order of balsa and basswood from National Balsa was placed and arrived within a few days.

Using what I learned from the Dumas kit I started with crafting the keel. I had ordered strips of basswood that were 2" wide by 36" long by 1/4" thick. I laid them on a profile set of plans and struck the area on the paper with a pencil. I tried to keep the bottom edge of the basswood on the baseline of the plans. Once the lines were struck I pulled out the X-acto knife and cut the plans out. Photo mount spray adhesive stuck the paper to the basswood. I figured that it would be smart at this point to use a Sharpie to mark off the frame locations on the keel for future reference. A coping saw and some careful sawing and I ended up with a rough keel. Sanding the rough edges over a few hours took care of the roughness.

Once the keel pieces were sanded they got laid out on a flat table with some newspaper under them. A 5-minute epoxy and some small pieces of scrap wood allowed for a neat joining of the pieces. A few large binder clips provided the hold for the cure time. While these parts cured I spent some more quality time with the spray adhesive, the frames, and some sheets of cardboard. I figured that before hacking up a bunch of wood to make frames I could start with some templates to see how they looked on the keel and then move to using the templates to mark the wood.

Next step will be to cut out the frame templates and mock up the hull skeleton to see how things will work. If it looks "right" then we'll be cutting frames out of wood.

Stay tuned for the next installment...same Bat-time...same Bat-channel...

 
« Next Oldest · PaintChip's Blog · Next Newest »
 
SMTWTFS
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31


My Blog Links