We had friends from our old neighborhood in Philly area over for a long weekend, so I got back into the shop today. First of all, the framing and column print from last week, while successful print-wise, won’t work model-wise. The I-beam columns I drew and printed, while delicate and scale-like, was too frail to exist in the real world. I changed them to H-beams and doubled their cross-section. That print finished a short while ago and I will clean them up tomorrow. Pictures to come tomorrow.
I spent the rest of the work session cutting out the first skin (ship’s bottom) and showly gluing the lattice to it. While at it, I am also adding the 2nd skin on the outsde exposed spaces. There are slight variations in spacing so each 2nd skin piece had to hand measured, cut and fit for a nice glue joint. I’m using both Tamiya thin cement and good old Testor’s tube cement due to its gap filling abilities.
I’m employing angle blocks of various sizes to weigh down the lattice and to give a nice square corner while glung. I have to be careful to shim the outside since only part of the block is sitting on the bottom skin and it led to a tipped block. The shim kept the blocks level so the 2nd skin is also level. I haven’t glued any of the sides or central lattice yet. I wanted to get the fore and aft bulkheads well attached before gluing the center which will not be seen. I think I’ve found a spot where I could cut open the floor a bit to show the triple bottom which is so characteristic of a warship like this one.
I started the glueup with the rear bulkhead since it is only sitting on a little lip. I wanted it glued tight. I also cut a 3/8" strip to sit on top of the little lip that remains. This extra piece will give the 3D-printed external stiffening frames a bittle bottom on which to sit.
With the back bulkhead in place, I started working on the front. I’m gluing the bulkhead and the 2nd skin pieces together as I move along. I have a few pieces on the extremis left to finish this step. The upper bulkhead and framing will be white, while all the underneath skins and frames will be red-lead or something akin. The little “tables” are 3D-print fixtures to set the height and level of the 2nd skin. By doing it this way, i didn’t need to glue any corner or edge supports to hold the 2nd skins in alignment. Plastic cement does not affect UV resin. These too needed their outer legs to sit on shims to hold them level.
Only 3 more 2nd skins need to be added to the fore bulkhead. I will also add 2nd skin pieces to all the open sides and then just a few in the area that’s going to be cut away for vieweing.
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The re-designed and re-printed minor flooring frames came out well and the enlarged H-Beam columns now have the structural integrity to support the platforms as I needed. I also added sockets printed with the frames to capture the H-Beams. I made the socket openings slightly larger in all directions so the columns just drop in without forcing. I will use CA to hold them, but use epoxy to glue the columns to the floor system.
The Main Gauge Board floor system attaches to the larger and more robust frame holding up the evaporators. I made the mating beams so they could nestle into the larger frame. I was rewarded that it fit as I drew it. This frame has four columns although I probably didn’t need them since the one end is attached to the larger frame.
For the evaporator floor frame and drew some brackets to provide a stronger mount to the Turbo-gen frames and the other free end supported by two H-beam columns.
Looking underneath you can see the brackets, but they’re suffering from a depth-0f-field problem with my iPhone’s camera. I have an iPhone 12 Pro. I’m thinking about upgrading and wonder if the iPhone 16 Pro’s camera has better custom focus control. I take many closeups among the thousands of images I’ve made documenting my model building pursuits.
Meanwhile, I’m putting in more of the 2nd skin floor filler pieces. Only one more side to go. I may have to paint the insides of this before glueing down the hold floor since you can peer through all the holes and see the insides. You won’t be able to see whether there’s a 2nd skin in there, but you might be able to see all that white styrene. That said, the entire framing interior will be in the dark. So maybe, I won’t have to paint it. A couple of the fore & aft frames are sitting a little low. I will shim them before gluing on the floor panels. I want the panels and smooth as possibel since so much has to be fastened to it. Notice the hole cuts in the face of the fore bulkhead to provide passage for the condensate water ram intake. There’s a couple of other holes needed in the hold floor for more intakes and discharge ports. I’m not opening up the bottom as the model sits on it and it’s not visible.
That narrow fire room floor is necessary for two reasons: a base for the wall stiffeners that are on the boiler room side, and for passage of that ram intake. Everything at hold floor level and below is oxide red, bulheads above that are white. It’s really getting excited about thinking about starting construction. Still have two more details I need from Ryan, but I can proceed without them. They are not in the critical path… yet.
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