1/700th scale HMS Habakkuk WIP (aka Project Habakkuk)

[sequoiaranger]

>...the aircraft I had on deck were hard to see against the color of the decking itself. <

Hey!! The camo is working!

Just for "display purposes", you might want to paint a few aircraft some different, more contrasting schemes. I would think the Habakkuk would "attract" aircraft from land stations, or use the carrier for "shuttle-bombing" U-boats, or whatever, so you might have several camo schemes aboard, even "land camouflage" schemes. Variety is the spice of life!

[Roger the Cabin Boy]

But wherever do you get 1/700 Lancasters, Lincolns, Liberators and Fortesses?  Maybe even Shackletons and Neptunes - or would it have melted and raised global sea levels 15cms by the late 50s? 

[Stargazer]

But wherever do you get 1/700 Lancasters, Lincolns, Liberators and Fortesses?  Maybe even Shackletons and Neptunes - or would it have melted and raised global sea levels 15cms by the late 50s? 

Perhaps not, but I would imagine that a whole squadron of AV-8B Harriers taking off certainly would wear it off quite a bit! 

[seadude]

Getting back to the engine nacelles...........Yeah, I know, I should probably shut up about those, but........

For the 26 engine nacelles I have to build, The propellers, propeller struts, and the propeller shafts are all glued together. None of the "propeller sections" are glued to the engine nacelles yet.
What I did tonight was take a few "test nacelles" and try to determine where and how to drill a hole in the nacelles so that the propeller shaft could fit in. It wasn't easy. Only way I could keep my pin vise level and at the right height, etc. was by laying it on a piece of H column styrene and turning the pin vise with my fingers to get a tiny hole drilled in the nacelle. I'm not sure how else to explain things. You just had to be there to understand, know what I mean? Once I feel comfortable doing a few more test pieces, then I'll move on to doing the rest of the  nacelles. It'll probably be a slow process to get all these done. So don't expect to see them attached to the ship hull till end of December sometime.

[Mossie]

They look good, you've got a method there that seems to work.  It's something I always have a problem with when drilling or cutting things, I struggle to accurately line things up.

[Taiidantomcat]

They look good, you've got a method there that seems to work.  It's something I always have a problem with when drilling or cutting things, I struggle to accurately line things up.

Same here. Nice work Seadude, that's really clever   

[sequoiaranger]

To try to get a drill to line up properly and not "scamper" around on a curved surface, I usually use a small burring tool to make a spherical indentation and a shallow trough, or even a hole, where the drill is to go in (done that alot for nose-mounted machine guns on aircraft that shoot out from inside the curved nacelle). That makes a "90-degree" (or close) "wall" surface to put the drill up against.

[seadude]

Just a small update to let everyone know that I haven't forgotten this thread nor forgotten to finish my Habakkuk. I've just been busy with the holidays last year, plus other real life issues right now. Hopefully, a bigger update will come soon in February.

[Stargazer]

Thanks for the update, seadude. Take your time, what matters is to be inspired! If your mind is busy elsewhere, you won't be doing good work anyway, so wait until you feel like it, and it will come out just great!

[seadude]

UPDATE!  

Been doing a lot of thinking the last few weeks about how the hell I'm going to attach the engine pods to the Habakkuk and have them all lined up perfectly and spaced evenly. It wasn't easy, let me tell ya.   For starters, this was the only decent reference I had to go by. The middle diagram from an article about the Habakkuk by William J. Wallace long ago.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v216/icyhusky/HMS%20Habakkuk%20model%20project/scan0001.jpg

The top row of pods is 50 feet below the waterline. The next row of pods is 30 feet below the first row. Each pod is spaced 200 feet from the next one in each row. However, be careful when you look at the diagram as the seperating lines run through the middle of the pods going horizontally.
In 1/700 scale, I had a friend do some rough calculations: About 7/8" below the waterline for the first row. 1/2" below the first row for the second row of pods. Each pod in the same row is spaced 3 1/2" apart. The pods spaced apart regardless of top or bottom row are 1 1/4". I went to a hobby store and bought 1/4", 1/2", and 1" thin strips of balsawood to make scratchbuilt rulers to determine placement of the pods, as well as bought thin masking tape to try and keep things level and straight. The two pods on the very back end which do not appear level and in a row were simply placed however I could depending on what was shown in the diagram. Only the right side of the hull is done for now. I'll work on the left side later this week, as well as adding all the propeller struts and propellers.

[Mossie]

Nearly there!!!      The pods look great & the addition of the cranes & AA positions are bringing it to life.

[PR19_Kit]

That looks just so right! 

Can you imagine the wash that would produce? The mind BOGGLES! 

[Mossie]

Heh!  My dad owned a small fishing boat when we were kids, we used to go out flatty-bashing on Bridlington Bay in the summer.  The wake from the local pleasure craft would make it bob like a rubber duck in a bath, if that thing went by we'd have no chance!

[seadude]

Can you imagine the wash that would produce? The mind BOGGLES!

I don't think there'd be as much of a wake as you'd imagine. Considering the Habakkuk was a huge behemoth at 2.2 million tonnes, Several references list her top speed as only being no more than 6-7 knots, which is pretty much a slow crawl.

[PR19_Kit]

It's not the speed of the vessel that produces mass of the wake, it's the mass if the displaced water that has to go somewhere.

And 2.2 million tons is a LOT of water!!!!!