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

[Brian da Basher]

Do you have access to very thin metal sheeting (the type of stuff used for PE)? That could be used to create some parts lying around (engine cowlings, fuselage plating etc)

Random little bits of unidentifiable plastic parts from the spares box are another possible source for that kind of thing.

In 1/700 you culd proably use tinfoil to make the odd cowling, drum, box, etc.

Brian da Basher

[seadude]

Small update for tonight. BIGGER update for tomorrow.......I hope. Anyway.......I took my wood Habbakuk hull over to a friend's house tonight so that we could work on adding another layer of wood decking. It's hard to explain now, but hopefully, I'll have pics tomorrow night or Sunday to show that will explain everything. All I can say for now is that a very tough part of the building process is done. *breathes a sigh of relief* I have off from work tomorrow, so I'm hoping to catch up on some other items that have to be finished like the aircraft, more weapons, and a few other odds and ends. I'm running behind schedule and I only have till Nov. 13th to get this ship done for a contest.  Priming and painting of the main hull will hopefully take place on Monday.

[proditor]

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you, and wait patiently until tomorrow! 

[seadude]

UPDATE TIME!  

Suffice to say, I haven't been working on my Habbakuk that much, if at all, the past four weeks or so. I was in kinda a rut about trying to get some 1/8" thick plywood to make another layer of decking and figuring out how to make some cutouts in it for the armament. But I finally managed to get some plywood at a hobby store not that long ago, and then last night I was at a friend's house and we worked some more on the hull which I'll describe below.

As I said, I wanted to add another 1/8" layer of "decking" so to speak so that I could make cutouts along the edges for the 5" guns and 40mm guns to sit in. I was trying to give the appearence that the armament was semi-recessed below the flightdeck so the aircraft wouldn't hit the armament if the guns were placed on top of the deck. I was trying to go for the look of the way the HMS Illustrious or other British WWII aircraft carriers had their 4.5" guns slightly below the flightdeck level. I really did not feel like adding any sort of "balconies" hanging over the side for the 5" guns if you know what I mean. The 40mm tubs are slightly overhanging, but that's ok as I wanted them that way. I'll make underneath supporting structure for them soon. The cutouts for the 5"/38 cal. guns were made using a scroll saw. The cutouts for the round 40mm gun positions were made by putting one of those Dremel sanding drum attachments into the chuck of a drill press and then "sanding" out the cutout. Pretty nifty idea from my friend.  You can also see in the pics some long thin 20mm galleries that I'll put along the sides of the hull. They are only sitting on top just for "reference purposes". The whole final amounts of armament for this ship have been reduced significantly. I figure there's no need to have so much armament when you have 100-200 fighters/bombers that can also help defend the ship.  So whatever armament choices I made in earlier posts in this thread have now been reduced.
The extra thin layer of wood decking was then glued/taped in place last night and left to dry/cure overnight and most of today. The two holes in the middle of the decking were where screws were placed to help hold down the decking while the glue was drying. These will be filled and/or covered eventually. Priming, sanding, and painting of the main hull will take place shortly in the next few days.

CLICK THUMBNAIL PICS TO VIEW LARGER IMAGES.

[seadude]

Over on the Modelwarships.com forum where I've also been sharing progress reports of my Habbakuk, someone asked me where I was going to add larger armament. To which I replied with the following:

Main armament? You mean bigger than 5" guns sorta like in this pic here:
http://www.mondolithic.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/hab4.jpg

I'm not going to put anything bigger than 5" on the model. Realistically, I kinda doubt anything bigger would work on a Habbakuk. Anything bigger would be too heavy and require a good amount of internal support structure, etc. But then again, I suppose anything is possible. But I predict only guns of up to 8" but no larger might work. Maybe someone else here can chip in with better specifications and technical info. than I can.

So I'm curious to ask: What are everyone else's thoughts about if a Habbakuk ship could be fitted with larger armament? Is it possible? Should I add something larger or not? If I do, then I might know where I can get some 1/700 scale 8" cruiser turrets, and those would end up going at both ends of the ship.

[ChernayaAkula]

Crikey, that thing is impressive!  I mean, even Vader would be impressed! Awesome work!

Seeing that you use Photobucket, just post the IMG tags, as those will display the pic right away.

[seadude]

Seeing that you use Photobucket, just post the IMG tags, as those will display the pic right away.

Fixed.

[Weaver]

>You should do a 1/700 scale snowspeeder tucked way in the back.<

I like it. There is a mischievous "tradition" in display work to deliberately put something subtle-ly out-of-place, but only for those who take the time to look carefully.

As you may know, I was a Park Ranger in California State Parks, and among our historical treasures are many original buildings of the first "capital" in California---Monterey. I was attending a seminar at the Ranger Academy in "interpreting history" and having a tour of the old town guided by one of the exhibit specialists who created the displays. In the Customs House in "Old Monterey" an exhibit depicting California tradesmen in the early 1800's had a coil of rope (amongst many) ending in an electric plug! I knew the exhibitor, and he said it was done deliberately to "reward" any visitor fascinated enough to look at everything with a little humorous anomaly.

Heh...

All the clubs at school had to do an exhibition on Open Day at the end of the year, so our school wargames club used to do three or four HUGE dioramas: they blew all the other exhibitions away year after year. Sneaking something silly in was regular sport. Ones I can remember are:

1. A WWII Pacific beach landing which "acquired" an M113 painted up in hippy colours and CND logos,

2. A fantasy "Last battle at the end of the world" dio which had the four characters from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy standing watching from a pillar (there were white metal 25mm figures available: I've still got a set). Presumably they'd just stepped out of the Restaurant at the End of the Universe....

So Seadude, the snowspeeder definately gets my vote....

[Captain Canada]

Wow...she's really coming along !

[Stargazer]

>You should do a 1/700 scale snowspeeder tucked way in the back.

I like it. There is a mischievous "tradition" in display work to deliberately put something subtle-ly out-of-place, but only for those who take the time to look carefully.

As you may know, I was a Park Ranger in California State Parks, and among our historical treasures are many original buildings of the first "capital" in California---Monterey. I was attending a seminar at the Ranger Academy in "interpreting history" and having a tour of the old town guided by one of the exhibit specialists who created the displays. In the Customs House in "Old Monterey" an exhibit depicting California tradesmen in the early 1800's had a coil of rope (amongst many) ending in an electric plug! I knew the exhibitor, and he said it was done deliberately to "reward" any visitor fascinated enough to look at everything with a little humorous anomaly.

As you may know already, by zooming in on the large spaceship at the end of Close Encounters of the Third Kind you can actually R2D2 and C3P0, the squadron of Avengers lost over the Bermuda Triangle in the forties, and a few more zany things...

[seadude]

Just got done priming, puttying, and sanding the hull of any defects tonight. I'll take a look at it tomorrow after work and see if I need to go over it again. I kinda doubt it though. Upon preliminary examination after the first priming, etc., the wood hull looks remarkably nice and smooth now. I'll try to have pics on Sat. if possible.

BTW, anybody have any opinions to my earlier Post #64 above?

[Sauragnmon]

I could hardly imagine something that size without something a little bigger than 5" pop guns on it, really.  I just don't see that big of a target without some defensive weapons of its own.  But then, I'm a man with a confessed battleship fetish, so I might be biased.

[Weaver]

I wouldn't go for the bigger guns, personally. 8" guns create blast problems for aircraft on deck and enormous recoil forces which I'd imagine the Pyecrete structure would struggle to deal with. The US 5" guns were far and away the most effective heavy AA guns fielded in WWII, and their high-angle directors, which were streets ahead of anyone else's, were matched to them. As for surface targets, well if something with an airforce the size of the Habbakuk's can't keep cruisers away from it, then what's the point anyway?

[Captain Canada]

How many a/c can it carry ?

[Mossie]

Up to 150, a Nimitz class can carry up to 90 (& is much smaller).  It's possible it could have carried four engine bombers like the B-17, although twins like the B-25 are more likely.