Britain's bergship: A 1/350 scale HMS Habakkuk "ice" aircraft carrier.

NARSES2 · December 12, 2023, 06:09:39 AM

Quote from: PR19_Kit on December 12, 2023, 03:46:16 AMAnd it 'statics' onto you as well, so the only way to get it off is with a POWERFUL Hoover!

Even then you still find bits ages later

seadude · December 12, 2023, 07:09:03 AM

Quote from: NARSES2 on December 12, 2023, 06:09:39 AM
Quote from: PR19_Kit on December 12, 2023, 03:46:16 AMAnd it 'statics' onto you as well, so the only way to get it off is with a POWERFUL Hoover!

Even then you still find bits ages later

So true!

Not sure what's next for the cross section. I do want to detail the interior of it a bit, but not sure when I'll get to it. The outside of the cross section around the outside surface of the hull will be painted and detailed too. One major thing I'd like to add is to show the refrigeration piping that runs through the pykrete hull to help keep the pykrete cold. It's difficult to show and explain now as I haven't got my thoughts collected yet, but I plan to use leftover model kit sprue to simulate the refrigeration piping/ductwork.

seadude · March 04, 2024, 02:34:18 PM

Back again with another small update.

Work is still slow on this project for various reasons. But I'll squeeze in time whenever I can get to it and try to keep people posted.
For right now, I ordered some 1/8" inch diameter square acrylic rod from Amazon. Though it was only 30 pieces and I think I'll probably have to order more next week.
Anyway, remember me telling everybody on past pages in this thread that the large sections/cavities to the left and right sides of the center crew section were NOT aircraft hangars, but were instead areas to be filled with regular ice blocks and/or other composite resin structural materials for hull integrity and/or buoyancy issues?
Well, that's what the square acrylic rods I bought from Amazon are for and explained in the below pictures.

NARSES2 · March 05, 2024, 05:46:24 AM

Good to see the update

Old Wombat · March 05, 2024, 06:03:54 AM

seadude · March 05, 2024, 05:46:23 PM

Small update to show how I'm adding the square cut acrylic "block" pieces.

NARSES2 · March 06, 2024, 06:55:55 AM

I admire your patience sir

seadude · March 06, 2024, 08:11:40 AM

Quote from: NARSES2 on March 06, 2024, 06:55:55 AMI admire your patience sir

Actually, I'm about to "lose" my patience. As I'm starting to cut and add the square "ice blocks", I'm finding out this is going to be a bit harder and take longer than I thought.

I bought 30 pieces of 12" inch square acrylic rod to cut each piece down to 24 1/2" inch lengths. My fingers and hand are starting to get sore just after cutting 1-2 rods. I might only be able to do 1 square rod per day.
And 30 square rods after being cut into smaller pieces will probably only fill maybe 1/4 to 1/3 of one of the cavities. At the rate things are going, I may need to order anywhere from 6-10 more boxes (30 square rods per box) to COMPLETELY finish both cavities on either side of the center crew section.
But I really won't know how much more I'll have to order until I finish the 30 rod pieces I currently have and see how far they'll fill up one of the cavities.

NARSES2 · March 07, 2024, 01:07:58 AM

Quote from: seadude on March 06, 2024, 08:11:40 AMMy fingers and hand are starting to get sore just after cutting 1-2 rods. I might only be able to do 1 square rod per day.

Are you cutting the blocks with a blade, or using a razor saw ?

zenrat · March 07, 2024, 02:38:19 AM

When the cavities are full would it be obvious if the rods were not cut into short lengths but were cut to fit from the front edge to the back wall?

seadude · March 07, 2024, 10:32:03 AM

Quote from: NARSES2 on March 07, 2024, 01:07:58 AM
Quote from: seadude on March 06, 2024, 08:11:40 AMMy fingers and hand are starting to get sore just after cutting 1-2 rods. I might only be able to do 1 square rod per day.

Are you cutting the blocks with a blade, or using a razor saw ?

A razor saw.

Quote from: zenrat on March 07, 2024, 02:38:19 AMWhen the cavities are full would it be obvious if the rods were not cut into short lengths but were cut to fit from the front edge to the back wall?

Not sure I understand what you mean?

seadude · March 09, 2024, 09:49:37 AM

I made a mistake.

The diagram below from "The Canadian Habbakuk Project" book by Lorne W. Gold shows a proposed (But not final) schematic for a Habakkuk type vessel. The areas circled in red or with red arrows, etc. are for a reinforced concrete (Not pykrete) framework to be built on either side of the central crew section. This was presumeably for structural integrity purposes.
Granted, this entire schematic is just a proposal. But if any part of it were to be "final" (And I suspect it could potentially be), I regret I failed to add that reinforced framework to my interior cross section as I was in the process of adding my cut ice blocks. I can't take any of my cut "ice blocks" out as they are already glued in. So I may as well just keep on adding more ice blocks as time goes by and keep filling up/finishing both side cavities.
P.S. - How do I fill the lower left corner (Red arrow) of the cavity in the bottom picture? I wasn't able to fit an ice block there. Anybody got ideas/suggestions on what I could use to fill that gap/hole?

seadude · March 11, 2024, 07:52:03 AM

Well, there's bad news.

In other posts I've made throughout this model thread, I've mentioned how I was planning to have a plastics company near me make the hull of the Habakkuk model for me based on designs I give them which would cut down tremendously the build time for this entire project.
Well, that fell through.

Main reason being cost and inflation. I just can't afford it.
So now I have to start buying/collecting large sheets of styrene plastic and start planning how to build the main hull myself. So this will take a bit longer to build than I thought.
I'll have more thoughts and progress as weeks and months go by.
In other news.............I saw the below pic on the Net and this is probably how I may have the Habakkuk model displayed. The Habakkuk will be sitting atop clear acrylic blocks that will look like giant ice blocks. I've already browsed Amazon and have seen various sized blocks listed there. I think this would be a really neat display option.

NARSES2 · March 11, 2024, 08:05:19 AM

Sorry to hear that your plans to have the hull modelled by an outsize company fell through, but at least you've had some thoughts about a great way to display her when finished.

seadude · March 13, 2024, 03:21:48 PM

Moving right along..............

In Post # 64 on Page 5 of this thread, I mentioned briefly my plans for the motor nacelles for my model as well as what they were supposed to look like for a real Habakkuk vessel.
Below are some pictures showing how they'll be arranged on the full size 1/350 scale model, as well as placing two nacelles (one on each side) of my smaller cross section.