The St. Louis Admirals R/C Model Boat Club UU http://stlouisadmirals.comuu BROADSIDE 20 December 2017 Commodore Jane Benefield (636) 447-4016 Secretary Bob Keeler (314) 434-8640 HH Vice-Commodore Kent Morgan (314) 892-8669 Asst. Secretary John Ziemer (636) 566-8810 Asst. Vice-Commodore John Ziemer (636) 566-8810 Editor Jane Benefield (636) 447-4016 Treasurer George Kirby (636) 978-6288 NOW HEAR THIS YOUR COMMODORE FROM THE BRIDGE We had a wonderful gathering on 6 December 2017 at the Olive Garden in Bridgeton. It was great to see everyone. In attendance were Mike Alligood, Betty and Norm Kalaskie, Bob Keeler, Kent Morgan, Don and Doris Taschner, Russ and Claire Wick, John Ziemer and Michael Benefield and your Commodore. Other members called and informed me they were unable to come because of prior commitments and illness. Hope those who were ill are feeling much better now. Don t forget the January meeting will also be election of officers, so if you would like to put your name into the hat please attend. Tentative 2017/2018 Meetings Wednesday, 3 January 2018 Wednesday, 7 February 2018 Events Presentation Sailing/Sail Boats by Michael Benefield Electric Motors and Servos by Bob Keeler NOTES Attention: Next Gathering: Wednesday, 3 January 2018 Prior to our 5 PM monthly 1 st Wednesday-of-the-month dinner-meeting, sailing is from 2-4 PM at our usual St Ferdinand Pond, Florissant, MO weather permitting. Dinner set for 5:00 PM at our Hendel s Restaurant, 599 St Denis, Florissant, MO 63033, followed by our 7:00 PM meeting at our meeting place at the Old St. Ferdinand Shrine, the Old School House, 1 St. Francois Street, Florissant, MO. 3 rd Sunday every month (2-4 pm), March thru November: Sailing at St Ferdinand Pond -- weather permitting. Gratefully, Jane Commodore *************************************************************************************
1. Admiral s Club Newsletter Voluntary Articles (as of 30 October, 2017, updated monthly): Who would like to write an RC/ship/boat-topic article for the Admiral s Club Newsletter? Submitted voluntary articles to be published in an appropriate future month of the Admiral s Club Newsletter. A. Ed Gant: History, reminisces, activities, and a scratch-builder s experiences in observing St Louis (and other) towboat traffic river runs. In turn, converting real-world towboats and barges (from observation and full-scale plans) to smaller (but true-to-scale) scratch-built R/C towboat (and barge) models. B. Greg Rocklage, who is building a replica of the Admiral (see picture in this newsletter) has agreed to write an article on his building of the Admirals later in 2018. 2. Presentations during meetings: A. Volunteers: Who would like to give an R/C/ship/boat-topic presentation during an Admirals Club meeting? Any and all volunteers are highly appreciated. We have slots open in the presentation schedule below, or we welcome and new presentation topics or new topic ideas.
B. Past Club meeting presentations with Admirals Club Newsletter writeups: Propellers October 2017 Kent Morgan. X. Presentation Topic Schedule (as of 21 Dec 2017): Any volunteers for open name presentations below? If you have second or third thoughts later, please let Commodore Jane know. a) Sailing/Sail Boats -- January 2018 meeting: Michael Benefield c) Electric Motors and Servos -- February 2018 meeting: Bob Keeler d) Electronic Speed Control (ESC) -- March 2018 meeting: Phil Frisch e) Transmitter/Receiver and R/C System -- April 2018 meeting: Michael Benefield f) Ship/Boat Hulls -- May 2018 meeting: Name? g) Ship/Boat Static Stability and Trim -- June 2018 meeting: Name? h) Ship/Hull Dynamic Stability and Trim -- July 2018 meeting: Name? i) Ship/Boat Weight, Volume, and Shape Factors for Propulsion -- Aug 2018 meeting: Russ Wick Y. Ideas List (as of 22 Oct 2017): Suggested ideas for future Admiral s club-meeting presentations and related published articles (including non-presentation articles) for the Admiral s Club monthly newsletters. Please feel free to suggest to Commodore Jane additional ideas that a club member may want to have added to this list: History of SS Admiral History of Eads built Civil War Gunboats Special Mississippi and Missouri River boats Unusual barge loads and boats (i.e.. aircraft and submarines) Barge Designs Lock and dam operations. ************************************************************************************* From our member Greg Rocklage Hi Jane, Finally had a chance to read the newsletter. Wow! What a great edition! Very informative. Thanks for your efforts. Anyway, here s a picture of how the Admiral is coming along. Greg. *************************************************************************************
USS Constellation CC 2 (a Lexington Class battlecruiser) Designing and Building a 1:96 Scale, RC Model Ship By Russ Wick Part 2: Research and Investigation: Over the past 50 plus years I have read numerous books and periodicals that contained information regarding the Lexington Class ships and other WW 1 and WW 2 vintage ships The Lexington class was originally conceived in the latter stages of WW 1 as a battlecruiser for the US Navy. This was to match then current British, German, and Japanese naval thinking of having a class of high speed, heavily armed, capital ships to provide protection against commerce raiders & cruisers as well as a scouting force for the main battleship fleets. As originally designed, the Lexington s were to have ten 14inch guns in four turrets, mounted two turrets forward and two aft in an arrangement similar to the then recently completed USS Oklahoma and USS Nevada battleships BUT with a maximum speed in excess of 33 Knots. As the designs evolved, the ten 14inch guns were replaced by eight 16inch guns in four 2 gun turrets, two forward, two after similar to the USS Colorado Class Battleships. The major advance was that the guns were 50 caliber (bore x barrel length) which gave them additional range and striking power. The maximum speed was to still be in the range of 33 knots, about 37.5 land miles per hour, for a ship the length, breadth, and displacement of the historic Battleship USS Missouri BB 63. The Lexington Class Battlecruisers were laid down in the early 1920 s and two were approximately 25 % complete when construction was suspended pending the outcome of the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922. As a result of this arms limitation treaty, all six battlecruisers were cancelled. Two of the incomplete hulls, the Lexington and Saratoga, were permitted to be converted to Airplane Carriers, thus beginning the process of the decline of the battleship and its replacement by the aircraft carrier as the main naval weapons system for the remainder of the 20 th century and into the 21 st. I have chosen to model the USS Constellation CC 2 as a Battlecruiser, as an artists interpretation as to what these ships might have looked like for service in WW 2 following the Pearl Harbor attack. This interpretation assumes that these ships would have been at sea during the time of the attack escorting the carrier Enterprise because of their inherent speed advantage over the main battleship fleet then anchored in Pearl Harbor. Thus, these ships would have escaped damage from the Japanese attack on December 7, 1941. Wikipedia provides an excellent summary of the design, construction, and history of the Lexington Class Battlecruisers and subsequent conversion to aircraft carriers. Reference Books and Periodicals: USS Saratoga by David Doyle, Published by Squadron At Sea, softbound: This booklet provides an overview of the Lexington Class Battlecruisers and the history of their initial design and subsequent conversion to the Aircraft Carriers Lexington and Saratoga. This booklet provides an excellent narrative and at least 100 photos and drawings of the Saratoga CV 3. Iowa Class Battleships, by Robert F. Sumrall, illustrations by Tom Walkowiak, published by the Naval Institute Press: This book provides a summary of US Battleship development with emphasis on the evolution of the fast battleship culminating in the Iowa Class. The book provides considerable detail with regard to hull design, superstructure, main, secondary and AA battery armament, gun fire control, radar and electronics. Battleships and Battlecruisers 1905 1970, by Siegfried Breyer, Published by Doubleday: This book is a massive volume, over 450 pages of text and hundreds of line drawing illustrations of all the worlds battleships
and battlecruisers. The line drawings depict the original design and subsequent modifications and reconstructions. It also includes tables of ship history, armament, etc. Battleships, by Dulin & Garzke, published by US Naval Institute: This book provides a brief history of the US Navy s first and second generation battleships BB 1 USS Indiana through BB 48 USS West Virginia, and then provides a detailed history of the BB 55 North Carolina, BB 57 South Dakota, BB 61 Iowa, BB 67 Montana class battleships. The book also describes the CB 1 USS Alaska large cruisers. US Battleships, by Friedman, published by US Naval Institute: This book provides a detailed history of all classes of US Navy battleships including design studies of proposed battleships. It includes over 200 line drawings and photos depicting original design, modifications, and reconstructions. US Cruisers, by Friedman, published by US Naval Institute: This book provides a detailed history of all classes of US Navy Cruisers including design studies of proposed cruisers and battlecruisers. It includes over 200 line drawings and photos depicting original design, modifications, and reconstructions. (This is where I found a reasonable amount of information on the Lexington Class Battlecruiser Design) Warships in Profile Vol 2, by General Editor John Wingate, published by Doubleday: This book includes narratives, photos, and drawings of a variety of warships. In this volume a profile of BB 43 USS Tennessee provide an illustrated history of the ship from initial construction, modifications and complete reconstruction following the attack on Pearl Harbor. It served as a good reference for contemplating the modifications that may have been made to a Lexington Class battlecruiser for WW2 service, especially improve AA gunfire requirements. Introduction to Naval Architecture, by Gillmer & Johnson, published by Naval Institute Press: As stated in the title, this book provides an introduction to Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering. Building Warship Models, by P.C. Coker: This book provides an excellent resource for designing and building model warships. Within its contents, it included several illustrations and photos of the Lexington Class Battlecruiser models. ******************************************************** May all your Christmas Wishes come true!
Bill Kammermeyer, President Howie Smith, Sec y 636 230-3921 314-837-5653 Meeting: 9 November 2017 Gather at 6:30 p.m. Meeting begins at 7:00 p.m. The Workshop of Bill Kammermeyer 1533 Carman Rd Ballwin, MO 63021 636-230-3921 November Meeting Highlights Following up on the results of our initial dry-fit of the paddlewheel in October, Bob and Dr. Mike completed the rigging of the 102 cross-braces between the axle hubs and the inner rings [Photo 1]. We have also added removable sections to the Hurricane deck structure thereby permitting paddlewheel installation/removal without prior removal of the deck [Photo 2] At the November meeting we successfully performed the final paddlewheel dry-fit [Photo 3], which included one of the 17 prototype wooden paddle-boards or buckets. This allowed us to finalize the locations for the paddlewheel support ramps using the prototype axle pillow block bearings that Bob [Photo 4] previously made using his 3-D printer, and thereby accurately set the nominal depth of paddle-board penetration into the river water. Dr. Mike will now proceed with the brass machinings of these pillow blocks and he & Bob will use special U-Bolts to install the remaining 16 buckets which Bill is pre-painting. Since, in use, these buckets were obviously prone to breakage due to floating debris and snags in the shallow rivers, we are considering storage of spare buckets in the lower hull or the deckhouses. Bill outlined his initial plans for finishing the Hurricane deck using pearwood planks which should provide an excellent appearance. These planks were originally attached using large spike nails which will also be represented.[photo 5 & 6] Tim dry-fit his second prototype wood carving for the bow bulwark rail roller guide fitting located adjacent to the stem and was used for the anchor chains and forward mooring lines. [Photo 7] USS St Louis Project Status: This past month we have concentrated on completing the major Hurricane deck elements [Photo 8] and their interfaces to the point that it will maintain its rigidity when totally removed from the lower hull. This will permit us to simultaneously plank the fore, aft & gundeck, finish the fore, aft & side casements, and install the armament, while completing most of the Hurricane deck at a separate location before re-mating it to the lower hull for final assembly. The first stage of this process will be to create a more substantial disconnect able joint between the Hurricane Deck clamp and the upper ends of the fore, aft & side casements. To accomplish this, 6-foot long intercostals have been temporarily clamped to the port and starboard Hurricane deck clamps. These intercostals will be notched to receive the upper ends of the 80 port & starboard side casement frames. The lower ends of these frames will be permanently secured to the chines at the gundeck [Photo 9] To date, the port side gun port sistered frames have been dry-fit to achieve 46 (1.91 @ 1:24) wide gun port openings. The remaining 75 upper casement frameswill be installed on 16 (.75 @ i:24) centers for the full length of the casement. [Photo 10]. Wood blocks will be added to the Hurricane deck clamps and drilled for screws into the port & starboard intercostals. Separating the Hurricane deck from the lower hull will be accomplished by simply removing these screws.[photo 11] For the USS St. Louis 32-pdr smoothbore cannon occupied stations No. 1, 3, & 4 while 8-inch Smoothbores were carried at station No. 2. [Photo 12] Meanwhile Bill has made good progress with his planking of the starboard half of the Hurricane deck, including framing for the smoke-stacks, ventilation grates & funnels [Photo 13]. The ventilation funnels had the ability to both be rotated and elevated to use of the prevailing winds. [Photo 14]. The port side decks will remain largely un-planked to permit improved viewing of the model interior.
Framing of the Captain s Quarters on the gundeck has been completed [Photos 15 & 16] and is ready for planking. It s forward wall which is coincident with the wheelhouse and the starboard inside wheelhouse wall planking are nearly complete [Photo 17] The original egg-crate framing for the small opening on the Hurricane Deck for the forward skylight has been opened into a single rectangle to also serve as a larger cargo hatch [Photo 18]. Note: For those interested in more detail on this project, we have, since 2015, been creating a scratch build log on the NRG Model Ship World Forum web site under the title USS St. Louis Ironclad. This forum can be browsed by anyone and accessed for full participation by simply registering a user name and password on line. We continue making significant progress on the structural wooden hull and other large subassemblies, however we still have plenty of unassigned interesting model subassemblies for anyone interested which include the small forward sky light, anchors, armor plating, Hog Chain system, masting, shovels, cotton bale cart, insulated steam piping. In addition, a considerable amount of research is still necessary to supplement the data we have accumulated to date and complete this high fidelity model. Please contact me if you are interested in this aspect of our ironclad project I hope to see you there, Howie 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 16 18 14 15 17 **************************************************************************************
St. Louis Admirals Christmas gathering at the Olive Garden Left back row Norm and Betty Kalaskie, Michael Benefield, pink hat Doris and Don Taschner, John Ziemer, brown shirt Bob Keeler Bob Keeler, blue shirt - Mike Alligood, Russ and Clare Wick
Presentation of Emeritus Award by Commodore Jane to Norm Kalaskie at the Olive Garden gathering. Presentation of Emeritus Award by Commodore Jane to Ed Gant at his home Both Norm Kalaskie and Ed Gant wanted to let the membership know how much they appreciated their awards as because of health issues they had not been able to attend our meetings for some time. Norm Kalaskie was one of the founders of the St. Louis Admirals Club and was very good in building sailboats. Ed Gant was our towboat and tug builder. All his models are from sheet metal.
Norm Kalaskie getting his model ready for sailing Norm Kalaskie with his Monica
One of Ed Gant s tows Ed Gant s tows - going to a show
PLEASE SUPPORT OUR ADVERTISERS Jane Benefield 25 Treebeard Circle Saint Charles, MO 63303