The St. Louis Admirals R/C Model Boat ClubThe St. Louis Admirals R/C Model Boat Club U h...

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The St. Louis Admirals R/C Model Boat Club http://stlouisadmirals.comBROADSIDE 20 December 2017 Commodore Jane Benefield (636) 447-4016 Secretary Bob Keeler (314) 434-8640 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. 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 ************************************************************************************* Tentative 2017/2018 Meetings Events Wednesday, 3 January 2018 Presentation Sailing/Sail Boats by Michael Benefield Wednesday, 7 February 2018 Electric Motors and Servos by Bob Keeler

Transcript of The St. Louis Admirals R/C Model Boat ClubThe St. Louis Admirals R/C Model Boat Club U h...

Page 1: The St. Louis Admirals R/C Model Boat ClubThe St. Louis Admirals R/C Model Boat Club U h ttp://stlouisadmirals.com UU BROADSIDE 20 December 2017 Commodore – Jane Benefield (636)

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.

NOTES

Attention:

Next Gathering: Wednesday, 3 January 2018 Prior to our 5 PM monthly 1st 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.

3rd Sunday every month (2-4 pm), March thru November: Sailing at St Ferdinand Pond -- weather permitting.

Gratefully,

Jane

Commodore

*************************************************************************************

Tentative 2017/2018 Meetings Events

Wednesday, 3 January 2018 Presentation Sailing/Sail Boats

by Michael Benefield

Wednesday, 7 February 2018 Electric Motors and Servos by

Bob Keeler

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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.

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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.

*************************************************************************************

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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 20th

century and into the 21st.

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

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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!

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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.

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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

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6

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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

Page 9: The St. Louis Admirals R/C Model Boat ClubThe St. Louis Admirals R/C Model Boat Club U h ttp://stlouisadmirals.com UU BROADSIDE 20 December 2017 Commodore – Jane Benefield (636)

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.

Page 10: The St. Louis Admirals R/C Model Boat ClubThe St. Louis Admirals R/C Model Boat Club U h ttp://stlouisadmirals.com UU BROADSIDE 20 December 2017 Commodore – Jane Benefield (636)

Norm Kalaskie getting his model ready for sailing

Norm Kalaskie with his “Monica”

Page 11: The St. Louis Admirals R/C Model Boat ClubThe St. Louis Admirals R/C Model Boat Club U h ttp://stlouisadmirals.com UU BROADSIDE 20 December 2017 Commodore – Jane Benefield (636)

One of Ed Gant’s tows

Ed Gant’s tows - going to a show

Page 12: The St. Louis Admirals R/C Model Boat ClubThe St. Louis Admirals R/C Model Boat Club U h ttp://stlouisadmirals.com UU BROADSIDE 20 December 2017 Commodore – Jane Benefield (636)

Jane Benefield

25 Treebeard Circle

Saint Charles, MO 63303

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