Zuiderdam in the Mist!

Took these pictures on the voyage this morning. The 26th voyage of the Zuiderdam. I was hoping for fog, but that didn't pan out. I did however, get some awesome pics of the ship in the morning mist!

LIZZIE MEETS THE WATER!

An exciting day for me, the new 8-foot radio-controlled luxury liner R.C.S. QUEEN ELIZABETH met the water for the very first time.

Called 'Hull Trials', the voyage was a test of her watertight integrity and her ability to maintain structural form even after extended time in the water.

The Queen Elizabeth uses 'Nelson Hull' technique to make her seaworthy. That means her bottom is made of foamcore board and her hull is painted with enamel spray, to avoid using fiberglass which is messy, time consuming, and can lead to damage of the superstructure during all that sanding.

Because she spent the first 10 years of her life as a static model on the shelf, the Lizzie is made of cardboard on her sides and decks. The cardboard is covered only in enamel paint as the foamcore bottom does most of the work.

For the voyage today, she was towed by my navy destroyer USS AMOS HATHAWAY. The Queen Elizabeth has no motor or radio yet. This was just a trip around the lake to test her seaworthy-ness, and she PASSED!!

The next step will be to install the running machinery over the next several weeks. The Maiden Voyage is scheduled for sometime in January 2007.

*******************************************************
In other news, the surface sub OBIHIRO and ocean liner OLYMPIC made voyages. It was the last voyage of the Olympic before conversion to TITANIC next month.

The BATTLESHIPS NELSON and GRAFF SPEE sailed together and engaged in "tag combat" for the first time. Tag combat is where ships score points by ramming each other, and no sinking is involved (hopefully!).

Barrett Hochhaus
diamondback78@hotmail.com

CONSTRUCTION BEGINS ON R.C.S. QUEEN ELIZABETH!

After months of on and off consideration, I have begun conversion of my 8-foot static model QUEEN ELIZABETH into a functioning radio-controlled model!

The Queen Elizabeth was built in 1996, 10 years ago when I was still in high school. As a static cardboard model, she was never intended to be radio-controlled.

After the construction of the QUEEN MARY in spring of 2006, I began seriously wondering if I could convert my Queen Elizabeth into a running ship. At the time, it was thought that fiberglassing her, sanding her and painting would all be too much for her and her superstructure detail, and the idea was dropped.

Then, when the BATTLESHIP NELSON debuted with her foamcore hull, I realized that I could retrofit the "Lizzie" with a foamcore bottom, and repaint her hull with enamel spraypaint.

Currently, the Lizzie is scheduled to make her hull trials this Saturday at Dobson Lake in Mesa Arizona. Hull trials mean that the ship is unpowered and towed behind one of my other R/C boats.

I can't wait to see her out there on the water!!!

Barrett Hochhaus
diamondback78@hotmail.com