HMS Puncher by NavyShooter - 3D Print - 1/144

[NavyShooter]

Ken....your magic math has impressed me....I'll upload a video of her sailing in a bit once get it put together.

 

The ESC is a hobbywing 1080 and the motor is a 400 size I think. 

 

I realized that it's very easy to overpower models, so I've limited the throttle to 60% - if I remove the limit, she'll go a bunch faster, but yes, the water over the bow would be a big concern.

 

I'll probably drop some of the ballast to get the bow up a bit.  

[NavyShooter]

Ok....here's the video:

 

 

[ddp]

the model is riding to low which means the model is to heavy. even the red part of the hull is to high as the waterline should be just above the prop not as high as yours, even the plan's author's model is riding higher then yours. the plans i linked before shows all that info.

[NavyShooter]

11 hours ago, ddp said:

the model is riding to low which means the model is to heavy. even the red part of the hull is to high as the waterline should be just above the prop not as high as yours, even the plan's author's model is riding higher then yours. the plans i linked before shows all that info.

 

David,

 

Agreed, the model is too low in the water - that's an easy ballast fix which I'll work on the next time I get her to the pond.  Also, while you may have sent me plans, I was mostly focused on having this model be a bit better than the Glynn Guest USS Bodega Bay model - which is at best a stand-off scale ship.  

 

An observation - you have a tendency to almost always point out the flaws....I don't think you've ever posted a positive "hey, that looks good" type post.  Are you naturally a negative personality, or is this your internet persona?

 

My HMCS Bonaventure model is, truly, huge, and is going to be a challenge to get to/from the pond let alone launching her.  My desire was to have a more portable RCN-ish Aircraft Carrier model that's more detailed than the Glynn Guest model. 

 

In that I have succeeded.

 

I'm at the point of doing minor ballast adjustments, adding the detail bits, and finishing the Air Det up.  (Got 3 of the Martlets decalled up last night and a start on the rest.)

 

This was never going to be a 100% museum quality build.  

 

That said.

 

One of the people who's downloaded the free file set that I released is building his up as a display model for the museum he volunteers at, so....I guess it can be whatever you make it into?

 

NS

 

[Javelin]

Hi Brad, 

 

how much does she weigh at the moment? 

 

And I noticed decals on your air det, aren't you scared they'll come off in her wet environment? Or do you varnish the whole plane when they're finished? 

 

Overpowering a model is easy, but it's also necessary. Wind nor water scale down and nobody's going to make any mooring manoeuvers in an 11Bft gale... 

 

That said, seems like a fun boat to run. Not too large nor heavy. 

[NavyShooter]

On 8/12/2025 at 4:54 PM, Javelin said:

Hi Brad, 

 

how much does she weigh at the moment? 

 

And I noticed decals on your air det, aren't you scared they'll come off in her wet environment? Or do you varnish the whole plane when they're finished? 

 

Overpowering a model is easy, but it's also necessary. Wind nor water scale down and nobody's going to make any mooring manoeuvers in an 11Bft gale... 

 

That said, seems like a fun boat to run. Not too large nor heavy. 

 

Overall weight is probably 10 pounds or so?  

As for the air det, those are mostly for display.  The decals are on and will end up with a couple layers of overall clear coat spray applied to seal them in.  The only ways that the aircraft would be certain to stay on the flight deck 'at sea' on the model would be to glue them in place, or to inset magnets into the landing gear and underneath the flight deck to hold them.  

 

Intent is not to sail with the 'actual' air det - I'm going to end up making some 'sailing' airplanes that I don't bother to decal up - they'll look good from afar though.  When the ship is on display at a show or whatever I'll swap on the 'good' airplanes.

 

The rudder being considerably overscale makes her perform quite well in turns, but, if I do a 'hard over' she'll really slow down as it ends up acting as a brake as well.

 

 

[NavyShooter]

Ballast adjusted a bit today so the bow will ride a bit higher in the pond when I have her out on Sunday.

 

The Martlets are done and now have 2 coats of clear gloss sealing them.

 

The new wings for the Barracudas are half-painted - almost ready for decals. 

 

Details have started to get added to the ship now as well - the 5" guns have been installed along with some life-rafts and the ship's boats.

 

More details to go, but she's nearly done.   My son has a football game tomorrow that I'm off to watch then tomorrow evening I'll be puttering about with this to get her ready for a fun float with the Guild on Sunday morning. 

[NavyShooter]

I decided to glue in some basic rigging tonight, then, because I had printed and painted them, I did the guard-rails.  

 

My 'To do" list is getting short:

 

20mm guns paint/install
40mm guns paint/install
Barracuda decals
Barracuda wings glued on
Barracuda Clear coat seal
Hull markings (D79 + waterline mark + depth lines)
Flags? Might want to add some signal flags too.

And possibly LED lights - maybe - if I really want to do that work for a model that I'm never going to sail at night.

I had to replace the rubber sleeve ball joint I was using with a proper dog-bone.

Pretty much finished.

Edited August 22 by NavyShooter

[NavyShooter]

I decided to do the boot topping tonight. 

 

This did not go well. 

[NavyShooter]

I also realized that I needed to add lines (white/gray) along the centerline and deck edges on the flight deck.

 

This DID go well. 

[Canute]

Ouch for the boot topping; nice for the deck striping.

[NavyShooter]

I touched up the bleeding last night, and decided to hand-paint the other side of the hull.  Looks OK.  I guess.  

I'm going to get some matt clear coat tonight and spray the hull with that to seal it in and maybe the matt will blend the hand-painted touch-ups a bit. 

[NavyShooter]

OK, boot topping is fixed enough....and the Barracudas are done.

 

All that's left on my 'to do' list is to secure the flight deck better to the hull, make some search lights, and add some flags.