beautiful Ships!
Being as how the questions have been asked and a thread ongoing, I thought this would be a good time to mention this. Those of you who like the two classes and would like a Bigger version, and your scratch building is fair to good. Here's the suggestion. A LINDBERG-U.S.S.MELVIN ! Yup, the old "Blue Devil". Put a 100% scratch built deck on the hull and start from there.
If you want to Rivet count( C'mon , some do and you know it!!) then cut the ship down the center, Bow to stern and insert 1/8" strip don't forget the Stem and Stern! Then after letting it set and the inner braces(Oh them too) this is a big model.Find the center if the length Between the Bottom edge of the stern and the Bow. This would be your KEEL length!
Marking vertically, Cut the ship in half ABSOLUTELY! as straight as you can. You Must be pretty much on target as this will affect the next step. between the forward section and aft one take the large Evergreen "I" beams Cut four into lengths of 4" each. Placing the hull on a flat surface Glue the first two on each side 1/4" down from the Deck heighth! on the FORWARD section.make sure they are absolutely horizontal and in line with the keel.
The other two will go the same distance as halfway to the keel from the original parts. The Keel is made from a Larger beam that Evergreen makes that has the same flange Width as Web(The Center ) Glue it straight from the stem base "Inside" tapering the flange as needed, inside the hull! accordingly. Now stop at the end of the flat end of the keel as it starts to rise inside the hull!
After this has dried at least a minimum of four days. of the forward section.Now from there measureone full inch from that edge and mark clearly.Glue the After section to the beams. exactly on the mark! This MUST be done exactly to the mark at all beamsand this will result in a straight hull. The best fill or "Shell" plating will be up to you. Some hulls I have done have been on the thin side and some kind of all over the place.
Then Go-Good Luck!