RdK

Hi Tony sorry for not posting in a while. Yes I have a little break as life is catching up. I have to finish my PhD study this year and you can imagine things always get a bit stressed in the end. The Mayflower is almost finished and as soon as I have a bit time spare I will continue the story here. But don’t worry, my Mayflower should be ready for her 400 year voyage anniversary! -Radek

Hi, Regarding the transom: Here are some pictures how I built the stern in my Mayflower, which is of course different than your ship, because it is a galeon. Nevertheless, some of my techniques how to tackle this problem in paper/card modeling. And here’s a link to how Shipyard models are dealing with the problem, as demonstrated by DORIS and her HMS VICTORY: http://www.papirove-modely.cz/velkynahled/52372 Here’s still a link to a great paper modeler community: http://www.papermodelers.com/ Grüssle ausm Allgäu! Radek

Hi, I would say it depends on the transom itself. In my Mayflower I used the transom piece itself and attached/glued it to the main frame like the other frames. It was hold in place with the horizontal frame parts and the hull sides itself. If the part is small like in your model, maybe you can scratch build some additional frame parts in the back, similar to the shipyard paper models? I will post some pictures tomorrow. Your approach regarding the bulwarks sounds quite right to me. Paper and card are always so much softer than wood and plastic, but your model comes along nicely! Looking forward to seeing more! Rgds, Radek

Hi there! Thanks Steven. I am glad you enjoy the build. Backstays or Halliard? ....and the tricky deadeyes While rigging the ship this year I've noticed that the plans either lack the fore top yard halliard or the backstays. If I read the plan correctly, the red line in the next picture is identified as a "padun" or "pardun" (polish), which comes from the Dutch word "pardoen" and translate into english as the backstay. So when mounting the fore top yard, I've noticed that the halliard is missing in the plans. Either or... However, Anderson's book about rigging in the 17th century helps me to sort out the problem. More on this when I have done the top sail halliard. Back when the ship did not have masts yet, I tried to figure out, how to make deadeyes that look realistic (enough). I was not very satisfied with the result from paper/card. They were constantly too soft and too flat and broke apart between my clumsy fingers. I lack the tools to make them from wood, or it would have taken me forever to carve each and everyone by hand. So I decided to make them from the model clay (the one DORIS is using for sculpturing). First I made one template from wood. Then used the clay to form a negative casting mold... ...for both sides of the deadeye. One side had no marks for the holes so they would not misalign while glueing the two parts together. After baking for 30-40 minutes at 130 degree centigrade I cut the excess material off and glued them on a tiny card sheet. After cutting them out, the other half was glued, then I drilled the holes, painted black and a second layer with brown. And here's the result from drilling as seen on the other half that had no holes: So much for now. More on the masts next time. Rgds, Radek

Hi there! It is almost unbelievable that your Sovereign is in a scale 1:96! The details on her are just stunning! 👏👏👏 As regards the wiring for the light in your Katherine: Who is making your schematics? Are you doing it yourself or do you have some help? For my scratch build of "Neptune" from Roman Polanski's movie Pirates I plan to implement light as well. But all my components, i.e. resistors, potentiometers, capacitors, will be outside the ship, so in the ship itself there will be only the diodes in a parallel circuit connection. This will save a lot of space. A student at my workplace was friendly enough to help me with the schematics. I hope to post my progress soon on papermodelers "Spanish Galleon Neptune" 😊 and at some point I will start a progress report on her here, too. Kind regards, Radek

Hi! I think you made one half then the other, Doris, isn’t it so? ButI am also interested in the same questions regarding re-baking the clay. Dziękuje Dziadeczku! -Radek

Rudder, Channels, etc... Hi everyone! Thanks @ Steven and Patrick! It is nice to hear when a card model does not look like card at all. That is, I believe, the goal of any card modeller, regardless of the model, whether it depicts a metal or a wooden one. Thank you for the compliments. I wish I could make better pictures. The rudder was copied from the plans onto 2mm thick card board using either a sharp needle or my compass. I simply put the card underneath the plan and copy the part by piercing the outlines onto the underlying card. After shaping it, white glue was applied to harden and smoothen the card. Then I attached the self adhesive foil with wood pattern, which was later altered with black oil paint. The pintle and gudgeon were made from ~0.3mm wire and 0.3mm paper respectively, painted with a black marker and the rivets imitated with a needle that has no sharp end (was a defect production in the box, turning out useful). Attached to the ship it looks like this: The visible part of the tiller was painted with oil paints burned umber and burned sienna. The channels have been made from 2mm card and pierced with the circle. Then... a) self adhesive foil attached, b) marked from the other side, where the holes are, c) and d) holes pierced from the right side INTO the piece where the marks are to avoid a crater-like appearance on the surface. So that the final result looks like this prior to altering with black paint: Support beams were made from 1mm card with ready attached and altered foil on both sides. Attached to the ship it looks like this: The catheads were made from several pieces of 0.3mm card/paper and the pulley sheave was imitated with a 0.4mm wire painted black with a marker. The self adhesive foil was used all around the cathead. Later I decided to try out modelling a real cat head, but they look more like some dirty little 2-3mm sized bear heads... The chains underneath the chain plates were made from a tiny chain and paper, painted black. Right now I've finished the rigging on the stem, but had some problems with the top sail halliard. More on it in the next post as well as how I made the deadeyes... Kind regards, Radek

Thanks for describing your method. The pictures show clearly how you do this amazing details. "Pictures tell more than thousand words" The idea with the brush is excellent! I will try it out myself (and of course I do not expect to achieve even a fraction as splendid a result as yours!) once I've finished my Mayflower and continue on the Neptune. Thanks again! -Radek

Hi! Looking forward to seeing your first wooden build! I am still stuck with card and paper. Wood is scary... -Radek

Deck Fittings and Details Hi @ all! For quite a time I was thinking about the gratings. Wooden ship modellers have a nice way to cut stripes and glue them perpendicularly together. However, this did not work for me with card although I have seen others doing it. Another way is to just paint the gratings on a sheet of paper. I came up with the 'hard way' to just take the scalpel and cut out the holes individually. It worked more or less... The self adhesive foil has been used for the frames and all was painted with oil paints. The bell has been made from paper. The bell shoulder has been simulated with CA glue and the tongue with a piece of card. All painted gold with a marker and hanged with a thread that has been hardened with CA glue. I removed the cord from the bell's tongue later on as it was too long. The rails have been made from balsa wood painted white. The bell's roof was made from 1mm card and self adhesive foil with wood pattern. Belaying pins have been made from card, a wire and a drop of glue on top. This is a typical way in card modelling to do them. Cleats and knight heads were made from 1mm pizza card and painted with oil paints. I do not have pictures of the process, but later on I used the same method to do the blocks for the halliards. More on that in a later post. Ladders were made from a 0.3mm thin card and the self adhesive foil taped on both sides then altered with black oil paint. The edges were painted with brown oil paints (burnt sienna and burned umber). All black hinges were made from thin card painted black with a marker, bend over a carpet knife to simulate the hinge and using a compass to simulate the nails. And this is the model in it's current state. Rigging is progressing slowly but steady. Since the rudder can be moved, I removed it for the rigging process because of moving the model back and forth all the time and the risk of damaging the fragile paper hinges. More on the rudder, channels, etc. soon.... Rgds, Radek

Hi Ab, Nice to hear from you again. An excellent tutorial! You bring card ship modelling to the next level with it. I can already see a new publication... ;) As regards the hull shaping: If, as you nicely describe, apply the "Iron ball method" on every hull strip, you will significantly minimize the amount of filler and sanding later on. In my model of the Mayflower I just needed to sand the card itself only a bit around where the frames are, without applying any filler. That way you save time, money (on the filler) and ensure the peace in the household in your wife's kingdom. After sanding gently the card it feels a bit "furry" so you can simply apply some white glue and smooth it a bit. This gives also a bit more strength to the card. It is also easier to work with other types of card for this parts, some that do not break that easily. I used some old pizza box card (0.5mm I think) which was slightly similar to the texture you describe here, yet it did not break. However, it was not the typical grey card, it was also some sort of creamy white. Should you ever want to make nice round shapes with card, you can apply this method with thicker card sheets, also the grey card (several mm thick), and a smaller round object as desired. Card is a wonderful material that can be shaped round contrary to what many believe is possible... :) GrandpaPhil, The channels can hold the tension pretty well in card models once glued in place. In my case they broke off mainly before I started the rigging. But that might have something to do with it that I use CA for my models and it was standing in a dry basement for five years before I was able to finally start setting up the rigging. I was thinking maybe to use also wire pins in larger builds in a scale 1:50 or so... Ab, your color scheme is simply stunning. I really enjoy seeing your way of coloring the model. Thanks for mentioning which colors you exactly use for that. With all that little dirt altering in the corners and where the water flows, you really make the model truly alive! Few questions regarding the color of the hull: Would such "work horses" with time become more dark? Or did the bright color of the ocher prevail? How much is known about this from research? Was there any tar or other substance used on the hull that darkened the wood like in the early medieval ages? In contemporary paintings one can see mostly nice and clean vessels but that might be just 'bragging' of the own nations achievements? Rgds, Radek

Cześć Tomek! Nice to see you here, too. Excellent work on the sails! I really like the detailed rigging work you did to the cutter. Beautiful! Rgds, Radek

Keel, Beak and The Stand Hi @ all! Thanks Mark! 😊 The keel has been made from thick card glued together to achieve the thickness of the keel, taped with the foil and altered with black oil paint. In the front part I tried to bend the foil to make it look as if the rounded part of the keel has been made from a rounded grown tree. The beak has been made from card and painted with the brown oil paints and the side panels with the Humbrol enamel paints. For the side panels of the beak I used also the self adhesive foil. The stand base was purchased from a local hobby shop. Ironically it is made of a thick cardboard. The supports were made from balsa wood glued together. I used the self adhesive foil for the base, altered with black oil paint and painted the supports with the brown oil paints (burned sienna, burned umber). I have no picture of it, but I used a 1mm wire that I glued into the keel and drilled holes into the supports in order to have a solid stand of the model. So much for this post. More will follow soon. Rgds, Radek