jbshan
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Everything posted by jbshan
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I have found if you understand a level or two deeper than you intend to wind up, the final product will look more as if it could function than if you take some short cut. To go back to the kitchen, you don't need to grow your own grain and mill it, but it might help to understand the different wheats available so you choose cake flour for your sponge cake and hard winter wheat for your loaf of bread.
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For warships oak originally for strength and durability. The grain of oak unfortunately doesn't scale down and maple (hard, rock or sugar, all the same tree) would indeed be a good choice for a quality model. The decks of warships were washed and scraped/sanded every day so the color would be almost white. -
However you choose to shape the heel of the mast, make a stub to match the slot so you know months from now what sort of cavity you have left yourself under your beautiful deck so you can make the real mast to fit.
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Here are four modern versions from the internet. You can see there is a lot of variation, and that the quality of the light makes a huge difference.
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Cathead, I like your cooking analogy. Sometimes the answer to a simple seeming question isn't possible to put into a few lines on a forum or email. Sometimes the answer is 'get this book' and learn a lot about this or that, then come back with your question, which you may now be able to answer for yourself. As a 'boiling water beginner' I did Niagara as a first model for the reasons Mike states, and got flummoxed here and there, but was able to work most of them out with the help of (another) Q&A forum, at the same time building up my library. I used some 'bondo' under the paint to fix the worst boo-boos. You can see my second hull, Lexington, which is done bright, by clicking on my avatar. I soon went off the leash with that one.
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Jazzchip, the first thing is to simply ask, whether the question seems idiotic to the asker, or embarassing, or revealing of the ignorance thereof, whether there is a 'mentorship program' or not. If beginner questions wind up being done privately, other beginners who don't know perhaps even what questions to ask, which ones are important, will have to ask them all over again each time. Just ask; there's no stupid question. I have seen examples where the builder has gone their own way and 'painted themselves into a corner' and now it's harder for them to get out, and harder to help them because the proper answer must begin 'tear out the last six months work'. That could be really discouraging. I would advise getting the books that show you what was really done in the day, at least in combination with those that merely show you short cuts. Sometimes you have to go with the kit, even though it's designed poorly, because they have made things align with some proprietary (bad word, but best I can do) technique and you'd have to basically scratch build the thing otherwise. Find out what's real practice and then the quality of the instructions or plans won't matter as much, in fact you'll find yourself going 'off the leash' to the point that you use the kit mostly for materials. Soap box returned for the next rant.
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I think the inclusions in sheet mica give it a lot more character than glass or other modern clear sheet materials. You can cover an entire window with the mica and it looks more like individual panes than if you try the same thing with a totally flat material, which looks more like a storm window with the mullions merely for looks. Didn't say that well, sorry. It's also very easy to work with, as druxey says.
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And the spiffy paint job does so much for their appearance. I would think the vast number of portholes would greatly diminish their pretenses at armour protection.
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Tool for Sanding Inside of Curved Pieces
jbshan replied to ChrisLBren's topic in Modeling tools and Workshop Equipment
Almost any power tool would be overkill. Look for round files, some come bent to a curve, wrap sandpaper around a dowel or piece of broomstick if you can 'run off' the end of the piece. I have a tool (wand) that uses a small belt and has a rotating curved head you can position and then lock to match the curve of the hull. The belt can be run through until you've used all of it. I did a quick search and this may be discontinued. -
I would add to the list 'Planking the Built-up Ship Model' by Jim Roberts. Model Expo lists it for $12.99. Planking is the most common denominator among models and this little book will go a long way to introducing the new modeler to the process.
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If pressed, I would think your boat would more resemble the one in the second plan sheet.
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By 'CS' do you mean 'Cutty Sark'? Red ensign would be the appropriate flag. The Union flag was reserved to the Navy.
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I don't know if this will work with your procedure or not. Once you have the tape on, put a layer of the first color on the edge of the tape. This will seal the tape edge. When you put the second color on and strip the tape the new color will show only inside the tape.
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Build Deck Separately
jbshan replied to mikiek's topic in Building, Framing, Planking and plating a ships hull and deck
Niagara is pretty open as far as tumblehome is concerned. I worry about the compound curves (sheer and camber) and whether your sheet stock, reinforced by the planking stock, will be able to take that shape. I did mine as indicated in the instruction book, adding blocking around the edges of the hatches, etc. to provide a landing area for the plank edges and ends. Doing that lets you set the structures down into the plank instead of sitting atop it All the other concerns folks have mentioned are indeed legitimate. Where did this practicum come from? It is an interesting approach that seems to my mind a further complication that perhaps introduces problems in trying to eliminate problems that are not particularly there to begin with. -
Drawing deeply on flawed memory, they had to hang out at Tahiti so long that trouble brewed up because the plants were not in the proper season. Once in the sugar islands, the slaves indeed wouldn't eat it.
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Tea and coffee are acidic. Thinned acrylic paint might be better, or regular fabric dye.
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If the 'bales' are supposed to be goods of some sort, I believe they would be normally packed in barrels. They were used to handling barrels and the stowage was kind of set up for barrels.
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Grand banks fishermen had some sort of mast head tackle for working the dories which I have not been able to figure out. They tended to have two or more masts, but no yards, so perhaps this is a direction to pursue.
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Here's a pic of the pencil technique. This is 1/2" or 1:24 scale.
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Second Planking
jbshan replied to Chuckaug's topic in Building, Framing, Planking and plating a ships hull and deck
Hold the strip in one hand and do a little at a time, moving your hand along to keep the strip from twisting. Sand a little, hold it up to the hull, sand a little, hold it up, sand, hold, sand, hold, etc. until it lines up. -
Far less likely to split the wood as well, which can happen both by the insertion process and if you get the nail a little off line and it twists in the wood.
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Perhaps the rigging counts as two spools of thread? I've seen the 1:100 Victory. It's not too bad as far as detailing. About on a par with the Revell Constitution.
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Spray Can Technique
jbshan replied to mikiek's topic in Painting, finishing and weathering products and techniques
10 - 12 inches is correct, the paint wants to be almost dry when it hits, but start the stream off the object on one side, move across the object and stop the stream once you are off the other side. Make your passes close enough so the paint gets full coverage from pass to pass. In the amount of paint per pass, you have a sine wave, thin at the edges and thicker in the middle. The next pass must be offset enough so its thin matches up to the thick of the previous and you get 100% overall. My old professor called this the peanut butter effect.
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Here is Michaelangelo's version. He's more interested in the damned souls and devils than the boat, but Charon has a paddle and you can see a thole pin in the gunwale on the port side. I suspect since this is a supernatural character, the propulsion wouldn't follow normal laws of physics. Perhaps he just has to dip the paddle in and the boat goes. Google Charon and there are lots of different versions.
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Draft marks for Dartmouth, 1655, wrecked in 1690, were cut of sheet lead, nailed if I recall correctly to stem and stern. They were Roman numerals, the line about 1 inch wide. Height 6 to 6.5 inches. There was a line across top and bottom, probably to hold things together. Actually I should use present tense since some have been collected. This is a similar shape, what the metals might be I don't know. Photo is from Parks Canada, HMS Investigator, sent out to try to rescue the Franklin expedition, so first half of 19th century.
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