Roger Pellett

A number of now old timers, Rob Napier and Eric Ronnberg among them advocated custom mixing of paint from tubes of artist’s colors.  Ronnberg in particular used acrylic artist’s colors to paint his collection of large scale New England fishing Schooner models, now in the Mystic Seaport Collection.  During the 2015 NRG Conference we saw these models in Mystic’s storage area and they looked like they were freshly painted.

I tried this technique to paint my scratch built longboat model.  I mixed colors from acrylic artist’s pigments, added some acrylic matt medium and thinned them with water.  They sprayed beautifully with my Badger 350 airbrush.  When I was satisfied with the results, I overcoated with a light coat of Dulcote.  

I will paint my next model the same way.

Roger

I’d like to weigh in on this topic.   I’ve used a lot of West Sysrem Epoxy with excellent results.  When mixed properly, it cures 100% of the time.

I would like to emphasize Bob and Kurt’s comments above.  It needs to be mixed in the specified proportions.   In the case if the resin/hardener combination that I am using it’s 5 parts of resin to 1 part of hardener.  If in a group project, some eager beaver decides to add more hardener to “speed things up” it won’t cure - personal experience with another participant restoring Sailing Association Lasers.

Use of the calibrated pumps mentioned above is the easiest way to dispense in the correct ratio.  These are sold in pairs specific to the resin hardener combination that you are using.  Just make sure that you dispense a squirt of hardener for each squirt of resin.

West system  also sells a small batch kit that includes a digital scale that allows you to compensate for the weight of the container.  Once that you have done that, you dispense hardener, miltiply the resulting weight by six and add resin until you reach the correct total weight.  There are probably digital scales on the market that would allow you to do the same thing.

West System also sells a range of thickeners to add to the mix as fairing compounds. You will probably want to add one of these.  The unthickened resin will  probably be too thin for your needs.

Roger

People build models for different reasons, and chances are that when you start your project you have an idea of what you want it to look like when it is finished.  

It is is entirely possible to built a model shown under construction that satisfies your reason for building it.  The best example of this that I know of are the models in Harold Hahn’s exquisite shipyard diorama.  There are also models in the NMM collection that are built to demonstrate aspects of shipbuilding technology that show only parts of ships.

In my case, I consider a model to be finished when it goes in its glass case.

Roger

You don’t mention the metal alloy involved but if they are the usual white metal parts offered by kit model suppliers it’s probably a good ides to prime them.

If the white metal contains lead, it can oxidize to a white powder.  Priming supposedly limits this.

Roger

Maury,

Thanks for posting this.  The Naval architecture concept of tonnage developed from the large barrel that you show called a Tun.  In the 1500’s wine was a major commodity imported by England and the king, either Henry VII or VIII, needed a way to levy taxes associated with shipping.  The easiest method was to rate a ship by the number of Tuns that she could stow.  This morphed into a system where Tunnage could be predicted by multiplying length x width x depth under the main deck  and dividing the result by  100.  This concept still survives to this day but the calculations are more complex.

Tonnage is therefore a measure of volume, not weight.

The weight measurement Ton also derives from the carriage of wine as a Tun of wine weighed 2240 lbs, one “long ton.”

Roger

The amount of detail incorporated in such a small scale model is remarkable.  Nice work.

Roger

Joe,

If negotiations fail, declare eminent domain.  Cite Covid19 emergency.  No one is welcoming house guests these days.

Roger

A good marketing ploy would be to send OC a bottle of their paint to try along with their topcoat.  The cost, not price, of a bottle of acrylic model paint must be pennies, or pence.  

Roger

I have read that Dornier produced a Diesel powered bomber that was apparently satisfactory.  Diesels are not usually associated with avaiation.  Is this the plane?

Roger

Hand tools!  You need a plane, a spoke shave and some chisels. A gouge is also very useful for heavy material removal to shape the stern.  You also need sharpening materials.  These can be as simple as 600-1000 grit wet dry sandpaper fixed to a dead flat surface.  A glass sheet will do.  A good craftsman uses a mallet to drive his chisels and gouge, not a hammer.  A homemade mallet works fine.  A coping saw with a package of wood blades will also be required.  With the possible exception of the gouge all of these tools should be available from a hardware store.

Presumably you have a “lines drawing” showing the contours of the hull; like a topographic map except in three views, a top view, called a plan view, a side view called a sheer plan, and an end view, called a body plan.  The body plan can be confusing as one side of the plan is viewed from the bow and one from the stern.

You will use the sheer plan and the body plan to cut templates.  You will need a template for the bow profile and the stern profile.  You will also need a template for each body plan station and you need to mark the corresponding stations on the hull.

A hint-  look on a body plan section within the vessel’s parallel midbody- that long straight hull section.  It should indicate the bilge radius.  If to scale, it is an even fractional radius; 1/4in, 3/8in, etc you’re in luck if you have a friend who owns a router as this is easily cut using the correctly sized router bit.

To shape the stern, I would project vertical lines representing the sternpost on each side of the hull block. These vertical lines are also vertical projections of the point where the two lines that you have drawn on the bottom of the hull come together.  Also draw a horizontal line around the stern at the level where the vertical sternpost intersects with the curved stern.  Now, using the coping saw, carefully cut along these lines.  Your hull will now have a rectangular notch cut out.  Now using carving tools start removing material checking often with your templates.

And remember- Bondo is your friend!

Roger

Yeah, right!  A good excuse.  Today business is all about branding.  It is interesting to learn, at least in the  USA about the many projects made by one manufaturer who then sticks different labels representing different brands.

Roger

Looks first Class!

For a modern steel built vessel, I’d just carve the hull.  I make two half models from laminations shaped from buttock lines.  A ship like this does not have a pronounced keel like a sailing vessel but with this type of construction you can sandwich a brass or if you must, a plastic center plate between the two half hulls.  This helps to preserve the bow and stern profiles.

The benefit of carving two half hulls is that you now have a flat surface, the vessel’s centerline that can be laid on a flat surface to check contours with templates.  I drill holes for locator pins in each half hull block prior to shaping.  Once the half hulls are shaped these automatically ensure accurate alignment.

If you try to build this as a planked POB model there are some areas like the sharp bilge radii, the bow, and the stern where planking will be difficult.  Furthermore, once your planking is done you’re going to have to hide it by filling the seams with some kind of goop, with concerns about them later opening up or by covering the whole thing with fiberglass, a messy job.

Roger

I haven’t checked in your project lately.  It’s really coming along nicely!

Roger

A very serious discrepancy was a lack of armor on horizontal surfaces.  Where the Confederates had located forts on high bluffs, several boats were disabled by plunging fire that hit boiler steam drums.  This was not a problem unique to the gunboats.  Fifty years later ( and still later with HMS Hood in 1941) the Royal Navy was still confronted with inadequately protected horizontal surfaces.

Roger

I do find that on metal figures, adhesion of the acrylic paint to the primed surface is not great and it is necessary to touch up edges where the paint has worn off while being handled during painting.  A coat of Dulcote after painting seems to provide protection.  

I have metal figures that were painted with Floquil paints in the 1980’s and were neither primed or sealed with Dulcote after painting.  They look like they were just painted.

Roger

I don’t know OC.   All of my figures are pewter or lead (the older ones). I have not tried a brush on primer.  The metal is relatively inert vs the primer.  Plastic introduces a new variable.   What happens if you apply the colors without priming.

Roger

OC,

I have been priming my pewter and lead figures with Tamiya fine surface primer.  I have been painting them with Acrylic paints- both “Army Painter Warpaints,” sold by Amazon and Vallejo.  I have detected no difference between the two brands and they seem

to be compatible with each other.

I let the Acrylic dry for at least 24 hours, then spray the complete figure with a light coat of  Testor’s Dulcote (Outdoors as my wife objects to the smell).  I believe that Dulcote is a lacquer.  I have had no problems and it dries with a nice matt finish.

With the acquisition of Testor’s by Rust-Oleum I am concerned that Dulcote will be discontinued.  With that in mind I recently bought a can of Rust-Oleum’s spray matt finish. We’ll see how that works.

Roger

Thanks guys for explaining this.  

Roger

My limited knowledge of the Battle of Waterloo dates back many years when I got excited about painting Airfix 54mm plastic figures so my question may be “off the wall”

Why did Napoleon expend so much effort on attacking La Haye Sainte?  His mission was to rout the Allied Armies.  Had he succeeded in breaking Wellington’s main battle line this outpost would have been untenable.  Was it so heavily manned to constitute a viable threat to the columns attacking Wellington’s main line? 

Roger

Brian,

Doing the research, figuring out the building process, and sticking with the project through completion is a huge part of scratch building.  Without a compelling personal story it is easy to get sidetracked and the uncompleted model gathers dust.  Thanks for sharing your story.

Roger

OK, you’ve got the model kit.  You’re not going to get your money back.  There is nothing that you can do that will cause the supplier to change its behavior.  Build the model!  If the result is disappointing chalk it up to experience and use what you have learned next time to build something from a legitimate supplier.  Keep in mind that the kit represents an imaginary vessel.  

Roger

Many years ago following retirement my father joined an EAA club who were building an airplane.  Although the fuselage was welded tubular steel, the wings were fabric covered wood frame.  My father had experience with this type of construction so he agreed to build the wings.  The FAA specs required the spars to be made from clear straight grained Sitka Spruce.  He located  company that made ladders for Fire Departments.  These ladders that had to be light, strong, and I suppose non-conducting and were, therefore, made from Sitka Spruce.  He bought the spar material from them.  

Just a story.  I’m not suggesting ladder manufacturers As a lumber source!

Roger

For those us that still draw lines drawings by hand, Sita Spruce makes great splines.  I saved all of the offcuts several years ago from a canoe restoration project.

Roger

Two good books