Jump to content
New Publication - Ship Modeler's Handbook - They're back in stock! Thank you for your patience. ×

Kevin-the-lubber

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    1,184

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Everything posted by Kevin-the-lubber

  1. Kevin-the-lubber
    Process, me, hah! I’m like a toddler at nursery, splash splash splosh, sometimes it comes out nice, sometimes not :-). I think it’s a subliminal rebellion against the rigorous methodology of the day job! Seriously, I’m going to spend some of today doing a whole series of test cards from different primers up, as I’ve had some lovely results that just need tweaking to go with my deck tone. Here’s the general direction I’m going in for teak: yellow ochre base, raw sienna next, then an orangey ink wash, then varnish. I guess it’s no coincidence that the paints are earth colours, a wood look being the goal. Bill, I borrowed Marc’s approach to use on my deck. I painted much the same as you, using the Vallejo wood kit, then instead of finishing with a grey wash as they suggest, I washed with peat brown artists ink, then Matt varnish. Originally I just wanted the ink to bring out the plank lines but learned that, if allowed, the pigment coalesces wherever there is a surface imperfection, giving a random pattern of very fine dots and tiny streaks, which I think adds texture. I also learned that, if allowed, the pigment can concentrate in big splotches, spoiling the whole thing - but you can easily take it off with a wet brush and start again. I can’t say I’ve mastered avoiding that; it’s easy on big things like the deck, harder on small parts like the pin rails, skylight etc. Personally, I’m really enjoying learning how to paint and now think I understand why the 3D market is saturated with people who just buy ready-designed miniatures, print them and then spend weeks on the painting. Another swerve - I bought a Revell 1:96 USS Kearsage on eBay this week, for later. I was the only bidder so got it at the quite modest starting price. As far as I can gather it’s long out of production and build logs seem thin on the ground. I know very little about it but it looks like it’ll be similar in complexity to the CS.
  2. Kevin-the-lubber
    Looking good Bill, fabulous in fact - very busy in there. Step 28... completely missed that too. But I did manage to download a much, much cleaner copy of the Heller instructions along the way The shrouds look fantastic from an end view, very in keeping scale wise etc.
  3. Kevin-the-lubber
    Try the elegoo resins. Honest, I’m not on a commission nor some sort of elegoo evangelist but I had my printers running in my office for months without it becoming noticeably smelly, as the garage is unheated.I had to move them back into the garage when I started using the sirayatech as that does have a sickly sweet, slightly foul odour. IPA is also quite smelly so I’ve always done the cleanup in the garage, but the smell has become much less of an issue since I bought the anycubic wash and cure machine. And also way less messy. Though more expensive, I think, as I’m fouling a gallon of IPA at a time now rather than just small amounts as I go along, and eventually have to exchange it for clean stuff.
  4. Kevin-the-lubber
    And so quickly! It would probably take me days to get that piece right in 3D printing and it wouldn’t be better.
  5. Kevin-the-lubber
    I suspect Marc can still read an imperial vernier.
  6. Kevin-the-lubber
    No sign of them on the IMAI instructions either. A design change as they went along, meaning now surplus to requirements?
  7. Kevin-the-lubber
    I’ve found that locally, is there anything I should look out for i.e. are there any bits that might be missing second hand?
  8. Kevin-the-lubber
    Oh, I do like that Rob, very appealing. Another for the list... and you say you did this from a CS base... and I just happen to have one on it's way. Your deck is much more what I was aiming/hoping for, but cleaner, my crew would be slave-driven :-). What is that 'fabric' on the winch, is it a leather cover? While you're here, I received my copy of Michael Mjelde's GoTS today but I don't see any plans within! Should there be any? And back to teak, a moment of inspiration has me looking at our model train cousins, who do this a lot. Some good pointers there, including the obvious - just varnish it with ordinary teak colour varnish.
  9. Kevin-the-lubber
    Thanks chaps. I also like the deck effect. Now that I understand better what happens with the ink wash and varnish I’ve got a baseline for next time, next model, and do more of mixing my own shades. I used the Vallejo wood kit more or less neat, but the variations in the kit are a little too strong for a deck. The problem with the teak is that the ink puddles here and there and you have to try to catch that before it sets, which I’m not yet that good at. In part because what I like about the ink is that, if you leave it alone, it creates it’s own, very attractive random pattern. Notice the spottiness on the deck. Anyway, all good fun and interesting for a man more used to using an emulsion roller.
  10. Kevin-the-lubber
    I haven't had much time for doing the doing over the last week or two but picked up the brushes again last night to get going again. I'm happy enough with the re-painted deck colour, it's a bit darker than intended but I'll know next time. I still don't really have a handle on the varnishing-with-ink, all remains a bit hit and hope. It looks worse in a photo than real life so I'll probably settle with this for what's in the photo and keep on trying with the bucket rail etc. Though as nothing is glued I can revisit if I crack it. Perhaps try doing the staining effect with paint and just use inks to accentuate joins and mouldings. Along the way I picked up a second kit cheap on ebay the other day. No idea why as so far I've only used the hull, but I'm sure it'll come in handy sooner or later! Maybe a Thermopylae in waiting, or Glory of the Seas (ish) if I don't get anywhere with a bottom up approach.
  11. Kevin-the-lubber
    Hi Simon, sounds like you’re right at the beginning of the kit, and yes, you could certainly do that. If you’re not bashing the kit in any way the revell instructions look fine. Although I’ve swerved a bit from an OOTB build on mine, I was able to hide the deck joins fairly well by bevelling the adjoining edges, glueing, filling, sanding. I lost a bit of the faux wood grain but not as much as I feared.
  12. Kevin-the-lubber
    From here, Marc, there is so much going on around the stern that I doubt the issue will notice. It certainly doesn’t stand out in the photos.
  13. Kevin-the-lubber
    It is indeed. Daz downloaded, will play with it presently and pay attention to what you’ve all been saying on here.
  14. Kevin-the-lubber
    And knees, hips, ankles and all the other bits you broke or damaged while having fun in your youth! Give me naivete any day, I'd rather still believe I'm immortal and there is no way on earth I'm going to fall off THAT. Wisdom says I might....
  15. Kevin-the-lubber
    This is partly why I haven’t yet moved on to Rhino, because it’s seems surface based rather than the easier-for-me-to-get-my-head-around F360. That’s an excellent bit of figure modelling though - how long did that take to do?
  16. Kevin-the-lubber
    Via another thread, where I’ve whinged endlessly about the downsides of F360, I’ve been pointed towards Rhino3D. It’s not free but, as I could access an educational licence, it’s not too expensive and you buy rather than subscribe. (I hate this gravitation towards subscription for everything, but especially software). Apparently it’s the industry standard for shipbuilders and is very, very good. The only reason I haven’t done so is I couldn’t face another huge learning curve right now, but if you’re ready for that you might want to use the free trial opportunity which is good for three months. I’d balance this by saying I still have a lurking suspicion that the problems I encounter in F360 are somehow related to my PC; I built it a couple of years ago and deliberately went down the AMD route rather than Intel, and I think F360 doesn’t like AMD graphics cards. And also that, as I become more experienced in it’s use, I’m better able to avoid problems through better methodology. Otherwise, F360 is excellent.
  17. Kevin-the-lubber
    Now here’s a funny thing. I used to be a very keen climber and would cheerfully walk along a knife edge mountain ridge without the slightest worry. But these days it would scare the life out of me. But I will probably give this a go as and when I go back. Probably not very soon - unlike the Vic, there isn’t a tremendous amount of detail on the CS that I could carry across to and enhance a 1/96 model, other than the rigging, and for that I’ll probably tailor my ambitions to my abilities. Update-wise, I’m experimenting with a few different approaches to painting the bigger pieces on the deck, but work and home projects have been taking priority lately. Hopefully I’ll get some time this weekend and have something worth posting.
  18. Kevin-the-lubber
    Meshmixer, also free, fixes leaky stl’s, but I assume you all know this and it somehow doesn’t do what you want.
  19. Kevin-the-lubber
    Very beautiful work. When sculpting a figure for the Vic (in software) I almost lost the will to live, trying to get the proportions right and gave up in the end. You've done an amazing job here.
  20. Kevin-the-lubber
    I take it that the variance is too big to bodge with a bit of styrene to bridge the gap? Or a bit of both, slightly trim one side and build up the other, as T_corret suggests? And while it's a crazy idea, that there's no scope to flex the hull to bring it more in line (though you'd just be transferring the problem)? Re' my build log, not much to see over there right now. I don't want to photo-bomb yours (Oh but I'm down with the kids, know all the lingo) with what I've done since but, briefly, I used double-sided tape to join the decks, worked well, and repainted such that it's much closer to my lucky test piece. I doubt I'll post until I've finished the deck section as there really isn't much to show, but I have made some nice (in my eyes anyway) small tweaks to some bits and pieces after visiting the ship a couple of weeks ago. Wefalck, that's more advice that I'll store and experiment with. I love the inks though, as they also dry quick but go through a setting stage where if I catch the moment I can guide them close to what I'm trying for. But I emphasise I'm an absolute beginner at all this and still have mountains to learn. I think Marc's suggestion to varnish each layer will address your correct observation that subsequent layers result in a puddle of pigmented mess. As I've learned!
  21. Kevin-the-lubber
    Marc, thanks, I simply hadn't even thought of varnishing between coats and I think that'll be the thing to try. I was getting a fairly good (for me) first ink layer, then losing it with the next one. I have thought discovered that washing up liquid and a nail brush is very good for stripping off paint and ink! Keith, ditto thanks. I've used much the same approach on the CS deck MK2, which I'll post about on my log once I've got the 'teak' items finished. The deck wasnt at all hard to do, just time consuming and, for me, very much part of the learning journey. Mine has come out a bit darker than I was aiming for and not nearly as nice as Marcs' decks, but it'll do and I'll know next time to use a lighter range of colours..... and seal in layers as here again I've slightly lost position when washing with ink. All good fun though, and probably my favourite aspect of the build.
  22. Kevin-the-lubber
    You may well be right - it's hard to know without having the model in front of oneself, there probably is no 'standard' answer and, as you say, it's best to go with whatever best tricks the eye.
  23. Kevin-the-lubber
    Re' the problem you've set out; I think I would veer towards what you're proposing, exaggerate the curve. What's the difference at the top measurement-wise? I do agree with amateur that any material twist may be visually noticeable. I guess a factor for me would be whether there is furniture or better still a mizzen projecting out over the stern that would break the view into two halves and somewhat change the perspective. Another line of enquiry would be two arcs off the centreline rather than a single arc; exaggerated, to create a 'pointed' face with each side true to the centreline but slightly different to the other side. The one sure thing for me is that whatever I did I would stay true to the centreline, to avoid an optical impression of a twisted model.
  24. Kevin-the-lubber
    Nothing to do with my build but just thought I'd share that Greenwich is allowing people to book to climb up to the cross trees on the Cutty Sark this year, for about £50. I saw riggers working on it a couple of weeks ago, imagine this is what they were setting up. I'll probably do it if only to get a close-up look at the rigging up there!
  25. Kevin-the-lubber
    Marc, could I seek your advice please. For the Cutty Sark I want to paint the cabins so that I have a kind of varnished teak effect - how would you achieve that? What base colour and others would you use and how would you get an even finish with ink? I'm getting not too far off it using a light wood (kind of sand coloured) base layer, then dark brown ink followed by a yellow-orange ink, and while the colour is generally about right, I'm struggling to avoid the ink becoming a bit blotchy here and there. I find too that if I go back and re-wet the dried ink it just clumps up and spoils, so think whatever is the best way has to be done during the initial laying on.

About us

Modelshipworld - Advancing Ship Modeling through Research

SSL Secured

Your security is important for us so this Website is SSL-Secured

NRG Mailing Address

Nautical Research Guild
237 South Lincoln Street
Westmont IL, 60559-1917

Model Ship World ® and the MSW logo are Registered Trademarks, and belong to the Nautical Research Guild (United States Patent and Trademark Office: No. 6,929,264 & No. 6,929,274, registered Dec. 20, 2022)

Helpful Links

About the NRG

If you enjoy building ship models that are historically accurate as well as beautiful, then The Nautical Research Guild (NRG) is just right for you.

The Guild is a non-profit educational organization whose mission is to “Advance Ship Modeling Through Research”. We provide support to our members in their efforts to raise the quality of their model ships.

The Nautical Research Guild has published our world-renowned quarterly magazine, The Nautical Research Journal, since 1955. The pages of the Journal are full of articles by accomplished ship modelers who show you how they create those exquisite details on their models, and by maritime historians who show you the correct details to build. The Journal is available in both print and digital editions. Go to the NRG web site (www.thenrg.org) to download a complimentary digital copy of the Journal. The NRG also publishes plan sets, books and compilations of back issues of the Journal and the former Ships in Scale and Model Ship Builder magazines.

Our Emblem ®

Modelshipworld - Advancing Ship Modeling through Research

Nautical Research Guild ® and the NRG logo are Registered Trademarks, and belong to the Nautical Research Guild (United States Patent and Trademark Office: No. 6,999,236 & No. 6,999,237, registered March 14, 2023)

×
×
  • Create New...