wmherbert

I think one consideration that is not mentioned much is that any model takes a lot of time. I think it's really important to pick a ship that you really like. I would choose a more difficult model that I really liked over an easier one that didn't get me excited. Remember you have to look at this thing for months as you work on it.

I second all of the above

I use this over bare wood, such as planking. Let dry over night, then 2nd coat. Again dry over night before sanding. Then putty sand and then color coats. Sanding with 220 or 320 between coats.

Very slick. Nicely done Bill

Welcome. One great thing about this hobby and MSW is being able to share with fellow enthusiasts from all over the world. Wouldn't it be nice if the world were all just one big happy group like it is here? Maybe there's hope. Bill

Interesting idea. It would be possible to buy long enough ones to go all the way around the hull to cinch planks tight. Getting clamps to work, particularly at the ends Is always a challenge . Especially as the spaces start getting tight. Bill

I'm curious . How are you using the cable ties? Bill

Search "wrinkles in silkspan" in everywhere for some ideas. Bill

For two reasons I've been trying different sail techniques. First. I'm retired and second. I'm waiting for some Syren line to arrive so I can finish my Flying fish model. So with nothing else to do I tried a couple of sails with various methods. I took painted silkspan and cut a bunch of 1/2 inch strips . I used a cutter of my wive's from her school teaching days. Works well to cut both the wide and narrow strips. I then used glue stick to coat the overlap edge. And then lapped them to make the sail. I used glue stick to glue the edges and also the reefing line on the sail. The glue stick comes out purple and was easy to coat the overlap edge. I found I needed to make sure I had a nice uniform coating. Any extra glue just disappeared as it dries. Doesn't leave any noticeable residue. I tried first just the one layer of strips. No middle sheet or strips on the back side. Only thing I noticed was if lit from behind the seams were pretty dark and noticeable. So then I tried adding a middle sheet of un painted silkspan and then then back side strips. I did this because if light was coming from behind the sail I thought the overlaps seemed too dark. With light from the front it looked fine. So I'm a little uncertain about which way I would go. But I did learn that the glue stick worked fine. It's still a little bit of a toss up to me whether this method is better than the pencil lines. The pencil lines look good with light from either side. So maybe what you like best would just depend on how the model is displayed. Bill

I, as a fan of sails on models (at least on the ships I've been building) do encourage everyone to give it a try. I think silkspan or what ever we want to call it, ends up more in scale than cloth. But to each his own. I was quite undecided about doing the sails the first time. Models with just rigging look great and I was worried about screwing it up. I think unless something is done well it's better just leaving it off. But my first attempt turned out well. Ditto for the next model. Went back and forth whether to add the sails and then was very happy I did. Now I attach sails to masts. Hoops. And boom and gaff with the masts off the model. Top sails too if they have hoops. After masts installed I add the jobs and top sails. This made doing the sails much easier for me. As you can guess I've been making usually schooners with simple rigging. On a ship with furled sails I think I would try to do those as well off the model. And as far as tall ships with square sails those are beyond my skill level and I'm not sure whether sails add or detract. At any rate try some sails . You can always remove them if you are unhappy Bill

I had to look up ruling pen. Never had heard of them. I guess you would paint the silkspan first and then mix a slightly darker color for the ruling pen. I assume painted on one side only? Bill

A very nice result as well. How did you keep a uniform width for the painted overlap? Here's about as good I can do with pencil lines on my current build. I will keep experimenting too since for me the sails make a lot of difference Bill

Very nice indeed. I'm a little unclear about how you did the color. It appears you completed the sail entirely first. How and what did you do for the color? The sample I made up I used some left over silkspan that I had painted like Laurie shows. But silkspan I think would be easier to assemble if it was unpainted. Another question. I was a little concerned that 3 layers of paper was starting to get too thick and might start to seem out of scale. What did you find? Bill

I just tried Andrew's method with a quick little sample using glue stick to experiment a little. It all went together quite easily. Getting an even overlap is a little tricky on the first side but matching it on other side is easy. It's difficult to see in this photo showing the result versus the pencil line method but I think it does look more realistic. I think if you get into a production line making strips and have middle sheet cut to rough or exact sail size it would go pretty fast. Bill

I hadn't thought about clue sticks. I think I will try cutting carrier piece to exact sail shape and gluing strips on. They alway start parallel to one edge. And then let run over other two sides and trim off after the side is done. Have you had any problem with the longevity of the glue stick? Did you use glue stick for the narrow edge strip also? Bill