wefalck

I don't want to make myself unpopular, but speak from experience: every time I looked into and even bought (styrene) kits with a view to cut corners in a project, I became dissatisfied and decided that it would not be worth using it, considering the amount of alterations and replacements needed. And this is not a question of available tools and machines (though they help in my opinion). Using styrene sheets and profiles, one can build excellent models with a minimum of tools. It is a pity that kit manufacturers adopted certain conventions (e.g. the deeply grooved decks, prominent wood textures) decades ago in spite of often otherwise quite well researched design bases. The moulds of Revell and others are decades old and when they take a copy, they are still not improved in that sense - I know, it is a question of commercial margin and the stuff sells, which is what counts.

Timber-textured ones would be rather unsuitable for ship models, because in real life the shipwrights and later the bo'suns etc. would have done everything to make the wood smooth - see also the discussion above on visible vs. hardly visible details. The molded wood textures (and other engraved details) in model kits satisfy the expectations of innocent buyers, but are utterly overscale in most cases.

Have a look at my suggestions in this very similar thread;

😂 ... had an Iranian fellow student at university, who really was like that - eventually, he gave up shaving. I have kind of talked into the same void, as shipman. However, we modellers are also in a sort dilemma: if you would behold a real ship equivalent to the typical viewing distance, say at reading distance, you wouldn't see much of the small detail. But then we modellers stick our noses close to our models and then you should see the details, but they are not there. Effectively, we have to design for a multitude of viewing distances, also because the eye (and brain) instinctively looks for things that should be there, even if they objectively would not be visible. This means we have to make compromises - unless you are building a real box diorama with a fixed viewing angle and distance. I have not finally decided on the solution for my current project in 1/160 scale, but lightly engraved the deck made from bakelite paper with a sharp V-shaped graver. Any raised burr was removed by rubbing the deck with steel wool. I will then fill these lines with black acrylic paint and rub the excess down with steel wool. This gives a kind of pre-shading effect as the plastic modellers are calling it. After that I will spray-paint the deck with acrylics. If perceived necessary, I will re-line the seams with burnt umber acrylics using an old-fashioned drafting pen. Different light washings with white and burnt umber will distinguish between different planks and also tone down the seams. Hopefully this procedure will result in near-to-scale seams, which in real life would be somewhere between 5 mm and 10 mm wide. BTW, these seams would be slightly sunken-in during cold and/or dry weather and slightly standing proud of the deck during wet and/or warm weather due to the shrinking/swelling of the wood.

Looking good. I like the translucent qualitiy, just like the real thing ! Just a question: you put the bolt-rope inside the seams around the sail. Do you have a source for this - somewhat unusual - arrangement ?

Well, that's an offer ... never made it 'down-under' so far, came close to it couple of times, but in the end the business trip was cancelled for one reason or the other.

Well, will be retiring to an appartment overlooking the old centre of Valencia - unfortunately not much boat-building space there (but I plan to have a small separate model workshop ) and not so easy sailing off the long open coast there. One needs something sturdy like the Catalan boat in another thread here, if one goes for something more traditional.

I am just hitting the 'like' button, what else can one do ... ?

I think this paper is sold over here also as 'layout-paper' and seems to have 75 g/m^2 regardless of manufacturer. As there are six A4 sheets (the same size more or less as yours), one sheet weighs 12.5 g. On the other hand taking 13.5 lb x 450 g/lb = 6075 g for 500 sheets works out 12,15 g per sheet. So we seem to talk about the same kind of material, more or less. It has an interesting texture and properties, but may be rather heavy for my own purposes.

Excellent workmanship ! And, if this is still possible, I am growing more and more envious of you having such a nice boat ...

The sail is looking good. I have used the technique of making sails from individual panels and with re-enforcements attached for many years with silk-paper and silk-span fabric (soaked in paint). That paper you are using looks interesting and I have to see, whether something like this is available over here in Europe. It says 13.5 lb on it, but per what ? Here we normally gauge paper in grammes per square metre. I don't think mediterranean sails were ever 'tanned'. No real need for it, as it is sunny and dry for most of the year, so that sails would dry quickly and don't need to be stored wet. Neither do they freeze. However, in some regions they did paint their sails, for decorative reasons, but also for apotropeic ones, i.e. to protect against evil with religious or magic symbols. Rather than using a single wire, you could also use twisted (copper) wire and paint it suitably. Another option would be to fiddle a stiff molybdenum or steel piano-wire through the centre of a rope.

Fantastic work - as usual ! I think you were lucky that they didn't fit her with deep-buttoned cushions - which is kind of a pity on such classy boat.

His book has been a bible for me in many respects since it came out in the mid-1980s. It's a pity that he kind of deviated from small-scale shipmodels into carving miniature sculptures, even though the sculptures are superbly executed. Cutting wires (for separating damaged glass covers from the LCD-screens of mobile telephones) are usually molybdenum and extremely hard and tough. They easily damage cutting pliers and are difficult to cut. I score them with a scalpel blade and then bend them until they break. The advantage is that they have a goldy sheen, are springy, and are available down to 0.02 mm easily on ebay etc. I have a whole selection of diameters in stock for simulating brass rails and the likes in small scales. As has been discussed recently at various places here in the forum: shellac solution and the lacquer used to coat silver and brass ware to prevent it from tarnishing, zapon-lacquer, make a very good glue and metal primer. I also use it to secure rigging etc. It is a material that has been used for virtually centuries by clockmakters and silversmiths for various purposes.

Sorry, Allan, to make a slight correction: the wire he uses is NiCr, i.e. nickel-chromium, also know as Constantan (a brand name). This wire, in principle, is available in diameters down to 0.04 mm or so, but is rather expensive. Its main use is for temperature-constant resistors and in electrical heaters, toasters etc. May be not so easy to find in the consumer market. If you live in an university city, there may be a supplier for lab-equipment that might have it. Otherwise, one can try repair-shops for electrical household goods. Or, of course, the Internet.

I was not aware of this and always had a good contact with him ...

If you have access to pre-tinned copper wire, you could use this to good effect as Bob Wilson does. Check out his Blog, where he also various downloads and ebooks for sale: http://miniatureships.blogspot.com/ BTW, why does the rainy season prevent you from modelling ? Over here in Europe it would be just the opposite - or is it the high humidity plus high temperatures ?

Beginning to look the thing ! As I said earlier, one should ascertain, whether the sails were furled underneath the spar or above it. The latter is probably associated with jack-stays, but I am not sure, that these were already used on the BOUNTY.

The problem, however, is that these dictionaries do not cater very well for the vernacular terms associated with lateen-rigged craft. When I wrote an article for NEPTUNIA (in French) and the LOGBUCH (in German) about a special kind of lateen-rigged craft from the Albufera-region south of Valencia/Spain, I had to compile for myself a special glossary in Valenciano/Catalan - Castillano (Spanish) - French - English-German. The terms in French and Catalan/Valenciano are quite similar, but the Castillano (Spanish) terms can be rather different. Another 'standard' dictionary is also PAASCH's 'From Keel to Truck', in its original edtion of 1885 comprising English, French and German. It was later enlarged to include also Spanish and Italian. However, it also not good on lateen-rigs. Not sure, whether there is a digital version of it. On the Net you can also find: ANONYM (1859): Dictionnaire universel théorique et pratique du commerce et de la navigation. Vol. I: A-G.- 1438 p., Paris (Guillaumin et Cie.). ANONYM (1861): Dictionnaire universel théorique et pratique du commerce et de la navigation. Vol. II: H-Z.- 1828 p., Paris (Guillaumin et Cie.). BONNEFOUX, P.-M.-J. DE, PÂRIS, E.F. (1859): Dictionnaire de Marine à Voiles et à Vapeur.- 2 Vols., 740+16 p., 17 pl., Paris (Artus Bertrand). Lorenzo, J. de, Murga, G. de, Ferreiro, M. (1865): Diccionario Marítimo Español, que además de us voces de navegación y maniobra en los buques de vela, contiene las equivalencias en Francés, Inglés y Italiano, y las mas usadas buques de vapor, formado con presencia de los majores datos publicados hasta el día.- 576 p., Madrid (Establecimiento Tipográfico De T. Fortanet). Reehorst, K.P. ter (1850): The Mariner's and Merchant's Polyglot Technical Dictonary. Upwards of Five Thousand Nautical, Steam, and Ship-Building Terms, Commercial and Scientific Expressions, in Ten Different Languages, English, Dutch, German, Danish, Swedish, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Russian, with a Precise Explanatory Key to the Pronunciation of These Languages, and a Comparative Table of the Money, Weights and Measures of Sea Ports.- 520 p., London (Williams and Norgate).

Yes, there is a thin line between an authentic worn look and a messy model, at least in the eyes of an unintiated beholder.

Personally, I would use a clear varnish or sanding filler (both organic solvent-based !) to stiffen the material - a dab of thinner allows you to re-arrange the sail even after the varnish has dried. CA or acrylics cannot be easily softened without destroying everything. Also at this small scale, real cloth is most likely too thick and coarse. For set sails the lightest silk-span might do, but for clewed-up or furled sails tissue paper is a better option. In the case of furled sails, you may also find that a full-size sail will result in too much sail on the yard, just shorten it a bit until the amount of sail looks right - this is because even tissue is way over-scale.

Indeed, a nice model. Somehow, I expected it to be 'tarred' or something like this.

Are you trying to make furled sails or clewed-up sails ? Your 'attempt 3' shows actually a clewed up sail ... I would also check out how sails were 'bent' to the yards at that time, befor jackstays came into use. The thread you used seems to be a bit oversized for the purpose.

As I work only with small-scale models, I don't need a lot of paint. For this reason I use nowadays almost always acrylics pre-diluted for airbrushing. Per volume/pigment, of course, they are relatively expensive. I just take a dab of the acrylics in a small glass dish and add a drop or several of water. This then apply to the model and distribute it quickly with a wet brush. While the paint is still liquid, you can suck it up with a tissue. However, once the paint is dry, it becomes waterproof. This happens quite fast, so that one can apply the next wash quite quickly. One can, in principle, redissolve acrylics with acetone, but you may then attack all other layers of paint as well. So one has to do this with caution.

'Gallica' is the digital access system of the Bibliotthéque Nationale de France (BnF). There the link to the PDF is: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k11684265.r=vence voile latin?rk=64378;0. Everything the BnF puts out is public domaine. I have a reprint, so I did not check before.

If I may, a couple of suggestions: - it's quite natural to have more dirt inside the difficult to clean areas around the bulwark - you could always touch up the white paint inside the bulwark - this would have been done on the prototype as well - I think the lettering sticks out a bit too much, it could be toned down with a washing of paint - I use very dilute washes of burnt umber acrylics for wheathering, in this way you can build up the right level quickly and safely At this scale you might want to fit a real sheave into the mast-top actually. Still probably the best source (albeit in French) on the lateen-rig and its use is VENCE, J. (1897): Construction & manœuvre des bateaux & embarcations à voilure latine.- 139 p., Paris (Augustin Challamel Editeur, reprint Editios Omega, Nice). Not sure, whether there is a digital copy floating around the Internet.