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wefalck

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  1. wefalck
    As a matter of fact, we do have a fairly detailed picture of the paint schemes to be applied on the basis of the ordinances published in the respective offcial gazette. Up to 1895 the black-white-yellow scheme was valid that seems to have been the predominant scheme in virtually all navies around the world. After that grey, with initially hulls in a darker grey, was adopted. The hulls of ships at foreign (tropical) stations were painted white after 1890, reflecting the need to protect the crews below deck from heat stress due to hulls painted black - there was virtually no forced ventilation at that time. After 1895 the yellow for funnels, ventilators etc. was replaced by grey for ships at foreign station, but the hulls remained white. The yellow used after about the 1880s seems to have become darker and more orangy. The exact hue of that yellow used by the different nations varied from nation to nation and also over time, perhaps also as a matter of fashion. It appears that up to the third quarter of the 19th century the yellow was comparatively pale and then became darker. The French used a decidedly 'murky' yellow although they have one of the classical sources of yellow and red ochre in the Roussilon area that supplied much of the artistic world.
  2. wefalck
    @uss frolick Thank you. I have been well aware of HMS GANNET and created a photo-essay on her some ten years ago, while she was still undergoing some restoration: https://www.maritima-et-mechanika.org/maritime/chatham/chatham.html. It is not clear (to me) to what state of her life she actually was restored to, but I believe it is definitely a post-1880 stage. It may be still worthwhile to talk to Chatham about their restoration decisions. @grsjaxOf course, I am well aware of the difficulties around recreating colours, even if you know the recipes and the pigments for the paint used. This is why in Germany in the time between the wars the 'Reichsausschuß für Lieferbedingungen' (RAL, roughly National Committee for Supply Specifications) was set up. One of its tasks was the standardisation of colours, which led to the RAL colour charts still in use today. The respective paint most likely contained natural ochre, lead-white and lineseed-oil as the main ingredients, perhaps in addition chalk as cheaper pigment then lead-white. However, there are rather wide variations in the hue of natural ochre, ranging from a pale yellow to almost red, depending on its chemical and mineralogical composition. For these reasons I have been hoping to identify artefacts that show original paint or the impression artists had of the original hue.
  3. wefalck
    Pictorial and archival records for the early years of the Imperial German Navy between 1871 and 1880 are rather patchy. While we know the general colour schemes of different types of vessels due to published orders in this respect, the hue of the yellow used to paint funnels, ventilators, mast etc. is not really documented for that period. In those early, pre-William II, years the budding Imperial Navy often followed RN examples and until the mid-1870s many ships were ordered from British yards. Therefore, there is a certain possibility that also the yellow colour hue was copied from that used by the RN at that time. My question is now, whether anyone knows about sources by which the hue of the yellow in the RN for the period 1870 to 1880 can be determined. These could be archival materials such as orders as to the composition of the paint used, perhaps paintings (though one has to consider artistic liberty), artefacts bearing traces of the respective paint, or models that are likely still carrying the original paint. Any hints and tips in that direction are welcome.
  4. wefalck
    When choosing an airbrush and a compressor, one should also think about the likely size of the area that one will be spraying and how often per year you are going to use it. In many cases one should get away with a rather smallish outfit. It may take longer, but it is easier to work on larger areas with an airbrush with a fine nozzle than the other way around. Working with solvent-based paints in an air-brush is messy and probably not very healthy unless you have a suitable extraction fan at your workplace. Solvents cannot be disposed off in the sink, therefore the airbrush has to be cleaned over a collecting vessel. In consequence, you may not clean it as thorough as you should. Equipment failure may be the result. For this reason, I only use acrylics. The airbrush can be thorough cleaned under running water. It depends on the use of the model and how it will be handled, but for static models that disappear inside a display cabinet once completed, I use paints pre-thinned for airbrushing from reputable artist supply houses/paint manufacturers, e.g. Vallejo (Spain), Schmincke (Germany). They never let me down and I don't have issues with clogging etc.
  5. wefalck
    Incidentally, at such small scales real wood often is not the best choice because the wood is too prominent and/or the wood is not stable enough at small sizes, particularly, if one does not have access to hardwood, such as boxwood. Therefore, it might be better to use metal or plastics and paint these to simulate wood. Hence, it may be harder, but it may be a good idea to cut the hearts in question from brass or aluminium sheet. Styrene might be too soft, but acrylic glass should work as well.
  6. wefalck
    It would be the 1890s to early 1900s
  7. wefalck
    The video-link does not seem to load for me ...
  8. wefalck
    Pat, I am most impressed by the pivot-gun and the slides ! 3D-printing really seems to be the way forward. I am tempted to scrap my laser-cutting stuff. In our German forum there is a guy building the French BRETAGNE of 1855 in 1:75 (https://forum.arbeitskreis-historischer-schiffbau.de/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=1548) at the moment and he got himself an SLA-printer. I have to show him your results.
  9. wefalck
    Aren't the bolt around the missing ... duck and away ...
  10. wefalck
    Well, people then may have had different risk perception ... Here is an image of a wood-cutter in his shop. These sphere were used by all sorts of professions. From: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/1903_Holzschneider.jpg Two such (solid) glass balls on stands are currently up for auction with Charles Miller in London: https://www.charlesmillerltd.com/auction/lot/322-two-19th-century-refracting-glass-balls/?lot=13664&so=4&st=refracting&sto=0&au=&ef=&et=&ic=False&sd=0&pp=48&pn=1&g=1
  11. wefalck
    Workplace illumination was augmented by a sort of condensing lense, i.e. a glass sphere filled with sulfuric acid because of the high refractive index. Sometimes only water or a solid glass sphere was used, but the latter would have somewhat distorted the beam due to irregularities. These sphere were either placed in front of a window or a petroleum lamp. They were common in e.g. engravers' or clockmakers' workshops.
  12. wefalck
    In my literature list I found the following: Anonym (1914): Nautical Terms - Motor Boats - Marine Gasoline Engines - Management of Marine Gasoline Engines - Motor-Boat Navigation - Motor-Boat Rules and Signals.- p., Scranton (International Textbook Company). The term 'naphta' seem to refer actually to different things and different distillation products in Russian today it means Diesel fuel. Over here in Europe marine engines running on heavier oils were preferred, as the low flame-point and the fact the vapours are heavier than air and can therefore collect in the bilge made the operation of 'naphta' motors quite hazardous in comparison. Correcting compass declination was a normal procedure before the gyro-compass was introduced. An area on most roadsteads was set aside for the purpose. The ship would turn a full circle and readings of the compass were taken together with readings of certain landmarks indicated for the purpose. On this basis the deviation of the compass from the actual magnetic North could be determined. Depending on the cargo of the ship, this procedure had to be repeated before any voyage. In the above case, corrections not only for declination, but also for inclination (the angle by which the field dips into the earth) deviations would be required, perhaps in function of the pitching and the rolling of the ship ...
  13. wefalck
    For the moment, I had no need to use it for that purpose, but some years ago I bought a hot-air soldering station. The temperature can be regulated between 100°C and 450°C and the air-flow can also be regulated. It comes with different size nozzles and cost under 40€ including shipping from China. As heat is the main ingredient in plank-bending (the steam mainly serves as heat carrier ...) I would make myself a jig to fix the planks while cooling down. With the temperature and air-flow control and a small nozzle it may be even possible to heat the planks in situ on the model, but beware that you do not loosen previously glue planks. The in situ method might be useful for compound curves. If you want to know what is really possible in terms of wood-bending, look up Thonet-furniture (their famous No. 14 chair is the classical bistro-chair). They used mainly beech, I think, and massive cast-iron jigs to hold the shape, while the wood was cooling down: Also note the use of steel strips to distribute the bending forces and prevent kinking.
  14. wefalck
    Yes, the sails look very good. Remind me, what you did in the end and what scale the model is in.
  15. wefalck
    If you have an baking oven that can produce 800°C, you will be ok ... just joking. No, you would need a furnace or a blow-torch to heat the steel to a light red glow in order to obtain the oxidation layer. Most bearing balls are just polished, not chromed, but there are also hard-chromed varieties. The are made from steel alloys that give them high hardness, i.e. they contain chrome and/or nickel or other metals. Depending on the composition, there is a trade-off between corrosion reistance and hardness. Certain steel can be blackened by heating them with vegetable oils until the oil burns off. This has been largely replaced today by chemical blackening. Blackening (as blueing or browining) is a chemical reaction of the steel with different types of metal salts. In general, corrosion resistant steel are more difficult or impossible to blacken. Chrome-plated steel doesn't blacken.
  16. wefalck
    Yep, looking better 👍 As I noted earlier, I think, playing with the different levels of sheen between the different materials adds visual interest and underlines the character of the material, particularly, when you simulate material with paint. In a 2D-painting you bring out these effects with high-lights and painted-in reflections, but on a 3D-object the view-point and illumination changes, plus the inherent reflectivity of the surfaces, so one can really only work with this reflectivity to create the feeling for the material. Figure-painters to some degree use both techniques, but it does not work so well on larger objects.
  17. wefalck
    This is acrylics on polystyrene. No wood involved here ...
  18. wefalck
    Sorry to say, but decks were always matt, as they were always bare, untreated wood that more or less regularly scrubbed with a piece of sandstone ('holy stone') .... but it is your choice.
  19. wefalck
    The ship was apostrophed as 'motonavi per linee minori', which means 'motorships for minor shipping lines'. That 'motonavi' is plural may indicate that this plan pertain to a class of ships, rather to specific one.
  20. wefalck
    Thanks for mentioning Kemmis' book, I wasn't aware of it. Just downloaded it now from GoogleBooks.
  21. wefalck
    Bill97, the colour begins to look good ! I would have, however, sanded down the moulded-on wood structure - compare with the photographs.
  22. wefalck
    Just beautiful ...
  23. wefalck
    Well, the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics will get us all eventually
  24. wefalck
    Valejo paints are really high quality. Originally, they were mainly catering for professional artists and still do. I never used solvent-based paints in my airbrush - too much messing around with organic solvents to get it really clean. I prefer to use the pre-thinned paints for use in the airbrush. No worries about getting the consistency right. I also use these for brush-washes. For the latter, of course, the 'normal' paint range could be used, but I just keep one range in stock. I found that these paints, when used for washes, behave very much like water-colours, but one has to be aware that they dry very fast and when dry cannot be redissolved (unlike enamels and freh oil-paint). This is both an advantage and a disadvantage, but I think more of advantage. You can work fast with acrylics, as there is virtually no drying time needed. You can apply one round of light washes, go for an espresso, and then can continue with the next wash without disturbing what you have done before. When using oils for this, as many do, you may have to wait for days in between applications, until the preceeding wash has sufficiently cured to be not redissolved by the next solvent-rich wash. BTW, in the second picture I think I used a light spray of satin acrylic varnish to fix somewhat the white salt-stains applied with white pastel, brushed into the corners etc.
  25. wefalck
    I am using just their 'wood' colour as a basis and then apply washes of burnt umbra and flat black. And this is the copper-plated hull painted thirty years ago:

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