HMS Atalanta 1775 by tlevine - FINISHED - 1:48 scale - from TFFM plans

[ChrisLBren]

Looks great Toni !!!!

 

 Have you thought about cutting some of the frames on the unplanked sides to create some viewing windows into all of that beautiful work inside the hull that will never be seen again.  A lot of Ancre modelers approach their builds this way - Im a huge fan of it.

Chris

 

http://modelisme.arsenal.free.fr/artdumodelisme/Le%20Gros%20Ventre/indexgb.html

Edited December 15, 2014 by ChrisLBren

[tlevine]

Remco, Joe, Nils and Grant, thanks for looking in.  This is the first time I have used holly for lower hull planking and am pleased with its working characteristics as well as its appearance.  The finish also applies nicely and dries quickly so multiple coats can be added in a single day.  The only problem (other than the fumes) is that its working time is about a minute so one has to work quickly.

 

Chris, I have thought about leaving a viewing port on models but don't plan on doing so with Atalanta.  It is interesting that you linked to LGV as this is on the short list for my next build, whenever that occurs.  It is too bad they did not clean up the model for the photographs.

[dgbot]

Fantastic work Toni.  I wish I could take a pic of it you did a great job on the entire thing.

David B

[Trussben]

Superb Toni.

 

ben

[Jim Lad]

Beautiful job, Toni - you must be very pleased with her.

 

John

[Maury S]

Toni, Very nice.  Thanks for sharing everything along the way.

Maury

[tlevine]

David, John, Ben, Maury, thanks for compliments.  And thanks to everyone for the likes.  Nothing more will be getting done until after the holiday.  The friezes are next and considering my (lack of) artistic talent, I am terrified!

[druxey]

Like everything else, Toni; step by step!

[tlevine]

OK, Druxey, here is my step by step.

 

I am no artist and the results will probably reflect that but so far the results don't look too bad.  I made the first trial section of frieze only to discover that I painted it upside down and without enough background aft to run out to the hance of the forecastle.  So I used this "opportunity" to document a step by step method for painting the friezes.  For my technique I used the instructions given in Vol II of TFFM.  I also had the pleasure of sitting in on a demonstration of frieze painting by David Antscherl at the most recent NRG national meeting.  

 

The first step is to have a background of the correct color.  I chose a blue background although there is a contemporary model of Atalanta in the NMM holdings that has a red background. The next step I found to be the most difficult.  David says to moisten bond paper (aka printer paper), stretch it gently, tape it to a flat surface and allow it to dry.  Then the background is painted.  The prestretching is supposed to prevent the paper from wrinkling when the acrylic paint is applied.  Well...  I tried three different types of paper, different moisture levels, different tape and weighting the paper under a sheet of glass.  I occasionally ended up with a strip of paper that looked passable.  After that I painted the paper with artist acrylics and ended up with wrinkled paper!  I could not find any blue archival markers.  Ink would cause the same problem.  Regular blue marker would bleed when I apply my solvent based finish.  I seriously thought about printing a sheet of blue paper but was concerned about the lifespan of inkjet pigments.  My solution was to use enamel spray paint without prestretching.  Three coats with a quick sanding of 600 grit between coats gave me good depth of color while smoothing out any imperfections in the paper.  It is still flexible and accepted acrylic paints well.

 

 

Although there is no freize shown on Atalanta's plans, there is one for Fly.  I used these for my design.  I traced the design on to regular bond paper.

 

 

 

The plan shows the starboard side but I am putting the frieze on the port side.  So I turned the paper around and traced the sketch on to the back of the paper, giving me a mirror image.  The drawing was placed on the painted paper and transfer paper was used to transfer the outline.  Transfer paper is found at any craft store and is used for stenciling and applying patterns onto cloth.  It comes in several colors.  White is best for this application.

 

 

 

The images were painted with two coats of ochre.  All the paints used were Liquitex artist acrylic.  

 

 

The highlights were applied with a mixture of ochre and white.  

 

 

 

The lowlights were applied with a mixture of ochre and burnt sienna.  Finally details such as the stems and leaf veins were added with a mixture of burnt sienna and burnt umber.

 

 

I used a pencil eraser to remove any white lines and powder from the transfer paper.

 

 

At these extreme magnifications, the detail work is a little heavy.  At normal viewing it looks much better; definitely better than I thought I could do.  

Edited January 4, 2015 by tlevine

[druxey]

Rather than moistening the paper, it needs to be well soaked first. When it begins to dry on a flat surface (the wet shiny surface goes suede-like) then tape it down. You shouldn't have difficulty after that. You will need to treat the paper this way, as there is also moisture in the white glue you will use to attach the finished friezes later.

 

Your first attempts at painting look pretty good!

Edited January 5, 2015 by druxey

[Remcohe]

The painting looks very convincing. I'm still in doubt wether to paint my friezes or not....

 

Druxey is right, I remember from my arts classes at the uni, soak the paper really well and use special tape to tape it down to a board. I used the same technique to prepare paper for airbrushing.

 

Remco

[AnobiumPunctatum]

Thanks for the description, Toni. If I come back to my HMS Fly, I will have the same problem with painting the friezes.

[tlevine]

Druxey, after reading your post I took my trial frieze and glued it to some scrap wood, expecting the worst.  I used a very thin coat of full strength glue on the paper and the wood and let it almost dry before applying the frieze.  No wrinkles!  I think the enamel provides just enough strength to the paper to decrease the risk of puckering.  The downside in using this technique is that there is no ability to finesse the location of the frieze.  

 

Remco, with your talent the friezes would be a snap.  It comes down to the aesthetics, or in my case, the challenge of something new.

 

Christian, thanks for looking in.  Does Alert have any stern lettering?  The same technique would be applicable.

[michael mott]

The frieze looks great Toni.

 

Michael

[druxey]

Glad to read it didn't wrinkle, Toni. However, you will need to have sliding 'finesse' when placing frieze pieces, especially on curved surfaces such as the lower transom. It is virtually impossible to lay it down without adjustment.

[dgbot]

What about doing it with parchment or wax paper like when you are using contact cement?

David B

[AnobiumPunctatum]

Christian, thanks for looking in.  Does Alert have any stern lettering?  The same technique would be applicable.

 

Toni,

 

if I would follow the Marshall paintings, Alert has a frieze and a stern painting. But I will build my model with open sides, so I don#t know if I schould paint some frieze.

[michael mott]

At Toni's suggestion here is a link to stretching paper for those who might be interested in the priciples.

 

Paper dries better when exposed to air on both sides.

 

Michael

[tlevine]

I took everyone's warnings to heart regarding the frieze and was determined to stretch some paper.  I am not at home this week and therefore have no access any tools to attempt a frame like Michael demonstrated.  I had been using masking tape to hold the paper and decided to try gummed packing tape, as recommended in TFFM.  The local Staples does not carry it.  Something about "Nobody has used that for years".  I tried a series of clamps instead of tape but did not get equal pull across the edge of the paper.  So, with nothing to lose but time and patience, I decided to make the friezes from the paper painted with enamel.

 

In examining the draughts and a photo of a contemporary model of Atalanta, it appears the shear plank is much narrower than that called for in TFFM. The lower row of friezes buts up against the inferior edge of the shear plank. Consequently, the lower frieze is positioned too low and does not extend across the top of the gun port openings.  This left me with four options:  1) remove the shear plank and all the planking down to the lower edge of the gun port, resizing the width of four rows of planking, 2) redraw the lower frieze so that it is 2 mm narrower, approximating the width of the upper row of the frieze, 3) keep the dimensions of the lower the frieze and install it below the too-thick shear plank or 4) skip the frieze.  Well, number 1 was not going to happen and I really wanted that splash of color the frieze would provide.  I felt that narrowing the lower frieze would make the decoration seem out of balance.  That left me with option 3, installing the frieze below the shear plank, knowing it extends too low on the hull.  After carefully examining the draughts, I did not see any problem in proceeding with this last option.

 

After a little experimentation, the technique that worked the best for me was to cut the piece of frieze a little long to overlap the gun port openings.  Next, apply a thin layer of undiluted yellow glue to the back of the frieze.  Grasp the end of the frieze with a watchmaker's forceps and position the end at the edge of the gunport.  Slowly place the rest of the frieze in position.  Moisten the surface to remove any excess glue.  Finally, gently burnish it in place with a piece of planking.  This has to be done quickly because the glue is set within a minute.  Once completely dry, the edges of the gun port are cleaned up with an 11 blade. The slivers of blue above the gun ports were added separately.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[michael mott]

 

Something about "Nobody has used that for years".

I ran into that exact wording at a lot of places, Shippers Supply carry it still in a couple of widths .

 

Your friezes turned out well.

 

Michael

[dgbot]

Looks okay to me Toni, good job

David B

[druxey]

Well, your method certainly has great results, Toni! Love the Muppet-eyed fish over the bridle port.

[Remcohe]

It looks great, the whole appearance of the planked hull changed. 

 

Remco

[Mirabell61]

wonderful look of your "Atalanta" Toni,

 

also your explaination of applying the frieze and your port side planking are great....

 

Nils

[gjdale]

Great work on the frieze Toni - and a neat solution to your dilemma.

[tlevine]

Thank you everyone for your kind comments.  I agree, Remco, the frieze changes the whole attitude of the hull.  Druxey, I was surprised that the animate characters look cartoonish on the draught rather than realistic.  However, since my drawing skills are "zip", I went with the frieze as drawn on the draught.  I only hope this was not some cruel joke on the Admiralty by the draftsman.

[SawdustDave]

Simply magnificent job Toni. That is just so darned beautiful. WOW!

[dvm27]

Love the fully finished vs. in frame approach, Toni. So how will you display her? I heard of a fellow whose case pulled out from the wall on tracks (like a drawer) so it could be rotated every few months or so when he wanted to see the other side.

[tlevine]

Thank you Dave.  Greg, I have built in display cases in my living room for all my ships.  The back wall is mirrored so I can see  both sides of the ship without opening the doors.

[jml1083]

WOW Toni, this is very, very impressive!