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I'm just curious,  does anyone still sit at a drafting board and design and draw anymore?

 

What feels like a thousand years ago, I went to school to be an architect. To my Fathers dismay after graduation I chose to go into a unrelated profession.  But I have used those skills I learned throughout my life.  When I went to school CAD or computer technology was far off into the future. When CAD came into its own over time I never had any desire to take a class or had any use for it to be honest.  IMHO I feel it is not a true form of drafting in the sense it is digital to where actual drafting to me is a form of art.  I'm sure many will disagree with me and I know it is needed in today's digital world with CNC use and with digital 3D perspectives being the norm now for any form of construction or presentation. Maybe I'm just a dinosaur and set in my ways but I cannot see myself having the same sense of personal pride of of accomplishment showing off a digital design viewed from a computer screen or printed on a printer vs. something hand drawn on quality sheet of drafting film.

I worked for a public school district and over the years I watched as they discontinued and dismantled the Middle and High School Drafting Classes along with the Wood and Metal Shop programs. THe teaching done today is focused in how to design in a digital world and how to program machines to do the actual work of construction.

I watched as they gutted those rooms and shops, removing all the tools and machines and drafting tables. Those rooms today are carpeted and air conditioned and full of computers. Students are glued to computer screens all day never learning to take their own idea make a scaled drawing of it, to  build it using their hands and machines and tools like their fathers and grandfathers.  But in today's world of manufacturing this is what is needed to become employed. Its a shame that we no longer teach students to use their hands to design and create.

Today your able to take a CAD design and using a CNC machine produce carvings in wood just as well as a craftsman had done by hand in the past. I guess in time craftsman will be a thing of the past.

Sorry for the rant, I have searched through the forum and I'm just curious if anyone still sits at a Drafting Table and draws by hand anymore. If so, I would like to hear from you.

Thanks,

Tim

 

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I agree with your views.  I went through high school in the mid to late 60s.  I took all the shop classes, drafting, wood working, metal working, and mechanics.  I then went to a true technical college and took Machinist Mechanics training.  I consider myself an old school mechanic.  We used to rebuild parts, not just exchange them until the problem went away.  You would be hard pressed to find a Automotive Service Technician that can rebuild a starter, or turn a brake drum.  Having said that, the computer has made a lot of tasks much easier, and a lot easier to make corrections.

Edited by Diver
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Tim:

I too frustrated my Father after becoming a ME and doing drafting by hand long before CAD, I left the field to go onto the Fire Dept.  Actually followed after my Father and Maternal Grandfather going the FD route though they were volunteers. 

My education sure did help down the road when I became a Division Chief in charge of Fire Prevention and part of the job was to review drawings for commercial buildings.  All hand drafted and I was right at home.  Then we got our first high rise building - 9 stories tall and they were CAD plans.  I became a convert instantly.  I am still so many years later trying to learn CAD and resort to the drawing board because I can do it quickly.  Those first CAD drawings were so different in their presentation and I haven't seen this method used by any other firm since then but the electrical, HVAC, plumbing, sprinkler and other systems were duplicated on transparent sheets that could be laid over the floor plan one at a time or combined - one could see how one system crossed over another or couldn't because it was blocked completely.

Now the CAD programs can check for interference's, etc. that just can't be done by hand drafting.

But I have never sat down and looked at a set of CAD plans and marveled at their beauty like I have with hand done drawings.  Looking at ship plans done in CAD cannot compare to studying plans done in the late 1800s up to the 1930s where draftsmen showed wood grain, coal in the bunkers, etc. Some of these hand drawn plans are worthy of framing.  And I actually do have a large ink on linen drawing of a small sloop designed and drawn by Fred Martin dated 1903.  I see new stuff all the time - or maybe I forgot I saw it before - age can do that.

Kurt

 

Kurt Van Dahm

Director

NAUTICAL RESEARCH GUILD

www.thenrg.org

SAY NO TO PIRACY. SUPPORT ORIGINAL IDEAS AND MANUFACTURERS

CLUBS

Nautical Research & Model Ship Society of Chicago

Midwest Model Shipwrights

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The Society of Model Shipwrights

Butch O'Hare - IPMS

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Tim,

In school, we were tracked.  Mechanical Drawing and Shop were not even options for my group.  They were skills that could have used.  I still can't draw a neat straight line, being self taught. A smooth curve is right out.  I have always been a Gordian Knot solution sort, so the neat imperative on a school drawing would have blown my GPA.  Ralph Nader said he was too OCD neat freak to stay with engineering drawing and went into Law, where that sort of OCD was pointless.  My OCD is there, but neat or clean is not involved.  I could have also used a typing class, but that too would have wrecked my GPA.  Taught myself what I needed to know to be able to loft Kate Cory from Eric Ronnberg's 1/4" plans for POF framing.  Boy was that a time consuming and no fun experience! 

The take home lesson was to try to find a better method.

I also went a fair ways into designing HMS Royal Charles 1673 following Anthony Deane's directions.  I used the drawing board and it worked for it.  I lost him with the Body plan.  The directions were not clear.  I mistakenly thought that each of the stations was individually designed.  Trying to find a way to avoid the sort of extracted point plotting that was so awful in traditional lofting could be avoided.  I now understand that only about 3 Stations are designed.  The waterline are drawn using those few points.  Battens are used to get the curves.  The stations for the Body plan being back extracted.  There are many proof curves needed to assure that the waterlines are proper.  This leading to no joy as far as avoiding the plotting tedium, I switched to a computer based solution.  It was early DOS.  Still, I was having a hope that 3D CAD was a shortcut.  My explorations have lead to the following conclusions - CAD is for design.  It is not an easy or pleasant tool for POF lofting of existing plans.  It would be useful for design using Deane's directions - except - the tools in TurboCAD - I could find no way to do an arc by inputting the center and the radius.  And some of Deane's arc centers are on Mars.  So a drawing board seems to be it for anyone insane enough to try to design a 17th century 1st rate.  Now I can do what I need for lofting frame timbers from existing plans using a raster based drawing program.  The way I do it saves at least 80% of the work and time.  So, I can't reinforce your affinity for a drawing board.

I suspect that your rant on the loss of skills as generations progress, has always been expressed.  It probably started at least when the skill of chipping flint into sharp projectile tips was lost.  

So, I understand where you are coming from

NRG member 45 years

 

Current:  

HMS Centurion 1732 - 60-gun 4th rate - Navall Timber framing

HMS Beagle 1831 refiit  10-gun brig with a small mizzen - Navall (ish) Timber framing

The U.S. Ex. Ex. 1838-1842
Flying Fish 1838  pilot schooner -  framed - ready for stern timbers
Porpose II  1836  brigantine/brig - framed - ready for hawse and stern timbers
Vincennes  1825  Sloop-of-War  -  timbers assembled, need shaping
Peacock  1828  Sloop-of -War  -  timbers ready for assembly
Sea Gull  1838  pilot schooner -  timbers ready for assembly
Relief  1835  ship - timbers ready for assembly

Other

Portsmouth  1843  Sloop-of-War  -  timbers ready for assembly
Le Commerce de Marseilles  1788   118 cannons - framed

La Renommee 1744 Frigate - framed - ready for hawse and stern timbers

 

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19 minutes ago, Diver said:

I agree with your views.  I went through high school in the mid to late 60s.  I took all the shop classes, drafting, wood working, metal working, and mechanics.  I then went to a true technical college and took Machinst Mechanics training.  I consider myself an old school mechanic.  We used to rebuild parts, not just exchange them until the problem went away.  You would be hard pressed to find a Automotive Service Technician that can rebuild a starter, or turn a brake drum.  

I loved shop classes and drafting classes in middle and high schools. I went on to college getting a degrees in architectural design and commercial graphic design and even though I had spent my youth looking forward to a life as an architect after graduation I had a change of heart. I had always like working with my hands and went back to school to get an associate degree in automotive/ diesel repair.  I spent 20 years in the field as a auto/ diesel technician until I found myself spending another 15 years in the Labor Relations field.

I made extra money in graphic design and some architectural design in the first few years after school but enjoyed working on vehicles more. I totally agree with you on rebuilding parts and making your own repairs around the house or vehicles.  In the past it never crossed my mind to out source something that needed repairing or replacing.  I even did repair jobs on the side ( which if found out could have cost me my licensing ) but it just bothered me that someone who needed help couldn't afford the cost for the work needed done. So I would offer to do the work for the bare minimum and for seniors for the cost of parts or materials.  What I learned early on in school became the foundation of all I learned and done over the years. I have dabbled in so many different fields over my life and the things I had learned in school have carried me through all these years.

I am too old to do many of the things I could easily have done in my youth but just this past summer I did a brake job on my vehicle,  turning my own rotors myself.  I was a little surprised I was still able to do it even though I was pretty sore the next day.

 

As a side note and this might sound funny but while I was in High School is was mandatory for boys to take a class in Home Economics!  I was fortunate for this early learning during my two divorces, I would have starved and never known how to sew. LOL

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Tim wrote: I'm just curious,  does anyone still sit at a drafting board and design and draw anymore?

 

Actually, yes. I do preliminary drafting that way, scan and then transfer to computer. After years at a conventional drawing board equipped with a rail machine, I find it a rapid process to start with.

 

Jaager: I feel for your frustration with Deane. I think that there are errors either in his instructions or in the transcription. There is a small international group researching how hulls were drafted back in the 1680 time period. Slowly the 'shipwrights' secrets are being unravelled! All the evidence points to various ingenious mathematical and geometrical constructions by different designers such as Pett and Deane.

Be sure to sign up for an epic Nelson/Trafalgar project if you would like to see it made into a TV series  http://trafalgar.tv

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 Engineering drawings are a means of communicating; a language.  As such there are certain conventions that must be learned, orthogonal views, isometric views, etc.  There are also spatial relationships that must be learned and understood.  Laying out the head rails on a sailing ship is nothing more than learning how to project a “true view.”  It is also necessary to fully understand the mathematical concept of scale.  These skills are independent of the techniques used.

 

By taking a basic drafting course, these skills can be learned independent of computer jargon, file management, etc.  I also believe that manual drafting is a better way to learn and understand spatial relationships.  

 

A number of years ago I was appointed to the industry advisory committee for the engineering program at our local branch of the University of Minnesota, known locally and in hockey circles as UMD.  The first question being considered was what CAD program did local employers want their graduates to learn?  I explained that their graduates that we hired could quickly learn our CAD programs in a few days, and that my son who had graduated from Purdue had taken a one semester computer course; Spreadsheet, CAD, Data Base and that had been sufficient when he began his first engineering job.  I also pointed out that many of their graduates would benefit by improving their written communication skills.  Shortly thereafter I was disinvited from attending future meetings.

 

Roger

Edited by Roger Pellett
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41 minutes ago, kurtvd19 said:

Tim:

I too frustrated my Father after becoming a ME and doing drafting by hand long before CAD, I left the field to go onto the Fire Dept.  Actually followed after my Father and Maternal Grandfather going the FD route though they were volunteers. 

My education sure did help down the road when I became a Division Chief in charge of Fire Prevention and part of the job was to review drawings for commercial buildings.  All hand drafted and I was right at home.  Then we got our first high rise building - 9 stories tall and they were CAD plans.  I became a convert instantly.  I am still so many years later trying to learn CAD and resort to the drawing board because I can do it quickly.  Those first CAD drawings were so different in their presentation and I haven't seen this method used by any other firm since then but the electrical, HVAC, plumbing, sprinkler and other systems were duplicated on transparent sheets that could be laid over the floor plan one at a time or combined - one could see how one system crossed over another or couldn't because it was blocked completely.

Now the CAD programs can check for interference's, etc. that just can't be done by hand drafting.

But I have never sat down and looked at a set of CAD plans and marveled at their beauty like I have with hand done drawings.  Looking at ship plans done in CAD cannot compare to studying plans done in the late 1800s up to the 1930s where draftsmen showed wood grain, coal in the bunkers, etc. Some of these hand drawn plans are worthy of framing.  And I actually do have a large ink on linen drawing of a small sloop designed and drawn by Fred Martin dated 1903.  I see new stuff all the time - or maybe I forgot I saw it before - age can do that.

Kurt

 

My Father was furious with me especially since it was his money I spent.  But even though he disagreed with my career choice he always supported me in my endeavors. 

Plus I think he enjoyed the fact he got some return on his investment in free auto maintenance for 30 years.

 

As far as CAD goes I'm sure I could learn to use the program.  I am into photography and  video editing and have built my own personal computers for years in order to keep up with the best editing software.  You need a lot of CPU power and RAM plus a bunch of storage,  so I found it better to build my own with hardware I had researched for my needs then to settle with what the computer companies were offering . I know a CAD software would preform well on my desktop or laptops. 

I did purchase a CAD software back in 07 to see what it offered but ended up giving it to a buddy. I had even purchased a Home Design software around the same time but just could not get into really learning it and putting it to use and it too was given away.

 

I enjoy my Drafting Board more then anything.  Years back I felt I needed a bigger board so I designed and built my own. I went to a board size of 7'x5' out of 1" marine grade ply and Red Oak. I needed to be able to mount a Drafting Machine along with a Parallel Slide Bar.  I designed it so I can easily adjust it to any angle I desire and attached two floating adjustable "Full Spectrum " lights so I don't get any shadowing along the edges of my straight edges. I built a cabinet that fits under with large slide out flat drawers for paper and drawing storage. I designed a device much like a paper towel holder which mounts to the underside so I can attach a bulk roll of drawing paper which allows me to pull out and slice of a 24"x36" piece.

I have almost every drafting tool you can think of but from time to time I'll need a replacement or want for another template   I have been surprised at how cheap drafting tools have become especially on eBay.  When I was in school I used a certain brand of .05 mechanical pencil that I protected with my life because they cost $25.00  each and in the early 1970's that was a lot of money for a pencil.  I found a better feeling and better made mechanical pencil a few years back that not only comes in .05 but also .03 and .09 for only $30.00 for all three..  I am shocked how inexpensive these drafting tools have become compared to back in the day. The only thing I found to have held if not gained in cost is Vellum or Mylar drawing stock which is surprising. 

 

But I agree, I cannot see anything to write home about when viewing a CAD drawing. 

 

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1 hour ago, Jaager said:

Tim,

In school, we were tracked.  Mechanical Drawing and Shop were not even options for my group.  They were skills that could have used.  I still can't draw a neat straight line, being self taught. A smooth curve is right out.  I have always been a Gordian Knot solution sort, so the neat imperative on a school drawing would have blown my GPA.  Ralph Nader said he was too OCD neat freak to stay with engineering drawing and went into Law, where that sort of OCD was pointless.  My OCD is there, but neat or clean is not involved.  I could have also used a typing class, but that too would have wrecked my GPA.  Taught myself what I needed to know to be able to loft Kate Cory from Eric Ronnberg's 1/4" plans for POF framing.  Boy was that a time consuming and no fun experience! 

The take home lesson was to try to find a better method.

I also went a fair ways into designing HMS Royal Charles 1673 following Anthony Deane's directions.  I used the drawing board and it worked for it.  I lost him with the Body plan.  The directions were not clear.  I mistakenly thought that each of the stations was individually designed.  Trying to find a way to avoid the sort of extracted point plotting that was so awful in traditional lofting could be avoided.  I now understand that only about 3 Stations are designed.  The waterline are drawn using those few points.  Battens are used to get the curves.  The stations for the Body plan being back extracted.  There are many proof curves needed to assure that the waterlines are proper.  This leading to no joy as far as avoiding the plotting tedium, I switched to a computer based solution.  It was early DOS.  Still, I was having a hope that 3D CAD was a shortcut.  My explorations have lead to the following conclusions - CAD is for design.  It is not an easy or pleasant tool for POF lofting of existing plans.  It would be useful for design using Deane's directions - except - the tools in TurboCAD - I could find no way to do an arc by inputting the center and the radius.  And some of Deane's arc centers are on Mars.  So a drawing board seems to be it for anyone insane enough to try to design a 17th century 1st rate.  Now I can do what I need for lofting frame timbers from existing plans using a raster based drawing program.  The way I do it saves at least 80% of the work and time.  So, I can't reinforce your affinity for a drawing board.

I suspect that your rant on the loss of skills as generations progress, has always been expressed.  It probably started at least when the skill of chipping flint into sharp projectile tips was lost.  

So, I understand where you are coming from

I see your point on laying out lines for ship design.  I have seen many uses of CAD here and I'm sure it helps with the more involved dimensional work. I doubt I could even come close to drawing a ship without some sort of reference drawing. 

 

I did take a typing class in school, but for the life of me I have never been able to type other then to peck away. LOL I guess you retain somethings and not others.

 

One thing I seen here and cannot recall who it was that had it was a Drafting Tool I have but not thought of in years. It is a adjustable curve with weighted "Ducks" or thats what we called them because of their shape. It was a great tool for long curve work. See it brought back some good memories. 

I have complete sets of curves for all types of drawing and even though I have never done any ship design I still have a set of Draftsmen Ship Curves.  I have tools and aids I really never needed but for some reason I felt I had to have them. 

 

I don't see why OCD would bother him in getting a engineering degree. I always took pride in my neatness while drawing.  It was even more imperative when making final ink drawings,  one slip and you have a smear that was almost impossible to remove. 

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1 hour ago, druxey said:

Tim wrote: I'm just curious,  does anyone still sit at a drafting board and design and draw anymore?

 

Actually, yes. I do preliminary drafting that way, scan and then transfer to computer. After years at a conventional drawing board equipped with a rail machine, I find it a rapid process to start with.

 

Jaager: I feel for your frustration with Deane. I think that there are errors either in his instructions or in the transcription. There is a small international group researching how hulls were drafted back in the 1680 time period. Slowly the 'shipwrights' secrets are being unravelled! All the evidence points to various ingenious mathematical and geometrical constructions by different designers such as Pett and Deane.

May I ask, what size and type of scanner do you have? I have wondered if scanning drawings were possible in a home office setting.

Its hard to find local printing shops that have blueprint machines anymore. To have copies made of full sheet drawings  (24"x36") I have to go a place that can handle a large format and it can get pretty costly.  

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Interesting topic-- one that hits home. I took mechanical drafting and architectural drafting in high school (2 years of each; 1984-1988) right before they got CAD.  I enjoyed it plenty, and found it challenging.  ...Then went on to study art and English at college.  In 1998, I found myself documenting small watercraft and the skills from high school all came back . . . or rather were 'necessary,' as it took awhile for the skills to actually return. CAD is a wondrous tool (never used it myself) with so many more aspects attached (calculations, rotations, etc.), but to strike a line by hand on a fairing batten is to truly see and feel the curves of a vessel.  Not much I love more than inking the lines of a unique vessel whose form has not been recorded on paper in 3-view before. Right up there is my love for looking at others' hand-drawn lines. 

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30 minutes ago, mangulator63 said:

I don't see why OCD would bother him in getting a engineering degree. I always took pride in my neatness while drawing

Although he was probably being somewhat glib, Nader said that the compulsion for a drawing to be perfect would make finishing one next to impossible,  He would keep doing it over until it was perfect.  What startled me about what he said was that it seems to me that a brain capable of success in science or engineering would go absolutely starkers if trying to seriously deal with something as mushy as Law or related fields.There is no reliable foundation.  It is all too silly and arbitrary.

 

As for CAD, it is one thing to use it to generate something new.  That is its purpose.  It is something else to use it to replicate something that already exists.  It seems to want to do its own thing, its own way.  With a board and battens, you can massage the data.

NRG member 45 years

 

Current:  

HMS Centurion 1732 - 60-gun 4th rate - Navall Timber framing

HMS Beagle 1831 refiit  10-gun brig with a small mizzen - Navall (ish) Timber framing

The U.S. Ex. Ex. 1838-1842
Flying Fish 1838  pilot schooner -  framed - ready for stern timbers
Porpose II  1836  brigantine/brig - framed - ready for hawse and stern timbers
Vincennes  1825  Sloop-of-War  -  timbers assembled, need shaping
Peacock  1828  Sloop-of -War  -  timbers ready for assembly
Sea Gull  1838  pilot schooner -  timbers ready for assembly
Relief  1835  ship - timbers ready for assembly

Other

Portsmouth  1843  Sloop-of-War  -  timbers ready for assembly
Le Commerce de Marseilles  1788   118 cannons - framed

La Renommee 1744 Frigate - framed - ready for hawse and stern timbers

 

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Tim,

 

You're not alone!! I too, took mech. drafting in 10th grade (1962) and would have pursued an industrial arts path but my parents wanted me to go the "college prep" route instead. After a short college stint, 4 years USN, and back to college to finish, where did I end up??? Western-Electric doing board tech. illustrating prior to learning a pre-CAD computer based graphics program while working on the Safeguard Anti-Ballistic Missile Program. I then took a contract at one of the NC DuPont facilities doing board drafting until 1983 when they brought in IGDS Intergraph CAD - and I've been doing CAD (and a bit of board drafting along the way) ever since. I retired in 2019 but have a full size drafting table in my shop, along with a stand-alone CPU and single monitor for viewing the photos/drawings, etc. for my ship modeling. I have my same Samsonite Briefcase full of drafting equipment (circa. 1970's) and some of it is actually NIB (New In Box)!! A lot of those instruments can't be found anywhere and if you do they're usually of 3rd world mfgr.  I actually suppliment my CAD drawings with small board drafted sketches when I need to refine something without going back to the house where my CAD software resides. I've worked in various industries (Petro-Chem, Electronics, Facilities, Chemical, Food & Drug, Pharma, Bio-tech, etc.) and have also spent an unemployed year doing house plans for an overworked residential house designer.

 

My program of choice (45 years experience) is Bentley MicroStation 2D CAD and I still keep an active license - actually was working today on a stanchion/handrail layout for the pilot house overhead on a FLETCHER class DD that I am building. Another modeler/vet/acquaintance of mine in Fairbanks, AK and I began a self-taught 3D program called Design Spark Mechanical - a free download and it leads to making your own 3D printed resin parts. He's W-A-Y ahead of me at this point and I'll admit that when you use a Cadillac CAD program for 40 odd years and then try to learn a free CAD program - well.....it's not apples to apples. However, I am regularly using metric measurements now so that's some progress on my part. I now make sure I double dimension all my CAD drawings.  I also kept my light table (18x24) as well as a small 18x24 table top drafting board w/parallel bar - the light table occupies the right hand side of my large drafting board and is proving its value all over again. 

 

I can honestly say that most CAD people are NOT draftsmen and either don't have the education/experience of board drafting to understand what a drawing is (or should be) about. Layout and composition (which back in the day was expected!!!) are basically unheard of today and I'll admit that CAD drawings lack the "artistic" originality that the old pen & ink and pencil/vellum drawings had. I spent a week at NARA II in 2016 doing research with some other ship modelers & researchers and found a set of full size (60" wide) drawings of USS PENNSYLVANIA drawn in 1932 after her modernization. I had them scanned and will refer to them when I get to building my 1940s era BB-38 (1:200 scale) - the craftsmanship & artistic beauty of those old drawing is alone worth having a copy of them. I knew one of the Long Beach Nav. Shipyard managers who oversaw modernizations of BB-62 (in 1968 when I was aboard and later in 1981), BB-63 in his many years of shipyard service - and his CAD drawings, while accurate, lacked any sense of artistic ability at all. They were drawn to serve a purpose, not to be enjoyed. Such is 20....whatever. But, CAD  is here and I embrace it - as long as the drawing shows what's to be represented and the drawing as a whole is professionally created and rendered. Sigh...asking a lot😪 these days....!

 

The 3D end of things is where it's all headed (unfortunately) - because $$$ rules everywhere, it's as simple as that. However, it doesn't rule in MY shop and I do things MY way!!!:dancetl6: While my cohort in Alaska is designing 3D parts and printing them (some for me, as well!!) my efforts so far are not getting that far - so, I fall back on my old school handmade model parts, drawn up either on the board, from blueprints, or my 2D CAD drawings. I will pursue this because I have a brand new 3D printer sitting looking at me saying "Choose Me!!, Choose Me!!!" And also because in many cases, there simply aren't vendors selling all the various items we modelers need to build a scratchbuilt model. While tall ships, etc. are IMHO done best by old school methods, the steel ship is sort of hand in hand with more up to date techniques and abilities. A lot of my current model's parts will be 3D designed & printed in conjuction with the kit I started with and my scratchbuilt superstructure add-ons.

 

So, "YES, VIRGINIA - THERE ARE OLD SCHOOL DRAFTSMEN Still out here" - hope this gives you moral courage to continue your craft!

Construction Underway:

Entering Builder's Yard - USS STODDARD (DD-566) 1967-68 Configuration (Revell 1:144 FLETCHER - bashed)

In Development - T2 or T3 Fleet Oil Tanker (1:144 Scratch Build Model) - 1950s era

Currently - 3D Design/Printed 1/48 scale various U.S.N. Gun Mounts/Turrets and GFCS Directors (Mk. 34, 37, 38, 54)


Completed:
Armed Virginia Sloop (1768)
Royal Caroline (1748)
Sloop/Ship PEACOCK (1813) (Scratchbuilt)

USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62) 1967-69 Configuration (Trumpeter 1:200 bashed MISSOURI)

Member:
NRG
NCMM Beaufort -CSMA

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I was always on the "academic track" and ended up in law enforcement and then a lawyer, but I had the benefit of a father whose motto was "If you can't fix it, you don't deserve to own it." Well, back then, that was possible! He was an accountant who'd been born on my grandfather's cattle ranch in Montana and there really wasn't much he couldn't do. I learned woodworking and painting and darkroom photography and general "Mr. Fixit" skills from him. That wasn't the end of it. We lived in the SF Bay Area where there was a lot of education going on, and still is. He put me in a "gifted kid" electrical engineering program on Saturdays between fifth and eighth grades. I got to play with the first transistors and lasers and learn about electronics. My mother stuck my sister and I as "guinea pigs" in a university program for the Defense Department designing what became "language labs" for an entire summer. I still remember enough of that to find a bathroom in Moscow! I took typing in summer school as a freshman in high school and also took commercial art and a couple of semesters of mechanical drawing. Like a lot of modelers, I loved those courses and remember always being disappointed when the bell rang when I was in the middle of a project.

 

I grew up appreciating tools and have amassed quite a collection over the years. I have to admit I've got more tools than time to use them. I never stopped using my manual drafting tools and, while I fiddled with CAD enough to appreciate it's advantages, I also came to quickly realize that I could do an awful lot with manual drafting tools faster and more efficiently than I could with CAD, in large measure because of the learning curve, but also because nobody's really been able to create a CAD program that will spring a fair curve as well as a wooden batten.

 

The more I started drawing boat parts and plans, the more I found I needed some mechanical drawing tools that were going the way of the dodo bird. The first tool I decided to treat myself to was a planimeter. (Planimeters measure the surface area of irregular planes.) Not something I'd need to use all that often, but it made calculating vessel displacement tremendously easier and more accurate than the old "rules of thumb" techniques. I couldn't justify the cost of such a specialized measuring instrument, which I knew to be really expensive, until I realized that eBay was chock full of what used to be drafting instruments I had spent a lifetime lusting after and could never have justified spending the money they cost and they were practically giving them away. CAD was king and I'd discovered that "brief fleeting moment" between "obsolete" and "collectable." I started monitoring eBay daily and buying "nothing but the best" I could afford. I started researching and decided to specialize in Keuffel and Esser's "Paragon" line, which was their top of the line. I ended up with everything I could ever possibly find a use for, and then some. Hitting the market at the bottom was also a good investment because the "good stuff" has appreciated significantly as it became more scarce over the past decade or so. 

 

There's still some bargains that come up regularly on eBay and "users" are priced fairly, if you take the time to google up the old catalogs and identify the models that are desirable. Then there's always the thrill of the "bargains" that you come upon. It does the soul good to buy a complete cased set of Copenhagen ships' curves for $100 when they often go for three times that. I bought my mint-condition "old school" Hamilton 4X6' oak professional drafting table from a lady on Craigslist for seventy-five bucks! I did luck out getting into collecting before it became a "thing," though. I haven't seen anything but the standard ISO LEROY lettering templates for years now. They used to make them in all sorts of fonts, but those have apparently all been snatched up now. (You really need those old fashioned fonts to make a drawing look like it came out of the turn of the last century!) The big 10" K&E "universal" decimal proportional dividers, which are so handy for modeling, do still come up from time to time, and once in a while one in a "beater" case will go for less than a hundred bucks. I find a German silver "Paragon" set of drafting instruments, with their matching serial numbers like a prize Luger, resting in their green silk velvet French-fitted case  is truly "jewelry" and I get a lot more use out of the drafting instruments than my buddy does out of his Luger collection!

 

So, now that I've got mine and aren't worried about the competition, I'd encourage any modeler to "go for it." You don't have to go back to school to learn to draw with instruments. Just find an old high school mechanical drawing text book and start reading it. It's not rocket science... but tee-squares and slide rules did put the first men on the moon!

 

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And it's not just drawing plans, either. Check out this thread discussing the use of draftsmen's ruling pens for striking lines on models themselves. 

 

Edited by Bob Cleek
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Drafting by hand is an art form and the lettering is more noticeable than the line work on all forms of it. Other than Mechanical Drawing Classes in High School, my Professional experience was with Civil Engineering and Survey Drafting by hand. The trick to good usable drawings was the correct dimensions and accurate data in the tables used to support the drawing details. Someone had to provide that data or you did the Math Yourself, scaling was not good enough. We did our Survey Drawing by plotting grid points and connecting the dots, to do that we needed coordinates, we used Rectangular and Polar both and computed them by hand using Log and Trig Tables, 'not Slide Rules', then the HP 35 came along, beginning the race to computers using COGO. A good Coordinate Geometry Program, 'COGO', was a God Send, from it Cad developed and refined enough to be useful. Hand Drafting was a mighty tool for a long time, but it seldom stood alone. If you wish to design or build from your own plans, uses cad, or learn some Geometry and Trig to run and intersect vectors for dimensions, full size, your drawings with hand fitting oversized parts will work as it has for years.

 

Edited by jud
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I was trained in traditional draughting at school and later to the BS 308 draughting standard (now superseded by BS 8888). It used 0.7mm lines for object features and 0.3mm lines for dimension leader lines etc...those different line thicknesses made it easy to 'read' engineering drawings.

 

I keep promising myself I will learn 2D/3D CAD but my heart just isn't in it. I have a desk mounting, Rotring A2 draughting board and all the instruments necessary to quickly and accurately sketch up scale drawings of most things I need to draw.

 

I think one of the main reasons CAD draughting is dominant is that it forms a cost effective part of the digital manufacturing chain, the same chain that is replacing expensive humans at each stage.

 

Other small, but not insignificant benefits of CAD draughting is that A0 drawing storage and A0 printing is no longer required. And 'copies' of drawings can be sent in a second rather than days.

 

I have tried CAD packages but the learning curve seems too steep. If anyone can recommend a cheap, one-size-fits-all package that is easy to learn and suitable for mechanical engineering, ship plans and 3D printing I would be grateful 🙂

 

Richard

 

 

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Small scans are done at home, but large 24" x 36" sheets are taken to a local architectural reproduction/sign company office where I have the sheet(s) scanned at 300 dpi. The resulting scan is imported into any vector program such as Illustrator or whatever.

Be sure to sign up for an epic Nelson/Trafalgar project if you would like to see it made into a TV series  http://trafalgar.tv

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Drawing in CAD is absolutely amazing! I stumbled upon Solidworks in 2012, when a client I was working for as a consultant installed the software on my computer so I could help him improve the manufacturability of some of his parts and assemblies. It was quite a revelation. 

 

I took some preliminary courses in the subject and then I quit my consulting work completely in 2015 and enrolled in a Community College to get a diploma in CAD. Here was a 55 year-old engineer with a degree from McGill going back to school to get a technical diploma. It was wonderful. 

 

I now have a great setup, running a high-end laptop computer and the latest version of Solidworks.  With my eyesight making it difficult to build scale models, the software allows me to zoom and zoom and zoom. Also, I am allergic to CA glue now. Connecting stuff in 3D is really non-allergic. Finally, everything I can design can be sent to 3D printing or laser-cutting with the press of a button. 

 

 

Going back to the 2D drawings, when I started my learning curve on the subject, I pulled out three of my father-in-laws drafting texts from the 1960s, and drew and drew and drew. I think I must have copied 2,000 exercises from those books.  I now have industrial clients that hire me to take those old hand-drawn documents and convert them to digital copies. During the day, I work for industrial clients and, when I get a chance, I "build models" in 3D. 

 

The closest thing I can think of to a "one size fits all" package would be Solidworks. I have tried many of the "usual suspects"; Delftship, Autocad, Revit, Solid Edge (for more than a year), Rhino, and Catia. On cost/benefit basis, I have found Solidworks beats them all, hands down. 

 

However, it is costly to get a powerful computer and keep the software licenses up-to-date. I have no solution for you "on the cheap" but the pleasure I get out of Solidworks is more than worth it. 

 

You may find it's a lot of money to get involved ideally with the digital world of design but, once you're there, you will really enjoy it.   

 

Have fun!

 

Rick 

 

Rick Shousha

Montreal

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I took drafting in Junior, and Senior High School, and a couple in College(Electrical Engineering, the Mechanicals had a lot more). Drafted by circuit board designs by hand at work, until the Graphic CADs came along. Then went into software programing, as well as the computer hardware design.

 

All that came into use, when I went into process control programing (program the control computer for factories, or in my case water treatment plants).

 

Was given a copy of a CAD program, by a coworker, and have been using various new versions of that since 2D and 3D.

 

On an side note: I had to take a year of typing, which I got a "D" in. I got up to 10 words a minute, but they insisted I go faster, and I completely lost it, and have been a two finger typer since then! 34 years as a two finger programmer! The advent of computer monitor based programming, vs. IBM Cards, was a great blessing to me! Much easier to go back and fix all those typos! When I got into the process control field, I fell in love with the graphics side of laying out the operator control screens (which still had a lot of underlying coding going on).

.

 

One boss came in and saw me coding, and exclaimed "Your a two finger typer?". Then she stopped and watched for a short time and said "But you're fast!" and left me alone.

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The CAD program I was given was DesignCAD, and it is still my main one. I've been doing 3D printing designs in SketchUp, the free version.

 

I also took wood and metal shop in High School, and am another "fix it my self" type.

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Rick,

 

Thanks for the feedback.

 

The closest thing I can think of to a "one size fits all" package would be Solidworks. I have tried many of the "usual suspects"; Delftship, Autocad, Revit, Solid Edge (for more than a year), Rhino, and Catia. On cost/benefit basis, I have found Solidworks beats them all, hands down.

 

Being retired, I can't justify the cost of Solidworks (£7k-£10k ?) but it does look very competent. And, as you mentioned, it takes a fair commitment in 'time' to get up to speed on such software.  I'll maybe have to lower my sights and just keep my eyes open. I have tried SketchUp and FreeCAD but none seemed to match my main need for 2D draughting. 3D is a 'nice to have' but not essential at this time.

 

Richard

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1 hour ago, Rik Thistle said:

I have tried SketchUp and FreeCAD but none seemed to match my main need for 2D draughting. 3D is a 'nice to have' but not essential at this time.

Rik, if your main drafting interest is 2D, you may want to check out Coreldraw Suite 2020 for about $500 US or CorelCAD (2D and 3D) for around $700 US. Corel is also now offering month-to-month subscriptions.

 

I have used Coreldraw Suites since v 3.0 back in the early '90s and have found them to be very intuitive compared to the Adobe products. Currently using Coreldraw X7 for drafting ship plans. Haven't tried CorelCAD. All of these programs permit free download trials to check them out.

 

Terry

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I starting draughting in high school, grade 9.  I had draughting classes for all four years.  Went to college for 3 more years and was exempted from engineering drawing (draughting).  On graduating I got a job in 1975 as a junior draughtsman, on a draughting board... and found out how much I didn't know.  After years of training I was a senior draughtsman.  We had tall sitting stools at our tables but rarely used them.    We also did "napkin sketches"... now there is a lost art.  One fellow made left and right gremlin foot print stamps (toes and all) from two erasers and when you came in in the morning you'd find graphite foot prints across your drawing sheet.  I did pencil and ink drawings back then, but in came computers with AutoCAD.   

 

I miss seeing the draughtman's dance:  doing a few lines, standing back to review the work, stepping forward to fix or add to it.

 

With these computers everything was 2D and I eagerly climbed on board.  No more graphite smudges on my drawings.  The other plus was everyone's lettering was crisp clear and identical.  It was beautiful until you had to revise someone else's drawing and found they used umpteen separate short lines when one long line would suffice.

 

I could never get use to sitting all day.  When the option came to use a standing table I jumped at that.  I would have loved to have a treadmill but the boss wouldn't spring for that.  So I went for a walk every day at my break instead.

 

Then came 3D and my pet peeve for numerous short lines was exponentially increased as the darned programmes don't believe in a single line anywhere.  Don't get me wrong, I love 3D draughting.  If you've ever had to clean an area for clarity, it is a nightmare.

 

So retirement came just at the right time for me.

 

Now I use the Standard version of DraftSight (annual subscription) for my love of draughting, and the free hobbyist version of Fusion 360 for my love of 3D modelling (and preparing files for 3D printing).  I had a 4 foot draughting table at home but sold that off years ago.

 

I loved SolidWorks but personally found AutoDesk Inventor was a better program... I simply cannot afford the expense in retirement.

Edited by AON

Alan O'Neill
"only dead fish go with the flow"   :dancetl6:

Ongoing Build (31 Dec 2013) - HMS BELLEROPHON (1786), POF scratch build, scale 1:64, 74 gun 3rd rate Man of War, Arrogant Class

Member of the Model Shipwrights of Niagara, Niagara Region, Ontario, Canada (2016), and the Nautical Research Guild (since 2014)

Associate member of the Nautical Research and Model Ship Society (2021)

Offshore member of The Society of Model Shipwrights (2021)

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I miss seeing the draughtman's dance:  doing a few lines, standing back to review the work, stepping forward to fix or add to it.

😉

 

I did that dance for a few years. Then we moved to a more compact room and were supplied with draughtsman's chairs...but you can't work an A0 sized drawing from a seating position so we always ended up standing at the drawing board and then turning round and sitting at the design desk. And of course, I was younger then and standing for hours was not a chore.

 

3 or 4 companies and a number of job changes later, I retired early, and just at the time they were clearing out the 'old' drawing office...so a number of draughtsman's chairs were up for grabs...and I got one. It's been in my shed for years and I wouldn't swap it for any other chair...it's a masterpiece of functional design...robust, comfortable, stable, height adjustable, a ring to put the feet on etc...wonderful.

 

Richard

 

 

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Terry,

 

Currently using Coreldraw X7 for drafting ship plans.

 

If I ever get in to scratch builds (and I would like to, eventually) then maybe...but at the moment £700 = two good ship kits ... however one day I'll maybe have to bite the CAD bullet.

 

There were also some comments earlier on about investing in CAD training...so perhaps I should consider joining a CAD club or do night school to get a feel for CAD first.

 

Anyway, thank you for the comments.

 

Richard

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Richard said:

Quote

There were also some comments earlier on about investing in CAD training...so perhaps I should consider joining a CAD club or do night school to get a feel for CAD first.

 

I think any of these so-called computer groups or clubs, etc. can turn out to be a waste of time - I went to one of these "social group meetings" way back in the early '80s in order to enhance my MS-DOS operating system skills etc. and it turned into a 2 hour session of old geezers trying to sell everyone one of us "newbies" on their favorite software program at the time. Yeah, believe it - in 1984 there were actually computer geezers (old dudes in their 50s - LOL!!!) - and I'm now 74, go figure, right?? :omg: And, no one learned anything!! Perhaps finding another local individual with like interests might be a better and easier learning solution, etc. Your comment re. night school - not a bad idea - a lot of local tech schools/colleges, etc. offer evening CAD classes for beginning students and this might be helpful. 

 

My suggestion is (before spending any $$ on a CAD program) - determine what your use of it will be (drawing up model parts, house plans, nuclear weapons development - you know, the usual stuff:stunned:!) and then look around online for a FREEWARE CAD program that fits your needs. This will allow you time to see how "it feels" and perhaps download something different, etc. Back several months ago an online modeling acquaintance of mine proposed us both learning a 3D program to design & print parts to replace items he had handmade and wanted something a bit more refined. This way we could help each other in the learning curve (oh, YES!!! There is a learning curve!). So, I found the freeware Spark DSM and we both downloaded it and began learning it. Well, he did, I'm still struggling. Anyhow, it is a mechanical 3D design program that is oriented towards small parts, etc. - you wouldn't want to learn a CAD house design program for designing model parts, right? Once you know what the CAD program will be used for, decide whether you are going to build the parts from scratch or 3D print. I use a 2D CAD program for creating actual drawings to take out to my shop for making the wood or plastic scratch made parts. Now, when I want to make these as 3D printed parts I design them (or "visualize me designing them :default_wallbash:) in the 3D program which will eventually produce the files the 3D printer can understand. Oh, and that brings up another subject - the intermediate printer program you have to install to make a further printing file that the printer understands. Isn't this great???? Usually though, these programs are also available as freeware.

 

As far as board drafting tools, instruments, etc. goes - if that's your interest then by all means pursue it - once in a while a good deal hits Ebay or Etsy for old, used drafting stuff but sometimes the prices can be steep. I know that if I were selling any of my old drafting stuff I would be asking top dollar as those tools are in 1st class condition! And, a lot of those instruments/tools being from well known brands at the time are no longer in production and hard to find.

 

Lastly, having a drafting table and all of its attributes on hand has other advantages also. For example, when The Admiral is on the rampage, off her Quarterdeck with Cat in hand, having a modeling retreat complete with adjustable full size drafting table can provide 1) adequate shelter in case she catches up with you, and 2) when the board is adjusted to 0° (flat) it and a sleeping bag can provide a welcome place to retire until the Quarterdeck resumes "normal operations" and it's safe to come out. You'll just need to sneak out back behind in order to take a leak😁!

 

Hope this has provided sufficient inspiration and so forth,

 

Hank

 

Construction Underway:

Entering Builder's Yard - USS STODDARD (DD-566) 1967-68 Configuration (Revell 1:144 FLETCHER - bashed)

In Development - T2 or T3 Fleet Oil Tanker (1:144 Scratch Build Model) - 1950s era

Currently - 3D Design/Printed 1/48 scale various U.S.N. Gun Mounts/Turrets and GFCS Directors (Mk. 34, 37, 38, 54)


Completed:
Armed Virginia Sloop (1768)
Royal Caroline (1748)
Sloop/Ship PEACOCK (1813) (Scratchbuilt)

USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62) 1967-69 Configuration (Trumpeter 1:200 bashed MISSOURI)

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Hank,

 

Hope this has provided sufficient inspiration and so forth,

 

Yes, and then some 😉

 

'Maker Clubs' was what I was thinking of when I said 'club'. Yougsters exploring new ideas and gadgets...and good for them. I imagine they will use CAD even if only for 3D printing. But with current movement restrictions I suspect it will be at least summer time before I dare enter a room full of strangers.

 

In amongst the discussions  in this thread I was actually looking at Spark. More investigation required.

 

2D and 3D programs...yes, it might be that getting a freeware version of each it the way forward from a cost perspective but no doubt they will be made by different manufaturers so double the learning curve.

 

I've got all the board drafting tools necessary and was trained to BS308. I still find it very easy to use them to do accurate scale drawings. Unfortunately my drawing board is A2 sized and I am well over 6'...so no sleep overs on there 😉

 

Good chats on here, as usual...and maybe enhanced even further by the time of year.

 

All the best,

 

Richard

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, Rik Thistle said:

In amongst the discussions  in this thread I was actually looking at Spark. More investigation required.

Rik,

In regards to the Spark freeware - I'm pretty sure that this version is a lot less "user friendly" than their Spark Mechanical version that you have to purchase - at least, my experience with CAD & various software programs is that what's free is basic - no bells, whistles, or enhancements. And - this is where I'M having a problem in that I'm used to a professional level CAD program WITH all those extras. And I think that's why my acquaintance who's making great strides in using Spark is doing so because he's never had any prior CAD experience to confuse the issue, so to speak.  The kind of designing we are trying to accomplish is basically items for modern warship models (deck equipment, railings & stanchions, RADAR antenna, etc., gun mounts, and FC directors). This is pretty straight-forward using 2D drafting/CAD but can get very involved when you move into 3D and solid modeling, etc. My main problem (as I see it!) is finding the tools to do various manipulations that I'm used to having available in my 2D program - they simply don't exist and having to come up with a work-around gets very frustrating and when I do that, it isn't long before The Admiral gets wind and winds up The Cat!!🥵

My suspicions are that they DO exist, but only in the paid-for version of that software. They get you coming & going. 😭

 

But, looking back a few years ago - I built a 1/48 scale scratchbuilt model of U. S. Sloop of War PEACOCK (1813) and in the preparation stage and developing drawings, I produced some 15-20 2D CAD drawings in order to make all the parts for the various carronades, masts, yards, spars, as well as all the bulkhead drawings for the hull and much more. In addition, that was when I was working away from home and bought the 18x24 tabletop drafting board and used it quite extensively at night when I needed a quick sketch drawn up in order to continue construction.

 

Whether or not Spark is your "cup of tea" I can't answer, but is perhaps one of several you might investigate along the way.

 

Hope this helps!

 

Hank

Construction Underway:

Entering Builder's Yard - USS STODDARD (DD-566) 1967-68 Configuration (Revell 1:144 FLETCHER - bashed)

In Development - T2 or T3 Fleet Oil Tanker (1:144 Scratch Build Model) - 1950s era

Currently - 3D Design/Printed 1/48 scale various U.S.N. Gun Mounts/Turrets and GFCS Directors (Mk. 34, 37, 38, 54)


Completed:
Armed Virginia Sloop (1768)
Royal Caroline (1748)
Sloop/Ship PEACOCK (1813) (Scratchbuilt)

USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62) 1967-69 Configuration (Trumpeter 1:200 bashed MISSOURI)

Member:
NRG
NCMM Beaufort -CSMA

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As a child I took 9 years of art classes outside the regular school system. In these I learned about perspective, viewpoints and such, all for the purpose of making pretty pictures - what is called "art."

 

But I have always had the ability to create 3D perspective drawings on paper. For me it was fun. I made straight As in geometry in junior high school - it all came naturally to me.  In college my freshman roommate was majoring in engineering, and he had mechanical drawing classes. Like so many people he had no concept of perspective. I would look at the three-view (front, side, top) 2D images and just draw the 3D perspective for him by hand.

 

Years later I learned how to use mechanical drawing tools for work on drafting boards. I read through some drafting books and it was all pretty obvious. Again, it came naturally. I have always loved to draw (and still do), whether it is an artistic picture, a botanical drawing or an engineering plan for a house or machined part.

 

Then along came CAD in the late 1980s. We used AutoCRUD at first and it was awful! What we called a VERY user unfriendly program. One day one of the engineers tried a CAD program called ProDesign. One look at the user interface (the best I have ever seen on any program) and AutoCRUD went into the trash. We have used the same program ever since, although the program has changed hands from company to company several times. Today DesignCAD is considered to be a "hobby" program, and it lacks some of the bells and whistles of more expensive programs. But it is still a very capable 2D and 3D drawing program. Considering it costs about $100 with free bug fixes and technical support, and it has a great free user Forum where you can ask experienced users how to do things and solve problems, it is a tremendous bargain.  Some of the "professional" CAD programs I have also used ($15,000 per seat with $1500 per year fees for technical support and access to user forums) can't do some of the things the $100 DesignCAD can do!

 

So I have experience from both sides. I still do preliminary "back of the napkin" sketches on paper with pencil. I love working with wood and building wood ship models. But the ability to rework a drawing in CAD without messy erasers and whiteout, or just redrawing the entire thing as you do on paper makes CAD the ONLY way to go for a large complex drawing. If you have any doubts, just ask yourself how you rescale the size of text on a paper drawing that was created with a Leroy set? You start over and create a new drawing sheet - all of it. In CAD you click on the text and say I want it 25% larger, and while we are at it let's use a different font. And I can take an old CAD drawing and modify it to create new things without starting over from scratch.

 

But is it art, and can you use it for ship modeling?  And do you need 3D?

 

First, some people will never understand 3D drawing. One of their greatest handicaps has been familiarity with 2D drawing techniques, and even 2D CAD. In 2D you draw an image of something in the real world. In 3D you create an entirely new world. It is not drawing, drafting or anything like it - it is modeling, as if you were creating something out of modeling clay, only it is virtual clay. Very few 2D drawing techniques apply to 3D, and 3D CAD programs have a different set of tools. Instead of a pencil you have to learn to use a virtual chisel or drill. I know a fellow who has been using a 3D CAD program for years and still hasn't developed an understanding of 3D. He just doesn't get it when it comes to turning 2D sketches into 3D models. He cannot create the 3D image in his mind, and you have to be able to do this for 3D CAD. I think it would be better if he didn't try! But I was doing 3D perspective drawing with pencil on paper in grade school and instantly understood 3D CAD. So you should keep this in mind before you take the 3D CAD plunge. Like any program there is a learning curve, but if you understand 3D modeling it will be a lot easier to learn how to use the tools in the program.

 

Can you use CAD for ship modeling? Someone commented it was good for creating new designs, and that certainly is true! But I have seen a number of CAD models of historical ships, even wooden sailing ships. There CAD has a great advantage in some ways. For example, after you have created a double sheave block you can replicate it endlessly and even resize the copies with a few clicks. With a true CAD system you can control dimensions precisely, and that is important if you are copying the design of an historical ship.

 

Is it art? That depends upon what you call art. What is the purpose of the model? Any model, either wood or CAD? Is a chair art? I have seen a few that were exquisitely crafted, but in the end they are chairs, with a functional use.

 

Is this art?

 

496146440_USSOklahomaCityCLG-51971.jpg.200ec66d29bc28ce3fab6f4aac376d92.jpg

 

These are images of a CAD model of the USS Oklahoma City CLG-5 as it existed in the summer of 1971 (when I was aboard). It was created from the original 1959 blueprints with hundreds of modifications that were made over the years. It is a 1:1 scale model, 610 feet long in the CAD universe. You might rightly call me a "rivet counter" because I modeled all the nuts, bolts screws and rivets (everything) that were 3/16 inch (4.76 mm) across or larger in the real world. About 1/3 of the 1+ gigabyte file is nuts, bolts, rivets and screws (however, I did not model the threads - that would have made the file 50-100 gigabytes). There are several hundred thousand individual parts. It took 14 years to acquire the plans and photos of the ship and the equipment on board and convert them into the 3D CAD model.

 

It is not a CAD model of the ship like ship builders use. It only contains the exterior. None of the internal structure is included. But it is a model of an historical ship that was produced in 3D CAD. Perhaps I am boasting, but it may be the most accurate model of a ship ever created. However, it is certainly "too accurate" to be correct for its dimensions are  precise to thousandths of an inch, and for the most part the shipyards certainly didn't do that accurate work! And dimensions in the real world change with temperature and time.

 

So is it art? What is the purpose of a model? Can models be art? If the only way to truly appreciate the model is to view images, how is this different from looking at paintings of historical ships? Each of us has an opinion, and no one's opinions are any better than anyone else's' opinion. But I have enjoyed making this CAD model as much or more than any painting, photograph or wooden model I have made. It was fun!

 

If you are interested in this model and how it was built:

 

 

For a lot more more information about the ship see:

 

www.okieboat.com

 

 

Edited by Dr PR
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