RRS Discovery 1901 by gak1965 - 1:72 - First Scratch Build

[Lecrenb]

56 minutes ago, gak1965 said:

 

Thanks Rick. Let's just say it took more than one try and leave it at that!

 

I've been working on the stem now. I had earlier cut and bent two pieces of wood that would represent the naval hoods (?) which have the hawse holes and the scrollwork on the stem. Drilling the hawse holes was easy, I've been working on the scrollwork which is much harder. Here is the ship stuck in the ice in 1901, you can see the scrollwork (probably gilded since it is a different color than the white stripe).

 

 

Here is the ship in 2010 with (nominally) the original bow:

 

 

Here is the ship today with a replacement (nominally identical) bow (licensed CC-BY at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1901_wurde_die_RRS_Discovery_in_Dundee_vom_Stapel_gelassen._02.jpg: 

 

 

The scrollwork is, to say the least, complex. My original thought was to simplify somewhat, cut it out from 1/32" thick bass, sand the edges, paint them, and mount onto the naval hoods (or whatever the correct terminology is). However, I have found that I can't cut even a simplified version out of 1/32" bass, the things just break (repeatedly). I've tried cutting things out from polystyrene sheet. This seems more promising, but getting something that doesn't look like it was done by a child has proven complicated.

 

Any thoughts on this? I've looked at some of the carving tutorials on the site, but they seem more focused on taking pre-cut items and carving them to be more three dimensional. Are there other materials I should be thinking about? I know that I'm going to have to simplify it given the scale, but so far my best attempts have looked simplistic at best.

 

Anyway, appreciate any insights anyone might have.

 

Regards,

George

 

PS - The Union Jack is going to be made separately.

 

 

 

 

 

Well, if it was me, I know I could not replicate the scroll work with any hope of fidelity to the original. I would take a picture straight on, or manipulate one with photo shop to appear straight on, then size it to model scale.

Then I would make a negative of the picture and send it to a shop that does electronic circuit boards or brass photo etching. You will end up with accurate scrollwork in copper or brass on a substrate. 

The substrate can be painted and become part of your head timbers.

Best of luck!

Regards,

Bruce

 

[Kevin-the-lubber]

1 hour ago, gak1965 said:

Anyway, appreciate any insights anyone might have.

Have you thought of making it from card, possibly stiffening this up with diluted wood glue to reduce feathering? Just thinking that it’s much easier to cut card with a scalpel than plastic.

 

(It doesn’t really help but this would probably come out well as a resin print).

 

ps. Not just any old card - I mean the good quality, smooth surface stuff from an art supplies shop.

Edited April 12 by Kevin-the-lubber
Add info

[gak1965]

Thanks @iMustBeCrazy, @Lecrenb, and @Kevin-the-lubber, thank you for the suggestions!

 

I tried using card, but I found it tore too easily. Maybe my blades aren't sharp enough, but it didn't work. And unfortunately, I don't have access to a 3D printer or an entity that will make a brass copy alas...

 

However, I then returned to a thinner piece of polystyrene, and was able to make something that, I think works...? (the pieces are not glued on yet, they are just sitting there to see how they look).

 

 

It's not perfect, it's probably as good as I'm going to get at this scale.

 

I also made the shield that is the figurehead on the ship.

 

 

It's not perfect, but it is probably as good as I'm going to get.

 

Anyway, I need to make a duplicate of the scrollwork for the port side, and then I can mount on the ship.

 

On a more amusing note. My wife and I teach math to apprentice shipwrights at the Alexandria Seaport Foundation, and when I was there, I noticed two gaffs being stored on the roof. At the jaws of one, there were standard wooden parrel beads. On the other, were these rather atypical ones:

 

 

Waste not, want not, I suppose.

 

As always, thanks for looking in!

 

Regards,

George

 

Edited Friday at 02:21 AM by gak1965

[Jared]

Well done George.   That certainly was no easy feat to make these!

[Lecrenb]

1 hour ago, gak1965 said:

Thanks @iMustBeCrazy, @Lecrenb, and @Kevin-the-lubber, thank you for the suggestions!

 

I tried using card, but I found it tore too easily. Maybe my blades aren't sharp enough, but it didn't work. And unfortunately, I don't have access to a 3D printer or an entity that will make a brass copy alas...

 

However, I then returned to a thinner piece of polystyrene, and was able to make something that, I think works...? (the pieces are not glued on yet, they are just sitting there to see how they look).

 

 

It's not perfect, it's probably as good as I'm going to get at this scale.

 

I also made the shield that is the figurehead on the ship.

 

 

It's not perfect, but it is probably as good as I'm going to get.

 

Anyway, I need to make a duplicate of the scrollwork for the port side, and then I can mount on the ship.

 

On a more amusing note. My wife and I teach math to apprentice shipwrights at the Alexandria Seaport Foundation, and when I was there, I noticed two gaffs being stored on the roof. At the jaws of one, there were standard wooden parrel beads. On the other, were these rather atypical ones:

 

 

Waste not, want not, I suppose.

 

As always, thanks for looking in!

 

Regards,

George

 

George, glad you found a method that works for you! 

Probably find plenty more parrels at the bottom of every water hazard!

Regards,

Bruce

 

[Rick310]

You’re doing a great job George!!

Rick

[Javelin]

I'm having some difficulty imagining the scale we're look at, but it might be worth a try to modify your current version with some tiny copper wire of various thicknesses to add a bit more complexity. (or build it up entirely ftom such wires, using CA as a filler between the wires) 

Depending on size, most people won't notice the joints after all. 

I'd probably glue the end of a 0.1 or 0.2mm wire to your carved piece with CA and then bend it to the required shape/curl that you need. Then cut off excess and glue the curl down. 

 

I find using slow curing CA easy, since it flows less around and allows removing excess glue for a while. 

 

I generally use stripped wires from power cables of telephone and other electric/electronic appliances. You find a variety of thicknesses between 0.1mm till 0.3mm wires like that. 

I'd have a go myself to better explain, but don't have access to my equipment at the moment. 

Below you see a built up crane jib from such wires. They can be bent very (too) easy and cut with any regular fine tip scissors.

 

Crane Sea Installer

Edited yesterday at 02:08 PM by Javelin