Painting Britannia rigging blocks to resemble oiled and varnished wood

[Elia]

Shipwrights,

 

I've made the decision to use purchased (Blue Jacket Shipcrafters) cast Britannia internally iron stepped blocks for my Arethusa model. I'm now faced with a cosmetic challenge: getting the cast Britannia blocks to resemble oiled wooden blocks. The masts and spars will all be oiled and varnished, at least in appearance, and I want the blocks to not stand out or be obviously not wood.

 

Do any of you have suggestions on painting techniques which would yield reasonable and acceptable results? I'm open to trying any technique which might work. I have painted with Floquil enamels, Poly S acrylics, and Liquitex artist's acrylics.

 

Thank you in advance,

 

Elia

[CAd My Fingers]

Elia, I've seen it done on other model building sites (may want to give the subject a Google). Basically you prime, then use darker & then lighter shades of browns. Leave brush marks if you want to simulate grain. Given the sizes of most blocks, I'm not sure how well the technique will work--you'll likely have to experiment to see what may work.

 

Jay

Edited September 15, 2013 by JMaitri

[riverboat]

Elia, you might try primer coat ( let these coats dry real good )then use a buff coat or light tan ,

then dry brush using a dark brown or umber.

Frank

[russ]

Bluejacket sells a toner for Britannia metal.

 

Russ

[wefalck]

Britannia metal probably is best primed, as the tin alloy has a slightly hydrophobic surface. This holds particularly when using acrylics.

 

On the model of the Zuiderzee-Botter I spray-painted the homemade Plexiglas-blocks in a light tan and brushed on washes of burnt umber acrylics. They then were sprayed in a semi-gloss varnish. I would avoid simulating any wood grain, as for good reason tough fine-grained wood would habe been used for blocks.

 

Another method of painting I used is to first spray-paint the blocks in a light tan and then to apply a solvent-based tinted wood varnish.

 

wefalck 

[BareHook]

You could chemically blacken them and then use wood colored paint on the "block" portion and leave the strope black.

[Elia]

Thanks all for the ideas or suggestions!

 

Jay, Frank,

 

That is what I originally had had in mind, and will try.  I think I need to make and finish one of the masts to get an idea of the colors, tones, and graining patterns. 

 

Russ,

 

What is that toner by Floquil for britannia?  Does it act as a primer?  I've used and like their gray enamel primer.  Or does it somehow alter the appearance (color, texture) of the britannia?

 

wefalck,

 

Thank you for the suggestions.  I don't have an airbrush and my experience with Floquil enamel spray cans was less than desired.  I could never get a nice, thin even coating.  It always yielded thick, almost orange peeled surfaces.  So I think I'm limited to just brush application.  I have a couple of cans of dullcote and could use that to protect any acrylic 'topcoat' over the base coloring.  As noted just before I think I need to finish a mast so as to get a basis for a proper block color.  I've been using Liquitex acrylics for the hull color and have burnt umber tubes around.

 

Brian,

 

The internally iron stropped blocks look visibly different than older era wooden blocks with external iron or rope stropping.  I may have made more trouble for myself with having to paint the blocks, but the shape/configuration of the blocks is right for Arethusa's age.  I had considered for some time making wooden blocks, but when I saw how many of the 3/32" long and 1/8" long blocks there were, and they would have had internal iron strops (think narrow, thin brash strips)....it hurt my head.  Without high precision machining capability I couldn't see how I would make the block elements.  There are quite a few excellent mass produced wooden blocks down to the 3/32" long size but they just aren't the right configuration for my ship. 

 

Barehook,

 

Interestingly - by Arethusa's time the iron components were galvanized - so that all of the 'ironwork' on the ship, save for the anchors, the deck pumps, and a few odds and ends, where a dull silver.  You'll see when I post update pictures the galvanized ironwork.  It appears quite different than black ironwork.  It has taken me a little time to warm up to the silver as I innately expect the ironwork to be black.  So blackening won't help this cause.  Thank you for the suggestion none the less.

 

Cheers,

 

Elia

[wefalck]

Blocks with internal iron strops are a pain ... so far I have not had a good idea how to make these, particularly in smaller scales/sizes. There is just not enough 'meat' at the top of the blocks to glue in the eyes or hooks. At the bottom end this is not an issue.

 

I don't think blocks and mast/spars would be of the same colour. They would have be made of different kinds of woods. In the late 19th and 20th century blocks also were often painted, e.g. white or 'mast colour'.

 

wefalck

[russ]

Elia:

I do not know anything about Floquil. I suggested using the toner sold by Bluejacket. It is not a primer persay. It works like any other chemcial toner. Not sure what the resulting color might be.

 

Russ

[Elia]

wefalck,

 

So true - the very very small iron strops on the 3/32" and 1/8" blocks were just too small for me to understand how to make the strop, drill it for the sheave pin, and insert the strop into the block.  At larger scales it didn't seem as difficult (5/16", 1/4", etc).

 

On Arethusa both the blocks and masts/spars were not painted.  The masts/spars were varnished.  The blocks were also varnished.  They very well were different wood species - though I don't know specifically what the blocks might have been.  All I have are old black and white prints of the ship.  Do you have any suggestions or thoughts on the block wood species, coloring?

 

Cheers,

 

Elia

[Elia]

Russ,

 

Oh, my mistake.  I thought it was a Floquil toner.  Maybe I'll give BJS a call and see what they say it does to britannia.

 

Cheers,

 

Elia

[wefalck]

Elia, I consulted a 1903 German textbook on rigging (written by F.L. Middendorf, who designed the 5-mast ship PREUSSEN) and he says that in the past (counting from 1903) ash and elm was used with sheaves from ironwood or bronze (or cast-iron for wire rope). Actually, for blocks with internal straps (which came into use in the last quarter of the 19th century) the wood is not so important. The wood there is not load-bearing and just serves to prevent the iron 'cage' of the sheave from fouling and chaving rigging and sails.

 

So, I guess you can paint the blocks in any tint you like.

 

wefalck

[Elia]

wefalck,

 

Thank you.  Yes, the wooden portion of the blocks weren't part of the load path, but kept the rope on the sheave from jamming or getting tangling with other lines.

 

In thinking through your suggestion on painting - my plan will be to pick a base color of light to medium tan, and then apply over it a medium to darker brown color, attempting to leave the base color somewhat showing through.  This will be a learning experience for me.  Interestingly I fell into what now appears in hindsight to be a similar effect - but on the ironwork.  I mentioned previously that it was galvanized.  I had painted some of the ironwork black initially.  When I went to repaint it with Floquil old silver (or whatever it is called) the silver didn't fully cover the black.  I thought it looked better with the black undecoar than when the britannia parts were solely painted with the old silver - they looked to 'bright' to my eyes.

 

Cheers,

 

Elia

[wefalck]

Indeed silver paint tends to be a bit to shiny (though new galvanised parts are rather bright in real life). I tend to start off with a layer of silver and then apply a wash of umbra to tone it down. Or, I start off with black (or gun metal) and then apply a thin coat of what is sold as 'rust' paint (e.g. Vallejo), which essentially seems to be a mixture of silver and umbra. One has to experiment to get the right sheen and tint.

 

wefalck

[kayakerlarry]

I had the same question from my Bluejacket blocks and just found this thread.  I did a Google search and found really cool looking basswood and pear wood blocks at www.syrenshipmodelcompany.com.  Has anyone used these?  Looks like the way to go.  

[mtaylor]

I had the same question from my Bluejacket blocks and just found this thread.  I did a Google search and found really cool looking basswood and pear wood blocks at www.syrenshipmodelcompany.com.  Has anyone used these?  Looks like the way to go.  

 

Actually many of us have.  Chuck (owner of Syren Ship Model) is an admin here.     Everything he sell is quality.

[MrBlueJacket]

Here is a picture of our blocks (rope stropped) painted with Testor's "Dark Tan" rattle can after cleaning the blocks in lacquer thinner.

 

Lay some making tape sticky side up, place the blocks on it, spray, let dry.   Flip the blocks over then repeat.

Edited December 28, 2015 by MrBlueJacket