HMS Anson (1781) in Blender

[willard48]

Hello all!

This is my first ship building project in 3D (of many, I hope!), as well as my first post on this forum. I've always been very interested in the third rate ship of the line, and with the abundance of plans for the Intrepid class I decided to model the HMS Anson, in her pre-razee 64 gun configuration. While I am not modeling the frames behind the hull planking and making it as they were built in real life (though I have some seen some projects like that here, amazing! Perhaps for another project I will attempt that.), I am going for accuracy in every other area, but just not modeling things that will not be visible. I could add the framing later, however.

I am currently on my second go at this model. I find I learn new things and better methods along the way, and I have greatly improved the process and accuracy of my build. As of now, all the framing is in place, though I need the lower supports on the main gundeck. Now going through the "detail" interior pass. The exterior needs a pass as well, with the sheaves in the hull added, netting, further detail on the beakhead, figurehead, and stern gallery.

The plans I am utilizing are from Wikimedia Commons, with better looks at interiors from HMS Leopard (1790) cutaways. The configuration I am going for includes the higher walls on the quarterdeck and the chequer pattern as seen on Agamemnon, using the latest ochre from Victory.

I'll be posting more updates along the way! I've attached some progress pictures below, including the materials I created in Substance Painter on my first attempt, which I can thankfully reuse, though they need improvement. Haven't really focused on the material/render too much, so I'll be improving those and making them more photoreal later on down the road.

 

Edited 7 hours ago by willard48

[Waldemar]

 

A very attractive effect. To be honest, I personally even prefer such a more or less monochrome convention. It allows a better focus on shapes and structure, modelled, after all, with such care.

 

[willard48]

I think that’s a fair point, materials make some of the detail in the geometry be lost. I’ll look at the best of both worlds for future logs.

 

Added some more detail to the hold, as well as some sheaves and bitts. Also added are some of the lantern rooms. From now on, I’ll be going deck to deck doing the final detail passes. The hold needs a major one, as does the orlop; then it’s to the screens of the upper gundeck and quarterdeck. Last will be the furnishing, and then off to rigging. Then, Substance Painter materials!

 

I may need to revise my base hull mesh and add more polys beneath the waterline, as faceting is visible on the hold interior. Same for the lower gunwale. While I’m not aiming for low poly, I also don’t want to go too high. More detail is warranted, however. In my below image, I deleted the “non-visible” faces; I think I will add those back where they’ve been removed (support knees also) as I want to showcase the different layers of the ship. Thus, they will be visible. I’ll also construct the frames, in this case. Again, not going 100% accurate, but that will likely be the case for my next model.

 

I will add the images of the sheaves and bitts in my next post.