HMS Monmouth (F235) by king derelict - Trumpeter - 1/700 - PLASTIC

[Landlubber Mike]

Hey Alan, looking really great!  Lots of fine detail work.  I know what you mean about knocking things off.  I’m considering in upcoming builds attaching a block to the bottom of the hull (for waterline ships) and sticking the whole thing in a vise.  I got two different vises from Dspiae that might help alleviate my problems of knocking things off, etc.  I’ve set the hulls on things like old paint jars and plastic shot glasses, but the set up is not very stable.  In a vise though, it should be a lot better.  The Dspiae ones are a bit pricey, but the vise bases are weighted so they are quite stable.  And, having the whole thing in a stable setup would make attaching parts much easier than laying the model on the bench, holding it in one hand, etc.

 

For seascapes, what I do is before any work is outline on a piece of thin cardboard the waterline of the ship using the top half of the hull.  Then when I’m ready to do the seascape, I can place the cutout on the base and figure out orientation and build up the sea around where the ship will be.  Make it a touch bigger and then all you have to do after you glue the ship into the base is fill the minor gaps.  I learned on my first couple that it is tricky to do this after the model is mostly completed because you have the risk with the fragile assemblies and it can be difficult to get a fairly accurate outline of the waterline if you’re trying to keep the model stable on a piece of cardboard while tracing it.

[king derelict]

7 hours ago, Landlubber Mike said:

Hey Alan, looking really great!  Lots of fine detail work.  I know what you mean about knocking things off.  I’m considering in upcoming builds attaching a block to the bottom of the hull (for waterline ships) and sticking the whole thing in a vise.  I got two different vises from Dspiae that might help alleviate my problems of knocking things off, etc.  I’ve set the hulls on things like old paint jars and plastic shot glasses, but the set up is not very stable.  In a vise though, it should be a lot better.  The Dspiae ones are a bit pricey, but the vise bases are weighted so they are quite stable.  And, having the whole thing in a stable setup would make attaching parts much easier than laying the model on the bench, holding it in one hand, etc.

 

For seascapes, what I do is before any work is outline on a piece of thin cardboard the waterline of the ship using the top half of the hull.  Then when I’m ready to do the seascape, I can place the cutout on the base and figure out orientation and build up the sea around where the ship will be.  Make it a touch bigger and then all you have to do after you glue the ship into the base is fill the minor gaps.  I learned on my first couple that it is tricky to do this after the model is mostly completed because you have the risk with the fragile assemblies and it can be difficult to get a fairly accurate outline of the waterline if you’re trying to keep the model stable on a piece of cardboard while tracing it.

Hi Mike, thanks for the information, very helpful. As you can see I’ve been using old pill containers for holding hulls and assemblies. The child proof top means you can rotate the model without any risk of unscrewing the lid which I find useful when painting the miniatures. I usually fill them about three quarters full of water which helps with stability. I’ll look at the Dspiae vices, that may be a better solution.

The idea of tracing the hull outline to use as a template for the seascape is a good idea, I’ll give it a go. 
I need to start some serious planning for the seascape.

Thanks again 

alan

[Old Collingwood]

Great work Alan  - certainly coming along.

 

OC.

[king derelict]

On 12/6/2025 at 7:48 PM, Old Collingwood said:

Great work Alan  - certainly coming along.

 

OC.

Thank you very much OC, the PE is giving me fits this time but most of the tiny stuff is done. Lots of railings and lifeboats still to do though.

l’ll take a bit of a break with the seascape for a bit.

alan

[king derelict]

I don’t think I can progress Monmouth any further until I have the seascape ready to take the ship. So, onto the seascape!

I’m using my usual one inch thick extruded polystyrene sheet, bought in a twenty four inch square and now cut to five by twelve inches. I find this material much easier to cut and shape compared with expanded polystyrene. I used a scalpel to cut out the outline of the hull.

Then I used a hot wire cutter to carve the rough wave shapes I want. According to my ancient copy of Allard Coles “ Heavy Weather Sailing” a seventy mph wind on open seas can be expected to generate waves of around 65 feet. So at 1/700 anything around an inch would be acceptable.

 The dressmakers pins are holding pieces together while the glue dries.

Then Sculptamold was added to break up the flat and smooth surfaces and to further define the waves. Once this has dried I will add torn up paper towels soaked in diluted white glue to refine the surface and build small waves.

As always this is very experimental and may evolve in unplanned ways.

Thanks for looking in, the likes and comments.

alan

[Old Collingwood]

Looking good so far Alan.

 

OC.

[king derelict]

22 hours ago, Old Collingwood said:

Looking good so far Alan.

 

OC.

Thank you very much OC 

[king derelict]

Today I used torn paper towels soaked with diluted white glue to soften the scuptamold surface and then pushed around the wet paper to form smaller surface details. Some edges have been left to help the modeling of the wakes around the hull.

This is now drying. I may add another layer tomorrow.

Thanks for looking in, the likes and the comments 

Alan

[mikegr]

10 hours ago, king derelict said:

Today I used torn paper towels soaked with diluted white glue to soften the scuptamold surface and then pushed around the wet paper to form smaller surface details. Some edges have been left to help the modeling of the wakes around the hull.

This is now drying. I may add another layer tomorrow.

Thanks for looking in, the likes and the comments 

Alan

Try to shape the waves in a way they look they come from the same direction. Make a corridor at the stern for the wakes that should be almost flat