by RNfanDan » Thu Jan 26, 2006 7:04 am
As a scratchbuilding veteran of pre-internet days, I can tell you that if you truly want to model a particular ship, but have no proper profiles, drawings, or plans, your task becomes more difficult. However, this does not mean
impossible, no matter what anyone tells you! I have been "transcribing" original model patterns for my scratchbuilds for more than 30 years, using alternate information.
These days, it is usually not required to go to the extremes I had to, as things are far easier to locate such as official drawings, photographs, and text documents. While I won't go into great depth here, suffice it to say that I've built at least eight reasonably-accurate models in this manner, using every scrap of photographic and other "evidence" available.
I drew my own plans on large pieces of pale green freezer paper, cut from a roll of the stuff I kept under my drafting table. My progress would often be interrupted, whenever I encountered an information gap. Completing a plan under those conditions often took weeks of painstaking and frustration, but in almost all cases, I would eventually find the required information.
I will caution you, that even with the comparative abundancy of drawings out there, they aren't always 100% reliable! I am currently scratchbuilding a certain ship model, not available commercially in the scale I work with. At least two sources have marketed plans of this subject, in other scales; BOTH are inaccurate in a noticeable way, depicting the ship with a rounded stern when, in fact, the ship in question did not have such a feature! Having indisputable, multi-sourced photographic PROOF to the contrary however, I ignored the plan's configuration and carefully built my model with a stern shape of much greater accuracy.
Even the most accurate of drawings can only be valid to a degree. Ships often change appearances, especially if they had/have long service careers. Take HMS
Hood, for example; this ship existed for many years, and went through a number of significant changes in appearance. If your plans are accurate for say, 1933 Hood, and you are modeling her as in 1941, guess what?
The key here, is to acquire as much research material on your chosen subject as you can get your hands on, and even if you have "accurate" plans, don't rely on them alone, to produce your finished product. Equally, don't rely on someone else's model---commercially produced or otherwise---to make yours from. Get hold of photographs, technical references, photographs, drawings, photographs, textbooks.....(did I mention photographs?
)....they're almost essential as back-up sources to your drawings.
My nickel's worth....Good Luck!!
As a scratchbuilding veteran of pre-internet days, I can tell you that if you truly want to model a particular ship, but have no proper profiles, drawings, or plans, your task becomes more difficult. However, this does not mean [i]impossible[/i], no matter what anyone tells you! I have been "transcribing" original model patterns for my scratchbuilds for more than 30 years, using alternate information.
These days, it is usually not required to go to the extremes I had to, as things are far easier to locate such as official drawings, photographs, and text documents. While I won't go into great depth here, suffice it to say that I've built at least eight reasonably-accurate models in this manner, using every scrap of photographic and other "evidence" available.
I drew my own plans on large pieces of pale green freezer paper, cut from a roll of the stuff I kept under my drafting table. My progress would often be interrupted, whenever I encountered an information gap. Completing a plan under those conditions often took weeks of painstaking and frustration, but in almost all cases, I would eventually find the required information.
I will caution you, that even with the comparative abundancy of drawings out there, they aren't always 100% reliable! I am currently scratchbuilding a certain ship model, not available commercially in the scale I work with. At least two sources have marketed plans of this subject, in other scales; BOTH are inaccurate in a noticeable way, depicting the ship with a rounded stern when, in fact, the ship in question did not have such a feature! Having indisputable, multi-sourced photographic PROOF to the contrary however, I ignored the plan's configuration and carefully built my model with a stern shape of much greater accuracy.
Even the most accurate of drawings can only be valid to a degree. Ships often change appearances, especially if they had/have long service careers. Take HMS [i]Hood[/i], for example; this ship existed for many years, and went through a number of significant changes in appearance. If your plans are accurate for say, 1933 Hood, and you are modeling her as in 1941, guess what?
The key here, is to acquire as much research material on your chosen subject as you can get your hands on, and even if you have "accurate" plans, don't rely on them alone, to produce your finished product. Equally, don't rely on someone else's model---commercially produced or otherwise---to make yours from. Get hold of photographs, technical references, photographs, drawings, photographs, textbooks.....(did I mention photographs? :eyebrows: )....they're almost essential as back-up sources to your drawings.
My nickel's worth....Good Luck!! :thumbs_up_1: