The Ship Model Forum

Have a look at this master (Song Jung Gun):
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=83428

I copied this method at 1/700: Fo the previous examples I only used the saw for vertical cuts (these are small WW1 destroyers). But it's better to also make horizontal cuts with the saw before removing anything (when the ship in being is still just a box: easier to handle with the saw). Then I strenghen the bow with a razor blade, which helps giving a sharper bow with less rick of messing it out when sanding. Bye.

I did a 1:192 Alaska hull of styrene in the way you describe and it came out quite well. I ended up building many superstructure basic parts and the main turrets out of plexiglas, cut to shape, or in the case of the fire control tower boxed in and laminated and sanded to proper shape. I like it for many things as it is strong, and quite inexpensive. Cuts well on a bandsaw.

For framing the hull as you describe, make sure to allow for the thickness of the sides.

Sounds like a lot of fun!

T

I'm not a big fan of bread and butter since it takes a lot of job to make it actually work.

For hollow, light structures, your "tree" method is most used (depends on the size of the ship though). There are however different techniques in finishing after building up the tree.
If you want to use styrene strips, you'll have to take that in account in the size of your frames, so you'll have to reduce the width of the frames with 2*thickness of strips. In small ships, this creates a couple of problems with fitting towards the keel and deck. Keel is not a problem in your case, but if your deck ends at a sharp point these strips may cause some trouble. If you go to larger scale, like 1/350 or 1/400 this is less of a problem (also because the frames have some decent size then). In 1/700 you may find out that if you reduce the width with the thickness of strips, you will have frames that hardly have any width left, particularly difficult with curves.
For this method you have to make a search to Bento's 1/400 Sperbrecher (in Online Scratchbuilds board). He used the strip method, along with others, but he explains it really well.

My preffered method for 1/700, after testing also bread-and-butter, is making the "tree" and then place plates between the frames to create hollow spaces inside. Once that is done, I put Milliput filler along the length. When it's dry I sand it untill the frames come through (styrene colour is different from white Milliput). When that's the case I'm more or less sure the shape is accurate. It also creates a strong hull. Pictures of this method can be found with a search on 1/700 LPG or Donau, Flanders Harmony or Excel. I've currently started a 1/400 full hull model trying to apply the same method to see how it works.

Bread and butter is ok for WWII destroyers or similar sized vessels, you go for horizontal layers of 1.5 or 2mm styrene, reach layer should then have the outline of the level on the top. Once stacked, you make them fit each other by carving. As I mentioned before it still takes considerable effort to create the right curves while matching the layers.

"Bread-and-butter" or "sandwich" is the other method - instead of vertical frames, you have the decks instead, assuming you have the deck plans. You then just sand them until they are smooth on the sides and one deck blends into the other to form the hull.

I am looking at a couple of different projects for future scratch building, all of which are ships that there are no kits of in my preferred scale (1/700). I like to work in 1/700 and I prefer waterline (which should make it easier one would think). I don't think 3D printing is going to be a realistic approach for me as I don't think I have the money for it. I do have access to AutoCAD and I am very proficient with it and was thinking my approach would be to try to replicate the hulls in CAD with frame lines and then cut the corresponding pieces out of plastic stock. I would then start building a tree so to speak with a central spine and the frame lines attached to the spine. After that I could plate over the tree with plastic stock strip. Having never scratch built a hull and having such a wide range of extremely talented builders here, I'd like to ask a question or two of the experts. I guess I'd really like to know what the different methods are that are commonly used to scratch build hulls from just drawings? Is there an easier way than my approach? Is it better to make the hull from balsa or solid wood and carve and sand to get the appropriate shape?

Ultimately, what is the best method for producing a waterline hull? I am looking to find what works for several different people, the pros and cons for each so to speak and try several approaches to see what my thoughts are on each before I decide for my own work going forward.

Thanks in advance for any light you can shed on my topic.