The Ship Model Forum

Hey all, I'm currently thinking about how to make the windows for my 1/350 SeaBus. The real windows stand proud of the bulkhead, so I can't use the method of making rounded holes in the corners of a rectangular hole.

Does anyone have any ideas? I'd try to make a regular rectangle and then manually trim the corners until they're round, but I can't see myself doing a decent job of all four corners multiplied by the 16 windows there are on the ship!

On the model, the dimensions of the windows are roughly 4.3mm x 2.61mm each.

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De quoi s'agit-il?

The radius of curvature for this 4.3mm x 2.61mm window is very small, so small deviations won't really show. Anyway. I'd start making a sanding template from brass strip/plate (not too thin! 0.5mm or so) and get one corner as nice as you can make it. To check: make an outline on paper with a pencil, flip the template, repeat: should be the same line, not necessarily circular, but still. Have two strips glued on the template 4.3mm and 2.61mm from the sides as a strop. Use the depth probe of a caliper to get the measurement down accurately. Start with the strip 2.61mm from the side. Make it a few cms long (err, inch) and measure at both ends to make it paralel. The other strip can be long as well, just make sure the end is a nice 90-degree angle and glue to the right position along the other strip. Use the same material for the strips as the windows so the new part is flush and you can hold the part (to some degree, you might need tweezers, pliers...). Glue from the rear of the strips or clean the template by scraping out excess glue. The position of the window against the strips is then the same for all windows in all positions. You can also use the template to sand all the windows to the same size.

Then just carefully sand away with wet & dry sanding paper and be patient You only have to spend time on one good fillet... even if the fillet isn't exactly right, it will be equally wrong for all windows and that doesn't show, except on pics of the model and ship in one frame with arrows pointing out your sloppy work. So don't

Timmy,

You might be overthinking this one. At 4mm x 2mm (roughly), even if you were to just cut .01" (or .005") strip of 2mm width to 4mm lengths and use as is, it wouldn't look too bad. But, you can easily go a step further and take your pre-cut rectangles and use a hobby knife to make tiny 45 deg cuts to each corner. At that size, that alone will give a very reasonable representation of the rounded rectangles (the eye will fill in the roundedness when viewing). For several more seconds of work, take a piece of fine sandpaper and smooth the corners (swiping across the thin section, not with the edge) and you'll have your perfect rounded rectangle. I do exactly this method to make the basic hatche shapes in 1/350 scale. After the first couple, you'll find that the eyeball "calibrates" itself and you can do as perfectly repeatable pieces as needed for this scale. It would take about 30 seconds per piece and if you mess up one, throw it away! Good luck! Show us how it turns out.

Timmy, I would cut the rectangles, then use a little white glue to glue them all together into a block, aligned properly, and gently sand the corners. Pop them apart, wash off the glue and you have them all the same. Do a few extra as well!

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Darren (Admiral Hawk)
In the not so tropical climate of the Great White North.

duh - I never thought of using white glue to hold the parts together.

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Martin

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday." John Wayne

Ship Model Gallery

These windows are about the size of this smiley:

Gluing sounds a bit tricky?

All excellent ideas, guys! Many thanks Obviously they work for you, so should work for me as well...right? Haha. If I get frustrated with one technique, I can always try the others

And Bob, you're right, of course - I'm probably making a big ado over nothing. None the less, it will be attempted! I have all of you to thank for this level of insanity


@Filipvs: Given your prior rudeness and complete lack of respect for other forum members, I don't know why I even bother replying to you - maybe because I'm too nice not to. Anyways, I'm working on this because I live in the same city in which it operates, and I got the drawings and plans for it directly from the operators of the vessel.

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De quoi s'agit-il?

Yeah, we do all enable each others craziness, don't we?


Wow! What a great situation. Most of us use second hand, suspect drawings and a few grainy photos. I envy you the ability to see your subject and work from the most accurate plans one could hope for. Of course, that raises the bar on our expectations from you!!! Looking forward to seeing it! Do you have a thread going for the build? I looked but didn't find one. Maybe I missed it?

I linked to the build thread in the first post, hehe!

Unfortunately, they were only able to give me plans for one of the earlier design iterations - approximately two years before the vessel was completed. I presume it's for security reasons, though they do have the as-built plans encased in glass on board the ferry itself... There have been quite a few detail changes that I'm having to eyeball. I can only pray that the dimensions for the structural items have remained the same!

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De quoi s'agit-il?

**thunk**
Well, that's just embarassing. Honestly, I looked and just plain missed it, hidden as it was in the very first sentence and highlighted as well.

I have done exactly what you need to . I used cd cases for the windows because it,s so wonderfully clear . You could probably get all the windows out of one clear top and bottom or two tops if the bottom is frosted . You can measure it out with a ruler and very sharp scriber and then cut them out with an X-ACTO knife by using the old method of dragging the knife blade across the plastic using the backside of the tip . When you get them all cut out then sand them smooth on the edges and round the corners while doing so . This is the easiest way I know of . If you want you can use the frosted bottoms and when done mount with the shiny side out . That way you don,t have to detail any interior spaces . I hope this helps you . commodore4