The Ship Model Forum

Hello

As a new poster, I hope you'll forgive a series of naive questions.

The models to do (mainly RN and Kriegsmarine WWII 1/700 and 1/350) are stacking up; a few tentative steps have even been made. But I have a problem which might be best expressed as a series of questions.

1) Boot-topping appears defined by manufacturers with either a separate insert plate or by raised, moulded lines. Can I trust either to provide accurate, scale representations?

2) The photograph of an American vessel, the Cassin, on Page 9 in the booklet 'United States Navy Warship Camouflage 1939-1945' by Chris Ellis (Pique Publications, 1975) shows the full bow extent of the boot-topping very clearly. The accompanying caption states that it is a 6ft band. Was this a constant across all types of warship? And warships of all nations? Was it even a constant along the full hull length? I'm thinking here about the stern of vessels and the impact that hull curvature might have.

3) I'm wary about generalising on the basis of such a narrow evidential base, but would boot-topping at 0.52 centimetres and 0.26 centimetres wide for 1/350 and 1/700 respectively be appropriate?

4) Finally, and perhaps dumbest of all, what is boot-topping actually for? Was it simply a cosmetic device to hide the accumulated muck at the waterline? If so would warships on active service bother too much about it?

Thanks
Nigel

1) The plate you describe is for use if you wirsh to build a waterline model rather than full hull. You'll find that the hull iieces won't all fir together. Either the plat or the lower hull will fit to the upper hull. The only completely accurate way to place the boot top is from scale plans
2)Boot-topping painting. - The boot-topping area on oilers, cargo vessels, and similar craft with a wide variation in service drafts shall extend from a light-load waterline to 6 inches above the full load waterline.

The lower edge of the boot-topping area on other surface vessels shall be the designer's waterline and the upper edge shall be 6 inches above the full-load waterline.

On submarines, the boot-topping shall extend for the waterline at maximum beam to the intersection of the superstructure and the outer hull.

(1943 Navy painting instructions courtest http://www.shipcamouflage.com/painting_ ... 3.htm#HULL.

3) The width of the boot top would thus vary according to ship class.
4) The purpose of boot topping is protection of the hull. It is not even a simple black paint. The surface action of salt water has almost abrasive effects on painted surfaces.

Others could probably explain better

_________________
Russ

Thanks Russ (?)

So it's as complex as I feared.

Perhaps then the accuracy of any moulded guidelines for the 'boot-topping' (as for example on the Tamiya 1/350 Prince of Wales) will depend on the veracity of any scale plans used in designing the model? Or do we have any evidence to suggest that such guidelines are at best just educated guesses and at worst completely arbitrary ?

Best wishes
Nigel

Nigel,

For the utmost accuracy, you really do need accurately scaled plans. With the number of modelers out there, a set for the POW should be available.

Failing that, there is http://www.the-blueprints.com/blueprint ... _of_wales/
If you register on this site, the images get better. It is free.
Then you eyeball it or use a set of calipers to calculate the ratio of distance on the drawing and apply those to your model.

From this drawing, it appears that the boot top runs in the middle of the torpedo pelt.

I searched "scale ship drawings" on my browser

Russ

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Russ

Russ
Thanks for getting back so quickly and for the advice.

Best wishes
Nigel

Nigel,

The top and bottom of the boot topping are parallel to the ideal full load waterline, so the boot topping is not a constant width where the hull has significant slope or curvature.

A ship should float with the water line somewhere within the boot topping. In other words the lower hull color (red, gray, whatever) should not be visible when the ship is stationary in calm water. The bottom of the topping is the light load water line - where the ship should float with no fuel, cargo or ammunition aboard. Basically this is how the ship comes out of the yards. On the other hand of the top of the boot topping is under water the ship is not trimmed correctly - or is sinking!

Finally, the boot topping was not always painted the same on all ships of a class. For example, the CLG modiifications of the Cleveland class light cruisers were all too top heavy. To correct this the Navy put cast iron ballast bars in fuel tanks, up to 1200 tons on some ships. After this inclining experiments were performed and new full load waterlines were determined. Then the boot topping was repainted.

Some navys and commercial firms paint a decorative trim line above the boot topping.

_________________
A collision at sea will ruin your entire day. Aristotle

Dr PR
Thanks for the information. Through this forum the scales are gradually falling from my eyes!

Best wishes
Nigel

As a former real life tanker captain I concur with all the advice you,ve been given.On the ships I commanded though ,there was some quandries though.When loaded (PACIFIC)the deck was only 6 1/2 feet above the water. In the ATLANTIC the depth to water from deck was 8 foot 6 inches . The different salinity and lack of same governed this particular painted area too! In fresh water my LOADED waterline was allowed to be 10 feet 2 inches above the water. You have to remember that ships bouyancy was affected by load and ,YES,the salinity or lack of it where the ship normally operated.This has caused some ships to look rather weird.The Examples are to numerous to count .I have seen ships with "boot topping" to the so called waterline and some with a different color topping that carried to the ballast or empty waterline.Believe it or not ,AMBIENT water temperature also plays a part here! the colder the water the deeper the loaded ship sits in the water! I hope this helps you in the endeavor.I would say ,do what I do. Establish the loaded waterline and let that be the top,then let it get weaker and almost disappear at the ballast load line. I have never gotten into trouble in shows because of the way this is done. commodore 4

commodore4,

Thanks for the info. I recall studying this many years ago in officer's training, but I never sailed on a tanker. For an illustration of a tanker (fleet oiler) boot topping look at this photo:

http://www.okieboat.com/Photos/99%20UNR ... 4%20C.html

She was running high and dry! Use the buttons to see a few other examples.

_________________
A collision at sea will ruin your entire day. Aristotle