vacuum formed sails question

[biggles2]

Does anyone have any suggestions on making vacuum formed sails, such as in Heller kits, look good? Or suggestions on replacing them? I've tried them before but always look like crap!

[Channell]

Does anyone have any suggestions on making vacuum formed sails, such as in Heller kits, look good? Or suggestions on replacing them? I've tried them before but always look like crap!

Honestly? Go with actual cloth instead or delete them altogether. Vacuformed sails will never look like anything but vacuformed sails.. which is to say, cheap, unconvincing and cartoonish looking.

[marijn van gils]

I agree, they are best replaced.
In larger scales, actual cloth can be best, but in smaller calls I would use paper instead as the cloth texture would look out of scale.

If you're really set on using vac-formed sails, the best you can do is sand all edges paper-thin. The thick edges are usually their main problem.

Cheers,

Marijn

[wefalck]

There are several Web-sites that describes using paper of various types to make sails. In my building log on the Zuiderzee-Botter (viewtopic.php?f=59&t=152611&hilit=botter&start=20) here in this forum I am describing making sails from individual panels.

The type of paper to use depends on the scale of the model and the type of sail. In general, however, the thinner the better. Just imagine the scale thickness of a cloth that may a few milimetres thick at most. For this reason, real fabric is unsuitable except for really large scales, say 1/24 or above, though it is used widely in the shipmodelling community, if you want to achieve a realistic effect. This also goes for the stitching, hand or machine, that is usually used to simulate the seams of the individual cloths.

Attaching the bolt-rope is always a bit of an issue. It depends on the scale and the situation. Before writing an essay about it, it would be better to know more about the planned model and how it is planned to depict it.

BTW, another issue with the vacuum-formed plastic sails is that they often have features, such as reefing lines, formed on, that have nothing to do with the sail itself. Otherwise, it may be possible to tweak them into something acceptable.