The Ship Model Forum

Prodigiously tremendous work

Marijn, there are no superlatives that I can add to what's already been said. I look forward to hopefully seeing your work in-person this fall.

Thank you gentlemen!

Devin wrote:I look forward to hopefully seeing your work in-person this fall.

Fingers crossed!

Guest wrote:Marijn,

I would think that a cannon ball makes a small hole to the outside but quite a big hole into the inside of the ship side. When the ball comes through the planking it will crush the inner surface and make the wood splinter. Wood splinter was a typical cause of wounds during battle for the crew.

Regards,

Jari

The Vasa museum has test-fired replica roundshot from a replica 24-pdr gun against a replica Vasa hull. Ball, gun and hull are more than century and a half older than Trafalgar but the technology is basically unchanged.

The results are... impressive. Nice little round hole on the outside of the hull. An absolute hailstorm of splinters on the inside.

https://www.facebook.com/Vasamuseet/vid ... 521855513/

St�le

Hello everyone!

I have noticed in the past that most modellers seem to consider sculping a kind of dark art.
But this is not true; it is just a set of techniques like anything else, that you can master with some practice. And it is a useful set of techniques, as sculpting can come in very handy from time to time. I think this would be perfect for blast bags for example!

So to convince you to give it a try maybe, I prepared a little step-by-step while doing the hammock stowage of the Redoutable.

First, the sculpting tools. You can use anything you like. My personal choice is �borowed� from a famous figure modeller (Bill Horan) and is very simple: toothpicks and a needle:


The ends of the toothpick (left) is sanded to the point I want (middle). Then it covered in thin CA glue (right). This makes it hard and smooth, and less sticky. If necessary, I sand again a little to shape. Usually, I sand one end to a sharp point:


� and the other end to a blunt point:


I usually only have 2 toothpicks like that, each with more-or less blunt/sharp tips.
Simple, cheap, easy to replace. And perfectly customizable, light and easy in the hand!
The needle is for the deepest or thinnest lines.

My favourite sculpting putty is Magic Sculp. But there are many others on the market, and it�s a bit of a personal choice which you like best.

To start, I scored the surface of the plastic with a scalpel for better adhesion.
Then I applied a blob of putty.


Next, I spread the putty to an even thickness (even with the stretched sprue hammock cranes). I used the blunt part of the toothpick in a rolling motion, using tiny amounts of water on the toothpick to prevent it from sticking. Excess putty is rolled over the edges, and �cut� (wiped) away with the tip of the toothpick.


This was repeated for the four �squares� I wanted to sculpt in this session.


The damaged parts of the canvas were opened with the point of a number 11P scalpel.


Now, the creases! I start them with the pointed tip of the toothpick, lightly impressing them.


Next, I continue them with the blunt end of the toothpick, lightly pressing down again. And then I feather them out with a rolling motion of the same tip. If necessary, I go back with the sharp tip to refine the creases.


After I add all the creases in the first square, I use the needle to sharpen their deepest end a little (almost invisible here).


Square by square, I add all the folds. When this is finished, I sometimes smooth the surface a little extra with a moistened brush (not too wet, as it will dissolve the putty and create a mess!). But this is only the last 3% of the smoothness of the surface; the major part is done with the toothpick.


Now, I added the little holes and with the 11P scalpel blade.


And after hardening, and doing the rest of this hammock stowage �section�, I finally �destroyed� the hammock netting appropriately.



For sculpting, you need to be able to comfortably hold the piece you�re working on, and support it while pressing down on it with the toothpick.
For this reason, I found it best to sculpt each hammock �piece� in 4 separate sessions, letting the putty cure in between. So I would first do the front (and top) right side, then the front and top left, then the back right, and finally the back left.
Each session would take about 30 to 45 minutes. So, for all the hammock stowage on both ships, it was quite time-consuming. But I think the result looks so much more in-scale than could ever be achieved with tissue paper or such�

Something simpler would of course take much less time. For blast bags of a 1/350 scale battle ship for example, I would probably want to do the 3 blast bags of one gun turret in one 45 min. session. So for the main guns of a Iowa class ship, I could do them all in a little over 2 hours.


So meanwhile, I finished Redoutable�s hammock stowage:




The anchor over which some of Redoutable�s men will climb to try to board Victory:




Both ships hulls are in fact ready now (I only need to make the stern lanterns and gun port hatches). Time to get started on Redoutable�s masts�




I misplaced my giant matchstick, so here is my huge hand:

Nice tutorial and very convincing looking results !

I gather, the secret to sculpting, even more so than for other aspects of modelling, is to approach it in a very systematic fashion, to break a complex shape down into forms that can be easily controlled.

As a tool junkie, I got myself various dental tools and a set of silicone 'brushes', i.e. sculpting tools with brush-shaped semi-soft tips. A favourite tool is also an old biological scalpel with ebony handle that can used as a tiny spatula, to make incisions, etc.

After seeing this, Me, as a person of the world, I humbly acknowledge that seeing things like this, I am completely ignorant and I solemnly promise that when I try something like that I will dedicate myself to growing potatoes. Surely, it�s will the better.

Again, the amazing part of all of this work is it is in 1/300 SCALE!! Thank you for the tips and, as always, beautiful work!

Dave

marijn van gils wrote:Hello everyone!

I have noticed in the past that most modellers seem to consider sculping a kind of dark art.
But this is not true; it is just a set of techniques like anything else, that you can master with some practice. And it is a useful set of techniques, as sculpting can come in very handy from time to time. I think this would be perfect for blast bags for example!

So to convince you to give it a try maybe, I prepared a little step-by-step while doing the hammock stowage of the Redoutable.

Marijn, I feel still in awe by what I see coming out of your hands. Like a real artist, you make it look so simple! When I was was a kid I thought everything a juggler did was easy... until I tried it myself. I never learned to juggle properly.

With a deep sigh I will buy me a pot of Magic Sculpt, and start trying. You have won me over. I will try and fall flat on my face. And try again. And again.
Thank you very much for your patiently composed tutorial. I have copied it all into a a Word file, and have it printed to use on the side.

Maarten

PS: I hadn't posted it here yet, but I am under way with my own T�m�raire project, inspired by yours. It's described here: viewtopic.php?f=13&t=317938

Many thanks for your nice words, gentlemen!


Dave is right, the hard part is doing it in a very fine and precise way. But that happens the way I love to build, and I have had a lot of practice!
But the techniques I use can also be applied successfully with a lower degree of finesse. In themselves, the techniques are not out of reach of anyone willing to give it a try and practice a little.

wefalck wrote:I gather, the secret to sculpting, even more so than for other aspects of modelling, is to approach it in a very systematic fashion, to break a complex shape down into forms that can be easily controlled.

Yes, you are right! Working in layers can be another big help to simplify sculpting, but that was not necessary here.

wefalck wrote:As a tool junkie, I got myself various dental tools and a set of silicone 'brushes', i.e. sculpting tools with brush-shaped semi-soft tips. A favourite tool is also an old biological scalpel with ebony handle that can used as a tiny spatula, to make incisions, etc.

Many figure sculptors use dental tools too, and those rubber brushes too (I believe they are called 'paint reducers'; oil painters use them to wipe paint around and away from the canvas). I tried the rubber brushes, but I found putty to stick to them too easily and I never got the hang of them. And I haven't found any detail or crease yet that I couldn't do with the toothpicks and needle, so I never felt the need to use the dental tools I do have lying around (but never use...).
But many figure sculptors do really use them, so I guess it is all very personal what works best!


Maarten, I hadn't seen your thread yet! I really should visit the scratchbuilding subforum more regularly, I seem to miss a lot from it...
I'll go and check it out!

Great work and a wonderful tutorial, Marijn.

Thanks Dan!

I started on the masts of Redoutable.
For most people, this will look quite the same as the masts of Victory�
But luckily, there are plenty of small differences to keep it interesting for myself!

First, the tops:


As with Victory, I did not scribe the planking in the virtually invisible (at least, after rigging) underside of the tops. This way, they are much stronger which will be helpful when rigging. One top will show its underside clearly and won�t bear much rigging, so I did add the planking:


Close-up:

Woah ! Outstanding work!

I want to throw in the towel

Awesome work again mate, and a monks' work, neat!

Somehow I have always trouble to work so cleanly and crisply with styrene ...

Many thanks everyone!

wefalck wrote:Somehow I have always trouble to work so cleanly and crisply with styrene ...

Well, I do have a lot of experience with it. Coming from plastic kits, it was always the 'natural' scratchbuilding material, so it became second nature to exploit its benefits and work around its disadvantages. Probably I would struggle equally with some of the materials you use!

What cement do you use, dichloromethane or some proprietary product ?

From a conservation point of view I have some reservations re. styrene, but it does have obvious practical advantages. In my youth, I also did work a lot with styrene kits and developed various work-arounds issues with styrene, for instance that it does not sand so well.

wefalck wrote:What cement do you use, dichloromethane or some proprietary product ?

I use the Tamiya extra thin cement:



Works perfectly! It evaporates quickly, so without 'melting' the plastic for too long, and without leaving any residue. I don't know its chemical composition, but it may be just dichloromethane... Edit: I just looked it up, and apparently it's 50% Butyl Acetate and 50% Acetone.
The brush in the bottles cap is very good, but I often use a finer brush for detail work.

wefalck wrote:From a conservation point of view I have some reservations re. styrene, but it does have obvious practical advantages. In my youth, I also did work a lot with styrene kits and developed various work-arounds issues with styrene, for instance that it does not sand so well.

Machine sanding will melt it indeed, unless you use the lowest of speeds. But by hand, I don't find styrene to sand badly, but maybe that's just because I'm so used to the material. I don't do any big shaping by sanding though (I'll cut and carve for that), only small shaping and finishing. For small shaping, I use about 240 grit, then finish it with finer grades. For a really smooth finish, quite fine grades are necessary indeed. If the surface to be smoothed is small, I usually give it a quick scrape with a scalpel blade instead of using sandpaper. That works faster for me and smooths the surface nicely too...

Thanks. Perhaps I should get some of the Tamyia Extra Thin, though one could mix it up onself - got acetone, but would have to find the butyl-acetate.

When I did military figure modelling around the mid-1970s, I found that the Tamyia styrene figure would sand better after 'surgery', when I brushed some viscous liquid cement (I used the German Faller cement at that time) on the parts. But otherwise, scraping gave better results indeed. The liquid cement melted down any fuzz created by abrasives or scraping. That's ok for sculpted surfaces, but works not so well, of course, for geometrically well defined shapes. Diamond files (nail files) also seem to work better than abrasive paper and its derivatives, such as sanding sticks.

I gather I have to hone my styrene working skills a bit ...