The Ship Model Forum

Hello, Fellow Modelers. I am Rafa, from Caracas, Venezuela. I have long been a follower of Ship drawings on the internet, and decided to register in order to learn about ships and -eventually- try my hamfisted hands at drawing. I'm 48 and semi-retired, a former IT systems designer.

My hobby is modeling static aircraft, and for that I am an avid scratchbuilder. I would like to make my own scratchbuilt ships, but knowing next to nothing about anything waterborne, except riding pe�eros (pinasse-like fishing boats) for trawling and fun, if the Captains allow me on board; I'm at a loss when it comes to ships.

My first question is, Is there a way to determine a ship's hull forms (cross sections) from a Ship profile drawing?

Thanks beforehand for your answers, and I will be roaming the site enjoying the sights.

Gracias,

Rafa

Hola.

You need to find this kind of plan or guess it by looking at as many pictures as possible... which is what I do most of the time at 1/700 scale (yet that's not serious!). Buena suerte!

"Mogador" & "Volta" hull lines? wonderful looking ships they were...

@ Rafa,

yes, it's possible to draw hull lines from a profile view, but you will need other drawings, for instance some views from above, showing the different decks. Working from those drawings will allow you to draw what you want. you have to know it's a trial & error process in the beginnings, and once you have drawn some hulls, you'll get it completely straight.

this is one of my current projects:

1- draw a profile view of the hull, at the size you want it to be, determine the spacing between the frames.
2- draw a view from above, with the outside of the main deck, where the hull will meet it.
3- draw then a waterline. You can help yourself when you have some pictures of the ship you intend to draw.
4- from there on, draw the main frame, which is the largest one on the hull, most of the times on the middle of the hull.
5- begin to draw the frames, from the deck to the waterline and a little under, like this, being the forward hull lines:


go further on, the C to K lines are the horizontals, like slicing the hull from the bottom up, you'll need them to check your hull is smooth:


on the view from above, draw the lines on each frame at the horizontal levels (C to K)



There is a second way to check the hull lines smoothness, those are the longitudinals, like slicing the hull vertically from the prow to the poop, like here under:


here under the longitudinals drawn on the profile view:


There is a third way to check the lines, this is called the diagonals, like the chekerd line on the drawing under, the two pencils show it, this diagonal also has to be as smooth as possible, still follow the pencils on the picture, this diagonal will "go out" of the drawing, this is normal:






and here you come, a smooth framing plan, the after part of the ship first:


and the front part of it:


I don't know at which scale you intend to work, but try to be as accurate as possible.

here under two links to other projects I have, first a 56 feet steam picket boat:
https://picasaweb.google.com/1175696967 ... 28/56Pieds#

secondly, a 1938 belgian fisherman:
https://picasaweb.google.com/1175696967 ... /O88John02#

those two last projects have to be checked and refined yet, some lines don't have the smoothnes I wish...

Regards,

Laurent

Nice drawings Laurent! That't a job for an architect!
The hull in my post looks like Volta's, but it's from a miniature sister: 610t La Pomone class (I'm trying to scratch one...)