This time it was on purpose; 28mm tramp freighter

     I posted about my 15mm tramp freighter a while back and received some very kind input. Some folks asked if I would go over how I built it. Well, I had no need of another 15mm tramp freighter but I did have use for one in 28mm. The techniques work for both scales so please bear with me. My techniques are very imprecise, few measurements and a lot of eyeballing it so you won't find exact templates or such. I started with one of my stock blue insulation foam hull blanks that I cut a long time ago, it wasn't very well done and had been sliced in half for a different project that stalled. This is what I started with;

the beginning;

 a hull, some card-stock and my bags of "odd shapes"

I make deck houses from blocks of blue-board or

the neat little paper-mache boxes you can get at Hobby Lobby or Michael's

at time I will just make deck house for later use, I'm that kind of nerd

one of the most useful  of the "odd shapes" is for smokestacks;

old pill bottles, breath-mint tubes and vitamin-drink containers are a good source

after I had hot-glued the hull back together I started working out the layout of the ship

to hide the gap from the repair joint I decided to plate the deck,

normally I scribe planking on but this time she has a plated deck

lots of wood-glue

wet an old paint brush and spread the glue evenly as you can

the press a sheet of index-card down firmly on the glue,

this will buckle from being wet on one side only

I simply wet the exposed side as well

I use a 50/50 glue water mix for this

(I also add a bit of paint so I can see where I have already applied the mix)

 the glue adds strength to the card

while that was drying I covered one of the blocks of blue-board with card as well,

true to form I traced the block onto the paper instead of taking measurements

this was also attached with a mixture of glue and water

spread the glue with an old brush,

this kind of work will ruin  them pretty quick so don't go high-end

the deck house ready for some detail

 

doorways made from zig-zag folded card

 

glued in place layer-by-layer,

I thought of making them able to open and close

but reconsidered that foolishness

 

hinges, fold a bit of heavy card and the press the crease firmly,

then straighten it out

 

cut next to the fold about an 1/8 inch on either side

 

cut the stick into square sections, the crease looks like a hinge

 

add the hinges to the door, Ta-Da!!

 

after the glue dries you can add rivets to the hinge-plates for even more detail

 

the Captain tries out the proposed pilot-house set up and is well pleased

 

liquid T-shirt paint, get the "puffy" kind, this is my source of rivets

 

taking another look at the layout, notice that I have already riveted the smokestack while I was waiting for other things to dry

 

beginning to plate the hull,

due to the inclined stem a more involved approach is needed,

first fold a sheet of card in half

 

line it up so the crease is fitted to the stempost

and the lower corner is even with the bottom of the hull

 

carefully mark the inside where the deck and the sheet meet

 

then mark lines parallel to the deck line,

the upper one at shoulder height for you minis and the lower one even with your model's waterline, after cutting test-fit

 

to ensure that the sides were the same I folded a sheet of card in half and drew the panel onto it, when I cut out the plate I automatically make a matching one for the other side of the ship, an old pill bottle provided the graceful curves

 

the sides of the hull ready for cutting,

the crease is at the top so that it won't show up on a part

 

Bingo! two identical hull panels

 

test fitting them to the hull

 

flaws resulting from operator-error with the hot wire

can be covered up pretty well with card

 

like this

 

the stern got the same sort of treatment as the bow,

upper and lower line show where the card touched the hull

 

my high-tech way of making shoulder-high railings

 

connect the dots to get the rear gunwale height

 

cut and ready to go

 

well almost, I added more curved cut-outs,

mostly because I thought they looked cool

 

gluing things in place

 

a good soaking with the glue mixture prevents warping and hardens the card.

 

straight glue is applied directly to the blue-board

and then spread around using the mixture

 

bow and side-panels in place

 

then the stern is added

 

the bridge work is a bit of foamcore

 

more test-fitting, this takes the place of careful measurement in my approach

 and seems (to me at least) to save a lot of time

 

the dreaded "Shiv", my custom-made port-hole cutter,

actually nothing more that a bit of brass pipe with a button taped to one end

and the other sharpened on some sandpaper

more of my high-tech method for setting portholes to the right height

 

a quick poke-n-twist with the "Shiv" and I popped in some Reviresco portholes

(I simply refuse to go to the trouble of making my own portholes when these are available and very affordable)

 

I hot-glued the deckhouse to the hull and then the bridge to the top of the deckhouse, normally I would use wood glue but I was in a hurry so I risked an encounter with my nemesis, the finger-burning monster seen in the background,

miraculously I escaped uninjured

 

I then glued the pilot house in place

 

hatchways were made from double-thickness of heavy card

 

framing was added from strips of card

 

simple but effective

 

more strips were added to the hull

 

rather than cut them to measure I let them stick past the edge of the hull

 and then trim them back

 

the sternpost is added

 

then several more, after the mixture dries they are trimmed back with shears

 

I hot-glued the smokestack and other deckhouses in place

 

the hatches I glued down with thinly-spread wood glue,

it is surprising how fast that stuff sets up!

 

straight pins form the stanchions for railings

 

and thread ties it all together

(sorry about the pun)

 

 

 

     This whole process took about three and a half hours, split up into three blocks with intervals of waiting for the glue to dry. The next step is painting it. I am tending to the traditional black hull and white upperworks but I am open to suggestions.