Hi all, I am finally getting started on my small frigate. I finished my design and I decided to make a 1/350 build out of paper to work out any kinks in my design before cutting plastic and making any big mistakes. I just have to figure out how I am going to do the bow of the ship before I cut into my styrene sheets.


I didn't an in-progress section of the gallery, is it just for finished pics or should I just go ahead and put all of my pics in it?

Well, all right! Freestyle floaties! That's awesome! Welcome to the campaign!

One gallery should do just fine. In-progress and the final finished shot can both go in one. At the end of the campaign, I'll start a thread for everyone to post a "Finished" shots and a link to their galleries for the in-progress "proof" of eligibility.

So,

One gallery. In-progress pics. Update often!

Git 'er goin!

Cuhail

Sweet, here is pic number one. The bow raised up as expected and designed, now I just need to figure out the right shape to make the side panels to keep the bow raised at the right angle while keeping the bottom of the ship flat on the ground.

Hi David

Have you thought about adding more internal bulkheads cut to the profile of the ship through the areas of most curves and joining them with a common keel through the centre line bow to stern.

The more profiles you make will make it easier to glue the plastic to the shape and more chance of the shape staying true.

Another thought is. Have you thought about aluminium foil for skinning the hull sides. It will be much more flexible than the plastic sheet and can also be sanded down in the same way as plastic if you overlap in areas.

It looks good.

Nige

Nigel....THAT is a technique I've never heard. Thanks man!

Cuhail

David, if the plastic model is as cool as the paper one she's gonna be sweet. I don't know diddly squat about ship building but I'd probably go with the bulkhead idea like Nige said. Sounds sturdy and straight forward enough.

Hermon

Is very simple and you just need a stiff centre keel section of thick card.

Draw the ship's shape in cross sections at intervals of the same card from bow to stern and cut a slot in each to match the location on the keel.

Set each one on the keel with off cuts of right angle plastic to hold each square and true on the keel top and bottom.

The more you have will give you more purchase to stick whatever you choose to skin the ship with.

Use the paper method to trial and error the rough shape of panels against your frame of the ship.

Transfer the shape to plastic or tin foil with extra around. You can trim the excess off after rather than worrying about ending up with gaps where panels meet.

Glue starting from one end of the ship working from one cross section to the next giving time to set well each profile.

Trim to suit and or overlap very slightly. Sand to smooth each overlap.

Thanks guys, I plan on having bulk heads every centimeter. She'll measure around 13cm when built to 1/700 so at that size I figure 11 or 12 bulkheads ought to do nicely. I'll have to give a serious look at the foil skin. I want to use plastic for long term durability but something as flexible as foil will give me perfect measurements. I have some 3mm thick plastic to use as the ship's backbone and some 1mm thick to use everywhere else. My armaments are on order, when they come in I can check my superstructure's design and make the necessary adjustments to fit the weapons.

Someone on MSW said he filled his hulls in with resin after joining the necessary pieces. Have any of you done this or heard of it. I don’t think I need that much durability but it got me interested.

David

When I am talking about tin foil, I am meaning the type you get from simple carry out containers or roasting trays for xmas turkey cooking.

They have a reasonable thickness and is as durable and workable as plastic. I will post a link to my Lancaster nose to give you an idea. principle is the same as skinning a real aircraft or ship.

I thought you were doing your model in 1:350 scale.

Regards

Nigel

The carry out container foil you see on the Lanc have a reasonable thickness and is as durable and workable as plastic. Here is the link to my Lancaster nose to give you an idea. Principle is the same as skinning a real aircraft or ship.

https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/146306#1222509


Hope it helps

Nige

Very impressive Nige. I thought you were talking about aluminum foil as in the stuff that comes in rolls.....very very thin. Now that I've seen the build on your link it makes sense. I'll have to give that a try sometime.

David, if bulkheads every centimeter aren't enough to give your ship structural integrity something is wrong. Just my opinion but the resin thing is expensive overkill.

Hermon

I thought you meant the aluminum kitchen foil also. What you are talking about looks good. I built my paper prototype in 1/350 because it is easier to handle than 1/700. My entire naval collection is 1/700 so this ship needs to be as well. I plan on placing her next to my Perry class frigate when she is done.

I might progress to building the hull while I wait for my weapons kit to come in because I have tested everything I can think of for the hull. I have a lot of wiggle room in the superstructure and if a weapon does not fit I can resize it easily without needing to change the dimensions of the hull.

I am not too sure what I will do about the VLS tubes yet. There are no accessory kits out there that have one. I don’t currently have a model with VLS in it so kit bashing is out. I have plenty of time to ponder.

I figured that filling the hull with resign would be a little expensive and totally overkill. I have a couple of dozen ships and all of them are hollow. I figure I haven’t needed it yet so why start now. It is an interesting idea though. Maybe if I made these professionally for a museum I would do it.

Alright I made some progress. It might have been easier at this scale to just make a solid block of plastic and dremel it down to shape but the bulkhead and skin method seems to have worked perfectly. The wife threw away the foil that we got from ordering in chinese food so I used plastic for the ship's skin. I still have to do some sanding to the hull to get it where I want it but it looks good thus far.


I started the super structure after confirming that my weapons will fit on it just as intended.

That's looking great David! Justr wanted to see how it was coming along and sure enough, it is!

Cuhail

I have the superstructure and the hull about ready to paint. I am going to paint them with a test coat first to hunt for lingering scratches, seems, and other ugly parts before I spend time masking and paint with the real colors.

I hit a snag, I forgot to account for windows and I couldn't find any photo etch ones. I suppose I could carefully cut some into the superstructure but I wanted to ask you guys if you had any ideas or tips first.

David, are you talking about portholes or actual bridge windows?
For portholes, I'd use the appropriate size of hollow evergreen rod. Cut it into tiny sections to your scale. You'd basically end up with a "slice" of rod representing a porthole. Then paint the inside of it whatever interior color you want, fill it up with Future and it'll look just like glass.

As for bridge windows......maybe some small quarter round evergreen and clear plastic?


Hermon

I mean the square superstructure windows. I didn't think about using a drill. I could drill the holes then use a hobby knife to square them out. That might be less likley to cause collateral damage.

Success. I wanted to put a window on each side of the bridge as well but the poistion of the bulkhead will make that impossible.

Here is before the cutting and after.

Looks great David. After clean up, you could fill the holes with clear glue and it'll look just like glass in the windows.


Hermon

Added some doors to the superstructure and got the radar module built. Nothing is glued yet, just resting for a fit test to see how it looks. I just have to add the radar panels to the module and start painting.

Looking really good David. Those windows turned out super clean, no snags or burrs that I can see. Have you thought about filling the holes with clear acetate or white glue?


Hermon

I did but I don't think I will do it on this built. I am more focused on trying to fashion a deck gun. I tried fashioning a Bofors 57mm but that ended up looking rather ridiculous. I also tried making a BAE 127mm and while it turned out okay it wasn't to my satisfaction. I think I will try making a gun of my own design that will basically be like the BAE 127mm just smaller, simpler, and a 72mm. The gun sitting on the deck right now is plan d.

I am also wondering what to do about the VLS missile launchers. I might end up kit bashing those. The big call that I have coming up is what to do about the close in weapon system. I want to put two RAM launchers on but I don't want to pay that much shipping for something that small. If my local store can't order it for me I will probably scratch those or kit-bash some 20mm phalanx that I have lying around.

I am trying to find that balance of getting out of my comfort zone while not over extending and still having fun. So far it has been a good time.

Well, plan D doesn't look too bad if ya ask me. I have plenty of 1/48 and a few 1/72 missles in the spares box but that you could have but that would be way out of scale.
As for a close in weapons system......




If theres anything in 1/72 scale you think you could use just yell. I'll see what I have, post a pic of it, and if it works it's yours.

Hermon

Some progress.


The good news: I got it all painted
The bad news: the paint revealed some ugly seems that run all the way around the deck.

I had used putty previously to fill in those seems but apparently it didn't work along the entire thing. So I will try the putty again. What kind of putty do you guys use? I have been using testors contour putty but I have to say that I am a little disappointed with it and its ability to stay where I put it. I think it is too granular because while sanding some of the putty will come out of the middle of it.

But the superstructure was good, except that the masking tape ripped on of doors off. So while the putty dries on the deck I will work on the superstructure a bit.

You're a brave man David!