54 replies to this topic

[Orsino]

Maybe you've seen it already. Maybe it's haunted your dreams. You know you want a 28mm sailing vessel. You know you want a fleet of 'em for red-hot ship-on-ship action. You don't want to spend hundreds of dollars or weeks of time building them. WorldWorks has us in mind, and their designers have given us a beauty, in the form of a zipped set of .pdf files that you download once and print as often as you need (color printer sold separately). Don't miss the movie posted there! My timbers are certainly shivering.

The tutorials have me thinking I can do this. Today I begin by printing the pieces on 110-lb card stock. A lot of folding is in my future--the components are printed on only one side, so there's a lot of doubling that also adds strength. Here are the two halves of the bow, already folded, glued and trimmed. You can also see the tools of the trade, freshly purchased at Office Max: glue sticks, hobby knife, Sharpie marker (see tutorial), metal ruler and cutting mat. The blue squares are the ocean tiles for the tabletop.

Batten them hatches, and weigh anchor ("About five hundred pounds, Cap'n!"). Let's see how badly I can screw this up.

[Rastl]

I'm restarting my construction of this beast. My advice - take your time. Try to rush this and you're going to end up with frustration.

Can't wait to see you progress!

[Orsino]

The two halve of the bow seen above are glued together, and two-by-two, those little tabs will be secured to bend things into the right shape. The lower hull here I've doubled in thickness for what I imagine to be extra strength; this might turn out to be some sort of horrible mistake, but a single sheet of that size just feels flimsy. I can tell that this is going to be a difficult step. Commander Miles Strange (a converted 28mm Silver Age Sentinel) supervises the construction. Father Oswald must be busy tonight.

[Chastity]

Oh my god that site is wonderful!
I need like 3 of those ships at least!

I'm glad you're doing a WIP on it, so we can see how it is to put together.

[Orsino]

Much of the bow is done now. You can see the curved piece at the bottom, which nicely hides (and strengthens) those ugly saw-teeth visible in the previous post. I hope that the worst is over, and have begun assembling the stern (that's the rudder sitting in the stern).

[Kengar]

Looking good!

Ah, I remember the heady days of my Maiden construction. It's a rite of cardstock passage, that one is. Take Rastl's advice and be patient, but keep at it! Don't lose momentum.

[Orsino]

Rastl_Deeperdown has helpfully alerted me to a mistake I'm making. Had I read the decking instructions--though I thought I was working on the hull--I would have found the recommendation to mount decks on foamcore. That's what is supposed to hold the three sections of lower deck together, surely. My doubling of the card stock may provide sufficient strength down at water level, but I'll need to take sterner measures when I build the upper deck. Don't want no saggin' in this wagon!

Rule 1: Read everything before doing anything.

Rule 2: Ignore Rule 1 if you're me.

[haldir]

was about to recommend putting the decks on foamcore, but I see you've gotten that already, ha ha.

the Maiden is something I wanna try to do someday (actually was gonna order the pdf this weekend)

this WiP will be one to watch for me.

RM

[Rastl]

I'm actually going to be starting mine over, since I *ahem* rushed the build and things aren't quite right.

I have everything printed off, just need to start making it.

[Orsino]

No need to bollix things by rushing them, RD! I've found that one can make mistakes slowly, too. May the gods of origami be with you.

Here's the mostly completed hull, with some Reapers for scale. It's ship-shaped now! I am almost literally salivating at the thought of the adventures we'll have aboard. I'm still worried about the nekkid cardstock underneath, which I really should have mounted on foamcore. I'm determined to try some sort of spray lacquer, very lightly and a little bit at a time, to add some strength later on. And I'll do the upper deck right.

[PurityThruFire]

Man, that boat is really cool.
I'm thinking about picking up some of their urban stuff (looking for quickie, well inexpensive at least, Spinespur terrain).

Can't you still mount the bottom on foamcore? Just plop it down on some blue colored foamcore and you'll be sailing!
Keep in mind though, you'll get only a few good cuts before the foamcore will wear your blade to the point where it is unusable, and I mean it happens fast.
Even better you can get the foamcore that is sandwiched between two pieces of sheet styrene (aka plasticard), that stuff is sweet.

[Orsino]

Keep in mind though, you'll get only a few good cuts before the foamcore will wear your blade to the point of unusable, and I mean it happens fast.
Even better you can get the foamcore that is sandwiched between two pieces of sheet styrene (aka plasticard), that stuff is sweet.

Mmmm.....sandwiches.

Plasticard on foamcore? Thanks; I will look for that.

[Orsino]

Okay, Potter book release and Potter movie weekend, with the Tavern in between. Construction has slowed at the Mormont Naval Shipyards, but I have added the interior bracing (on which the upper deck will rest) and the sockets for the three masts. Trivia: only six braces are provided in the .pdf, while the illustrated instructions clearly call for twelve; I had to print another copy of page seven.




I'm very nearly done with the hull section. Tomorrow, I'll pick up some foamcore for the upper deck and transparency sheets (for printing the rigging).

[Madog Barfog]

Looks great!

Can you adjust the graphics any, perhaps by importing them into Photoshop? My daughter has some interest in this ship, but wants to make some modifications.

[Orsino]

Can you adjust the graphics any, perhaps by importing them into Photoshop?

I'll bet you could, but I haven't tried anything like that.