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A softer handle is not an option, as the item I am using has no handle, but a blade on each end. It's not exactly a blade, however, but something used to carve, slice and mark into ceramics before they are fired. A hard leather glove will do, however.

Kazwulf wrote:
Just a question, but what sort of 'cardboard' is that? Where do you get your materials from?

It is just 1mm thick cardboard from a modelling supplies shop. Nothing special.







It's time to show you some more progress. One side of the hull has been finished. Maybe I will put some kind of scale under the parapet opening in the middle deck.

I have not thought about oars yet, and I don't see an easy way to get them in, because of them being a very fragile part of the ship... One of my main goals is to get very sturdy scenery. These oars and the water base they would be mounted on should be removable? I am not sure of what to do at all, since having oars would it much harder for the ship to get in contact with any terrain or dock for miniatures to get to land.

Among other things, I have heard about some of my friends wanting to do a Kislevite warband. I am not really savvy about fantasy russian-style ships. Although this ship is not a priority right now, do you have any ideas about what could be a fitting design?

Anyway, the promised pics.





EDIT: Whoho! 100th post. Nothing crazy for many, but a milestone for a lurker-born like me xD

I like that one.
But is there any chance that you fill those little gaps with some modelling compound?
Would give it that last touch, you know what I mean.

IPS wrote:I like that one.
But is there any chance that you fill those little gaps with some modelling compound?
Would give it that last touch, you know what I mean.

It would not be easy, since the cardboard still moves with humidity and paint, while putty does not. I think cracks would appear where these two materials enter in contact. I expect those gaps to not to be so visible after painting by leaving those recesses in a darker tone. I am not sure if it will do, however.

no real clue about that possible russian ship...but maybe a kogge?



but your frist one was already close to that design...

as for the oar issue...
will hopefully not forget to uplaod a solution playmobil did with their galley roman ship...


the oars are one piece... and can be dismounted if needed... i´ll show you later on...

2500kgm3 wrote:

IPS wrote:I like that one.
But is there any chance that you fill those little gaps with some modelling compound?
Would give it that last touch, you know what I mean.

It would not be easy, since the cardboard still moves with humidity and paint, while putty does not. I think cracks would appear where these two materials enter in contact. I expect those gaps to not to be so visible after painting by leaving those recesses in a darker tone. I am not sure if it will do, however.

Maybe you could use papier-mâché?
It should react simmilar to the carboad, but still fill the gaps.
You could even use the very same cardboard
that is used for the rest of the model and mix it really fine.

dsteingass wrote:Maybe you need a softer knife handle?

Viktor von Domm wrote:no real clue about that possible russian ship...but maybe a kogge?



but your frist one was already close to that design...

as for the oar issue...
will hopefully not forget to uplaod a solution playmobil did with their galley roman ship...


the oars are one piece... and can be dismounted if needed... i´ll show you later on...

A lot of people are telling me to go for oars. I am not that sure about that, but I'll go with the majority and give it a try. I might make them going out from the lower hull, as they will be much more durable than in any other way. But they won't such a prominent feature as if they came from a higher location. I doubt it really matters, however. I could even avoid making them removable in that way, too.

IPS wrote:
Maybe you could use papier-mâché?
It should react simmilar to the carboad, but still fill the gaps.
You could even use the very same cardboard
that is used for the rest of the model and mix it really fine.

I am trying to insert some of the same cardboard. It will work well in some places, while I won't be able to insert it in some other locations. It is a pity the decks warped that hard.

I mean like in, mix the cardboard to a fine mixture, add some wood glue + water and use it like a putty.
Shouldn't that also work pretty much everywhere?

IPS wrote:I mean like in, mix the cardboard to a fine mixture, add some wood glue + water and use it like a putty.
Shouldn't that also work pretty much everywhere?

grinding the cardboard is not really an option, but I have cutted some cardboard to fit in the recesses. I will do so for every hole in the hull. There are some problems with the deck, however.

And now, more pictures with both sides at least partially assembled.

Very nice progress. : )
Any chance you get an airbrush for painting those large ships?

This is definatly my favorite thread on Dakka, your ships are absolutly beatiful, I cant wait to see this current boat finished and painted. Keep up the amazing work

Today, I finished the other side of the hull. Both the front part of the hull and the rear part of the hull are still missing. The "hut" in the center of the main deck still lacks a roof (it will be a pitched roof) and the masts and sails are still being worked on. (and then I must paint everything, of course)

That means, although I still have a lot of progress and updates to make, I am already thinking about my next proyect. Those who follow this thread since the very beginning will remember my target is to make some sort of "utilitarianscale" Dreadfleet, with several big ships, as many as needed for each warband my friends may have -and I am finding more friends each day that passes, so dwarves (ironclad), elves (catamaran), vampire counts (trirreme), norses (drakkar)... are all considered as ships I could build next- and scenery to get a good looking table. You might also remember I stated after my third ship, I would focus on getting a playable basic table before going on with more ships. After three more ships, I may get back to adding to the basic scenery, and repear this cycle for as long as I have money to buy cardboard.

What I had in mind originally was just reproducing some of the "island" pieces you get in Dreadfleet. And this is still considered. But this is still being built to play Mordheim on, and you know Mordheim is all about jumping from roof to roof to drop from a balcony on top of your enemy, and multilayer skirmishes. A plain rocky formation may not be as interesting as I would desire.

A rocky formation with a tower would be better, yes, but it is still a single, isolated What about an atoll? Such as the one in Waterworld, but with a pirate theme? Or a fortified stone city built in an atoll? could that be made out of modular, so I could make an atoll with a different shape each game? Could I even be able to make an atoll I could break and spread across the table and the pieces would still look good in isolation?

I have always been impressed with the level of collaboration I have gotten as a response in this thread when I asked questions, so I am inviting you to participate in the design of this scenery. Any inspirational pictures you can find and post, ideas, concept art... If you can doodle something, take a pic of it and post it for us all to see.

I can't promise I will use all these ideas and designs, but I hope some of your ideas will end represented on my final design

As you can expect my main building material would be cardboard, of course, maybe insulation foam for the rocks... xD

DeadGaurd wrote:This is definatly my favorite thread on Dakka, your ships are absolutly beatiful, I cant wait to see this current boat finished and painted. Keep up the amazing work

Thanks, it is participation and feedback in this thead that keeps me going. You have managed to get me excited about this project for at least two more days xD

This is what I have in mind right now.

As you can see by comparison with the ships that I have already built, it is no small project. It is composed of eight "dowels" which are completely interchangeable and can be rearranged in any order, or in several groups of various sizes and shapes.

Lighter means taller, blue means masonry, red means tile roofing, brown means it's a deck made of wodden planks. Greenish grey symbolizes rock.

whao mate... i so totally wanna see you doing that all... and this will take probably ages... i hope you have enough shelf space to store all this... but if you see this all through like you did your other projects it will be brilliant! when completed i suggest you invest n a small cam like this:



to make nice scenic pics of your terrain and minis... i think that would be a cool thing...

You are gonna drive up the price of cardboard all over the world!

vik, do you know how much a cam like that would cost, because that looks like a fun thing to have. and wow thats an amicious project... me like

Viktor von Domm wrote:whao mate... i so totally wanna see you doing that all... and this will take probably ages... i hope you have enough shelf space to store all this... but if you see this all through like you did your other projects it will be brilliant! when completed i suggest you invest n a small cam like this:

to make nice scenic pics of your terrain and minis... i think that would be a cool thing...

I think I should invest in a regular camara first, in order to be able to make vlogs about the building process, don't you think so?

dsteingass wrote:You are gonna drive up the price of cardboard all over the world!

To be honest, I have at least enough cardboard saved for no less than 2 more ships, maybe 3. It is all because I had bought something in a supply store that I did not need any longer, so I exchanged it for 20€ of cardboard. As I study architecture, I figured it would be useful sooner or later. I have finally found a way to use that cardboard, although I never predicted this.

Rogue Wolves wrote: wow thats an amicious project... me like

I am reconsidering it, since I have not decided yet how to build the atoll, and it would be BIG and really time consuming.




Therefore I am really considering to build the fourth ship before going into the atoll. It would be a dwarven ironclad, as you know. Do you think it would be a good idea to delay the atoll in favour of a very distinct ship?

if you built that dwarven ironclad along the lines of this:



i would rather look forward to a new ship then the atoll...^^

i would love to see this hulk being build!

Viktor von Domm wrote:if you built that dwarven ironclad along the lines of this:



i would rather look forward to a new ship then the atoll...^^

i would love to see this hulk being build!

What I have designed is more of a dreadfleet ironclad, scaled upwards. But I have not designed the ornamental layers yet, so I can manage to get some of that kind of steel plating and decoration motifs there.

well i am honest with you... i will nick away any ideas for details on plates for my own needs^^

OMG I LIKE!
..anything Dwarfish/Dwarven, especially rivety goodness!

That face at the front is kinda cool.

By the way, Vik, I think that ironclad has already been built.






Mine will be waay smaller, and based on the Dreadfleet Ironclad instead. In addition, it is the first time I will try to build a metal riveted surface, so I think my ironclad will not be nearly as good as that one.

I'll try to do my best, however

thanks for those pics... they are a good inspirational help... downloaded them imidiatly^^ well.... i currently have not seen the dreadfleet version but i will have a look what is in store for us soon^^

for rivets and carboard i recommend the holepunch methode... it is vik aproved^^

Ah, that was more like the Warhammer world of diorama tables, but the inspiration for a player to make one not attached to the table is always a good thing. OP is a maestro of cardboards.

I made some advancements in designing the layering and ornamentations for the ironclad hull. I have still a loong way to go, since the bow, stern, steamwheel protection, and main decks of the ironclad are not yet started.

But I can show you a bit of the hull which houses the cannon hatches



This picture might not be comprehensible until you see the propper cardboard layers one over another, but each line separates two layers at different levels

As I have seen, there use to be dwarven faces sculpted on the bow of the dwarven ironclads. What other motifs tend to fit with this use of decoration in dwarven art? axes? dragons? I have lots of places to fill with iconography and I will need suggestions.

definatly hammers mate! lots of them... and anvils... possibly the odd beermug too... even some ram heads would be fitting.... if all else fails...look for inspiration to wow dwarven things...

and i think that already looks brilliant!!!

Vik's got some great ideas there. I'd also suggest maybe gemstones, anvils, forges, other smithing stuff. Possibly mountains, although I have a hard time envisioning that.

I think it would be cool to have a giant bellows and a furnace on the inside

Yep, Dwarves hold icons of their ancestors, book of grudges, beer mugs, and anvils as sacred icons. As such, they adorn their constructions. Their constructions are NEVER built of wood either. Wood is fer' Burnin! Dwarves use the same word interchangeable for "man-made" and "shoddy"

Thank you all for your ideas!

So, while I have not been able to do any progress in the real world of cardboard, I have finished the design of the templates of the Dwarven Ironclad. I have sneaked some mountains and anvil motifs for the stern of the ship, while a huge dwarf face on the bow of the ship. Also, I used axes on the sides of the ship.

I can't even aspire to count how many rivets the ship will have.

I will try to simulate metal by just not giving any texture to the cardboard. The decks will be made of wood-like cardboard, in my usual style.

Here you can see the plans. The most intrincate designs might not ve visible due to the sheer size of the ship and the resolution of the image, however.

This will be by far the most difficult and time consumming ship I have ever built, since in some places, the detailing requires up to 10 different cardboard layers, while the most complex ship I already finished has no more than 6, and only in very scarce places. In addition, painting will be really hard, since there are some really hard to reach places inside the ship.