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I agree with using dowels for the masts. As for making them modular, I'd think that it wouldn't be too hard to find or make a tube for them to fit down into snugly. You could make that tube the whole height of the ship, so there's plenty of torque to keep the masts straight and upright, but still be easily removable for storage and transit. If you want to get really fancy, add a key into the tube and rout/carve out a matching slot in the dowel so that the masts don't twist either, and stay straight on in reference to the ship.

The mini boat looks perfect , you have a great sense of the simple clean lines , a project like this requires . the bigger ship is going to be stunning ! as for the mast the hexagonal column that vik suggested sounds great , and would add to the sense of majesty. have you considered rolling A4 paper in to tight tubes then adding bands between them to add extra height and to mask the join. i wouldn't worry too much about texture if you have rope and metal bands wrapped around the mast these would add enough variation to the pole .







I vote making it abandoned , would look great as a wreck ,with raggedy sails billowing in the salt air

What game is that from Neil?

While the hexagon idea could work, I don't feel such a small ship (yes, its quite big for scenery standards, but with the scale of the game its hull would does not measure more than 22 meters -72 feet-) deserves such a great treatment.

My idea right now is to roll the cardboard I am working with around these sticks and gluing them, increasing the thickness of the stick and getting a great surface to work with.

Obviously, this way of working also allows for bands wrapped around the pole.

The main problem: the joint of the cardboard, and how to treat it. I am thinking about putting a carboard line from top to bottom of the pole over that joint, and consider it a metal reinforcement or something. Maybe even a ladder? don't think the pole will end up being thick enough for that...

And I have not figured out how to get the masts in and out of the ship, yet.

So I went out and got some very cheap thin wodden sticks (coloured, used for decoration in jars and the like). These are not perfectly straight, but I hope to be able to straighten them a bit more.


EDIT: As this is a really small ship, with the sails I am aiming for a Xebec look: a small ship used by corsairs and pirates in the mediterranean sea, and used in more recent times by the French, British and Spanish, with two main lanteen sails and a small rear third lanteen sail. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xebec

However, the hull profile will be the classic galley profile with forecastle and aftercastle. Not sure if this is will turn to be a mesh... but I also feel the classical square galley sails would look ridiculous on such a small ship.

EDIT2: I have come across a portughese caravel with lanten sails and aftercastle (only two masts, however). And it seems early caravels measured from 20m to 30m. So maybe the ship I am building can be considered a caravel?

for the masts, you could use some styrene rods, hollow, juuust larger than your mast dowels. Then, you put the tubes into the ship (through the deck) and just drop the dowels in.

You could accomplish this by wrapping cardboard around your dowels as well, taping/gluing. Same result.

Briancj wrote:for the masts, you could use some styrene rods, hollow, juuust larger than your mast dowels. Then, you put the tubes into the ship (through the deck) and just drop the dowels in.

You could accomplish this by wrapping cardboard around your dowels as well, taping/gluing. Same result.

That was basically what I was trying to get across, might have gotten lost in all the replies.

This might help illustrate what I meant with the keys:



The key keeps everything aligned so they mast won't just spin around in its slot. Magnetizing it could work too, and trying both would probably work really well.

That is the BEST illustration I have ever seen anyone do for a scratchbuilding project!

@Dsteingass just googled it ;-) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_Pirates_2:_City_of_Abandoned_Ships looks alright.

@Zefig , that idea seems sound , caravels are great i researched them a while back whilst doing a comic , by all accounts its what made the Portuguese so powerful back in the day. A for xebec , thats kinda weird , my son came home last year and said he had formed a band and thats what it was called . when i googled it , he said it was because they had all crash landed on a desert island and had to pick instruments to survive or something..



http://nautarch.tamu.edu/shiplab/01George/caravela/htmls/Caravel%20History.htm

This is an elevation view of the ship as I have planned it. the front of the ship is more similar to a galley than a caravel, but I hope it will end looking fine

That will look awesome topped with awesome sauce and an awesome cherry!

this will be spectacular...can´t add any more new ideas to the masts discussion... zeifigs plan looks so techinical secure... you should be working in that field!

A friend of mine which is on the know of victorian era vessels has told me this sail configuration is not suitable for a caravel, and that small galleons existed. He told me a galleon sail configuration would fit the model better.

So what do you think of this other sail configuration?



And yes, I have already thought of a way to insert the masts to the ship deck. Not exactly the way Zefig pictured it, but it should work in the same way.

i´d choose the former... somehow i think for the second sailconfiguration you need a differnt hull...

That cathedral/sentry tower is looking absolutely stunning! More of that please.

About the boat? IMO, the first set of sails looks a lot better. It's just sleek and eyecatching really. Doesn't bother me that it wouldn't be historically correct lol. To be honest, most people will look at it and say 'Wow! That's a sexy looking boat!' not 'Oh my, that galleon has completely the wrong sail configuration for it's era!'

To be honest, I like the first sail configuration more. However, hystorical accuracy is important, and I really respect the person who told me about the mistakes on sail configuration. I am not really sure of what to do.

Meanwhile, I started with the masts (which will be a pain to work on, as rolling the cardboard in such a small cilinder is not easy, specially if you have to hold the whole mast during hours for glue to dry) and on the main deck.

That is great! is that granny grating?

wow... that texture is sooo sweet looking...is this juts mere carving with a knife? or what is that secret ingredient here?

great work, really love it!

as for the masts: you don't have to make full length masts if you make them modular

on old sailships they were stacked as well (because trees usually come in limited length...)
http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Datei:Mast-rigging.svg&filetimestamp=20071108231925

of course, that would work better with the second configuration...

so you can decide for each game how many mast sections you want to use
you could even make broken versions

dsteingass wrote:That is great! is that granny grating?

It's the protection carcase of a mobile phone that broke some time ago. Recycling is the most essential skill of scenery building!

Viktor von Domm wrote:wow... that texture is sooo sweet looking...is this juts mere carving with a knife? or what is that secret ingredient here?

These are just carvings. A wider metal instrument for the gaps between planks and a sharper, thinner one for the wood texture.

Bugstomper wrote:great work, really love it!

as for the masts: you don't have to make full length masts if you make them modular

on old sailships they were stacked as well (because trees usually come in limited length...)
http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Datei:Mast-rigging.svg&filetimestamp=20071108231925

of course, that would work better with the second configuration...

so you can decide for each game how many mast sections you want to use
you could even make broken versions

Thats an interesting idea for sure... but since I have not decided on the wail configuration, I try to keep it versatile for now, as yesterday I was advised to add two more sails. I will show you how I am building the masts. I rolled cardboard around some wodden tubes. I plan to roll more cardboard on some sections to vary the thickness of the masts. I fear I will have to do the rolling during at least two different sesions (half and half?), because I am not able to keep the whole length of the mast fixed. I think as I get to wider diameters it will turn out to be much easier.



The legos you can see in the pic are what would become the moulds for the sentry tower which has been put on the side because of money. If only I could be sure to sell 10 copies, I go on being sure I would not lose too much money with that enterprise.

sorry mate but your work i couldn´t pay^^ as i am unemployed but i cross fingers for you!

i had feared that you did the woodtexture that way^^ so much patience^^

and i second the multi masts idea of bugstomper... great potential lies therein!

as for fixing the cardboard into certain forms... have you thought about rubber bands?

I made some more progress. Next is stairs. And I have now started fixing cardboard with adhesive bands. I am not sure if it will work.

Simply stunning stuff! I hope you find a way to get everything cast up so us less skilled hobbyists can have a set.

i am totally thrilled how the different heights of the decks turned out! i imagine you sitting there and working on the ship and going constantly : "arrrrrr" as a good pirate does^^

We have stairs now! and I think after the third mast section, I have perfected the mast-building process so it will at least not look horrible



Next is the side of the ship, which is one of the most difficult parts of the building process, since it is a BIG piece of cardboard that must bend in two different directions. I'll do my best.

That is amazing looking!

i rather go for a multitude of lenght of cardboard here...or get it a coat of PVA drenched paper to firstly make it sturdy...then you will have a good base to build the cardboard hide upon...

will you show us a last in progress?

I'm back!

As you might have already noticed, Life has not been kind to me this week. As I have been working 20 hours a day sitting in front of my computer. Finally, I have had some good sleep and I was able to work on the ship again.

So yes, I will be showing you more progress.

Some of you might already have seen this pic, with my mordheim rats showing the scale of the ship.




As I was going on, I noticed I had to build one side to completition and coat it with watered pva glue before working on the other side of the ship, as the rubber bands would break the cardboard otherwise. Therefore, I proceded with aplying the detail layers to the side.

layer 1



layer 2



layer 3



layer 4... and so on, until getting this final result:



Next will be gluing the other side of the ship and getting the rear wall of the aftercastle ready. Then detailing the new side of the ship, finishing the front of it, and finally building masts and sails. - - - And then paintiing. So yes, there is still a lot of progress to report on

wow... Your cardboard skills are stunning!

The windows on the backside might be a bit tall for a ship though.^^

Man, your work is amazing! can't wait to see it completed!

the only doubt i have is on the painting.....on cupboard, don't you risk to loose detail!?

this built is also quite fit to function as a castle^^ looks wonderful!

may we get to see a close up of your woodwork surface? must have taken ages to carve these lines in....

amazing is just not filling the niche you opened up with your work!!!


vik