Plan drawing

S

shipbuilder

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Wednesday, 16th April, 2025
Yesteday, I got the drawing board out for the first times in ages. I was a bit out of practice, but expect I will soon get the hang of it again. This is how I get a perfect sheer line on the hull. A thin strip of 1/16th wood pinned to the drawing with small brass pins. The sheer line was ruled over the top of it. The various dirty looking marks on the drawing are 2B pencil lines, that can easily be rubbed off later. I am well aware that there is virtually no interest in this sort of thing, but it is for my own amusement, and the few who may share this interest -

Profile plan.JPG
 
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Hi Bob,

I hand draw ships hull lines. The process gives me a good understanding of the hull shape. I also don’t enjoy sitting at a computer when I can do it by hand.

Your wooden spline and brass pins is of course just how it has been for several hundred years. In my opinion, it’s the best way to create the shape of these vessels.

Roger
 
I think they used to call them ducks. Big lump of metal with a curved piece coming out of the front. The curved piece rested on the wood and held it down with no need to make holes in the drawing board. My drawing boards don't matter, because they are just cheap thin plywood. If the pinholes show up on the plan, I can erase them in the computer when I colour it in.
 
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Yesteday, I got the drawing board out for the first times in ages

that is fantastic news
I am well aware that there is virtually no interest in this sort of thing, but it is for my own amusement, and the few who may share this interest -

that may not be true i have a lot of posting here on SOS and many, many times there is no direct reply, so i thought hum no one is interested but that is not the case. So put it out there you never know who is watching. There is the silent majority lurking and watching.
so please carry on
 
Drawing/drafting can be very useful not to mention therapeutic at times. And like a build, it can be gratifying or frustrating on any given day.
Allan
 
Drawing/drafting is easy when it's all straight lines and perfect circles.
It goes to shit when you start introducing asymmetrical arcs.
I used to keep plans of the data centers I was responsible for. :)
 
I just took it up when I wanted cheap illustrations for my articles. Mine are very basic as they are just profiles, but when I add photograph of the real sea underneath. they come to life.
Yes they are very therapeutic. But I don't want to get involved with CAD or anything like that!

City of Colombo in sea resized (Large).jpg
 
drafting is fun. something i saw on another site, a fellow was detailing a project using a ruling pen. i have these pens in my drawing tools but never used it. instead i learned to use koi nor drafting pens.

after seeing how well the guy did striping with the ruling pen, he inspired me to try my hand at it.

here is a nice basic tutorial for the ruling pen im sure you guys will get a kick out of. perhaps you even have these pens in your collection of drawing tools?

www.jeeamirza.com

Quick Guide: How to use a Ruling Pen — Jeea Mirza

An introduction and step by step guide on how to use a ruling pen or steel pen.
www.jeeamirza.com www.jeeamirza.com

enjoy!
 
Sounds interesting, but the link will not open for me. Here is the latest progress on the drawing board. I colour them in later with Photoshop after I have photographed them to turn them into jpegs.
Latest progress - Copy (Large).JPG
 
I just found your post and will be following it with great interest. After reading your posts and seeing your great work, I have become interested in miniature ship building to the point of purchasing several books on the subject.

Bill
 
Bill-R said:
I just found your post and will be following it with great interest. After reading your posts and seeing your great work, I have become interested in miniature ship building to the point of purchasing several books on the subject.

Bill
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Thank you - all my techniques have been documented in numerous low cost downloads, usually for less than the price of a cup of coffee, and even a few free ones. They have taken me years to write, and it is not a commercial venture, but more "a labour of love!"
Here is the complete catalogue:
payhip.com

Robert A Wilson - Miniature Merchant Ship Construction & History

These documents detail various methods of building models of miniature merchant ships, not from kits, but from any materials that may come to hand. Most of the downloads contain suitable ship plans to get you started, plus where to find more (usuall...
payhip.com payhip.com
 
Roger Pellett said:
Hi Bob,

I hand draw ships hull lines. The process gives me a good understanding of the hull shape. I also don’t enjoy sitting at a computer when I can do it by hand.

Your wooden spline and brass pins is of course just how it has been for several hundred years. In my opinion, it’s the best way to create the shape of these vessels.

Roger
Click to expand...
The place the CAD program shines affords one thing drawing by hand makes difficult. And that is making changes to a drawing. I still have and use a drawing board, drafting machine and triangles but have used CAD, primarily AutoCAD, for many many years. But sometimes sitting down with a pencil and paper is just so relaxing!
 
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shipbuilder said:
Drawing board - cheap and cheerful - a sheet of plywood. I don't have CAD, and don't want it - far too long would be required to learn how to use it, and I don't like staring at a computer screen anyway.


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The tools don't make the work - the artist does. I don't imagine prisoners-of-war had many tools when they created things like this out of scraps of bones and wood!

1746271597480.png

Image from The Mariners Museum and Park.
 
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