Ever considered to scratch-build from card?

Amazing Ab,
Thanks for posting this. I am new to model ship building, and moreso this forum. I am glad I found this post, as I really want to try to do one my Great Lakes freighters in this method. I have all the right drawings......just have to have them printed at my local print shop. The ship I want to do is 630ft in the real world, so working a scale of 1/16" - 1ft. This is very thorough overview of building with card stock.

I'm all for keeping costs/material as affordable as possible!
 
Thanks again for your likes and comments. In this time of isolation they keep me going.

Carlosmanuel: From the days I worked for the museum I still have a stock of Irish linen in various sizes. It is hard to come by, you just have to know the addresses. I left the museum 8 years ago, so my contacts get more and more outdated. There are good yarns in modelshops (incredibly expensive though) but a bit of testing other stuff won't hurt. Thread used for sewing machines is usually fluffy, but thread for hand sewing it is often fine and useful. If only fluffy stuff is available a wax candle will help a lot. It also worked for good material, because it makes the ropes 'obedient': you can twist and lay the material the way you want it, without it trying to get back to its original state. I do have a rope-walk (hand-driven, made of Meccano parts), but for the scale I work in (1/77) it is seldom used. Too many left-overs from former projects :).
If there is only white yarn available it is easy to color it with aniline on acetone base, used for coloring leather. It is available in black and brown (the brand here in Holland is Tana) and the brown one can be easily diluted with acetone. The good thing is that it dries instantaneously and you can pick your own shade of brown. I usually avoid fluffy kinds and color it myself, except for the black ones. You cannot really dilute black dye, because it turnes out to be purple. Most black yarns are actually dyed with purple.
Black is ok with yarn, but for painting a model I hardly ever use black, because it takes all the light away. I prefer very dark brown (for instance Van Dijks brown, just like Bob Ross :) ).
But I digress. Sorry for that, it 's the age..

Ab
I have read your posts with great interest and fascination, Your writing style is that of a great teacher and I thank you for that. I love colonial American history especially the early history of New Amsterdam. I remember as a youngster some old windmills, restored and in ruins on Long Island. Hopefully I will follow your advice and try a cardboard build.
 
Hello tommyg,
Thanks for your praise. It's just paper.
Maybe the replica of the Onrust, the first European ship ever build in America is a nice project for you.
Good luck.
 
TJCampbell: Sorry for overlooking your post of March 12 (!). I think the project you are thinking about is just right for a paper-test. If it all works out the way you want, you can always consider doing it in wood.
 
Hi Ab
Would you allow me to show a photo of the huker here in your building report, which I built on a smaller scale allmost according to your instructions?
Schmidt
 
Chapman's plans were also the basis for my model. However, I only built a waterline model from card, on a scale of 1:150. I reinforced the inside of the finished hull with filler and made a silicone mold from it that allowed me to cast it several times.
Equipment and rigging follow Ab's model a lot.
The second photo shows an arrangement with three Kaags, little dutch fishing boats, also based on models by Ab.
Schmidt

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Sorry Schmidt, but with your question, did you mean to let me send you pictures of my hooker? I suppose you know you can simply copy such pictures from the thread? Please let me know what you want, so I can undertake action :).
 
No, sorry. I just wanted to know whether you allow me to show a picture of my model built according to your instructions. If you want me to remove the above pictures, I will do that immediately.
Schmidt
 
Dear Ab Hoving!
( never еver could imagine that I will talk to Ab Hoving :)))
Thank You very much for your tutorial... I read all as very interesting book!
I never try paper, but in your posts it looks so not complicated , interesting and doesn't demand many expansive power tools, that I m burning this idea and would like to try follow your advices in building some paper model! :)))
Besides there a lot of information of making rigging,sails, blocks which I found very usefull for my current plastic kits projects!!!
Thanks again.
I've posted link to your tutorial in russian shipmodeling forum
, so more people will know how it could be done, to build perfect scratch model from just paper!
:)))
All the Best!
Kirill
 
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I have to agree with Ab and his son, one of best photos of a model I have ever seen. Ab's photos of his builds on the cardmodelers forum are also superb. I particularly like the lighting of the sails which really brought the model to life.
looking forward to seeing more of your model artistry.

Jim Nunn
 
Hello Jim Nunn,
Thanks for the words of praise, which are precious coming from you. I will continue and promise there will be more in due time.
 
Good day,
Dear Ab,
I apologize for asking this question here without finding a more suitable place.
I (and some of our colleagues)would like to hear your authoritative opinion about what these rings or loops on the foresail and mainstays can be like?
They can be very often seen in galleon paintings of the 16th and the very beginning of the 17th centuries ...
in a later period, with a full-sized ezelgoft/ mastcap and stays wound up on the tops of the masts with a mouse and a loop, you will no longer see these loop rings .. But what could it be!?
Many Thanks in advance!
Wish You All The Best!
Kirill

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Seeing this thread, it make me wonder if it's possible to do a 1st rate ship like the royal louis or the terrible using card/paper (tho I'm unsure how the ornaments done in putty/milliput would act toward the card/paper) and if it wouldn't be easier to go with that instead of wood for scratch.
 
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