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exactly what is a ship model kit

Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)

Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)

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The one big comment i get is i would love to build on of the Hahn models and i can handle the structure of the hull but what i cannot do are the carvings. In the early days there was no way to produce the carvings other than sculpt them, make a mold and cast them in resin. Today with 3D software and printing it is now possible to create the sterns. The early resin castings were rejected by the hard core builders saying "no plastic on wooden ship models" but why not? it is a mixed media art form. True if i built the model and did the 3D carvings myself and printed them it is scratch built because i did it all. If someone else built the model and used the 3D prints is it still scratch building or kit building or something in between?

the original model by Harold Hahn

aoliver06c.jpg

a reproduction

Capture1.JPG

Capture2.JPG

oliver4.JPG

breaking it all down and using some pieces as a pattern and redone in wood and other pieces using the resin print

Capture alfred stern.JPG
 
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I see an even more basic question at the core: What is ship modeling?

Hahn fabricated the hull and then hand carved the sculpture and frieze. He used materials that the builders of the original vessels had access to.
Using a 3D printer -- or a 4D computer controlled router to generate a part for assembly is not exactly the same thing. The raw material are "better living thru chemistry" in origin.

What Hahn did in a metaphorical sense is to run a 26 mile Marathon barefoot in July in the rain.
The assembly alternative is driving the same 26 miles in a Lexus and saying that you did the Marathon.

Back to ship modeling - sure - at the end - both methods get you a physical object. The objects may appear to be nearly identical if the finish allows that. Is this really doing the same thing? To me it is two different planets. Not town, not country, not even continent, maybe not quite different solar systems, but close to that.
 
I see an even more basic question at the core: What is ship modeling?

Bob Creek answered that on several occasions but there is no mention of the how and what materials to be used, i don't think.

What Hahn did in a metaphorical sense is to run a 26 mile Marathon barefoot in July in the rain.

Hahn is the exception if he were a member here he would be 1 in 27,000

Hahn fabricated the hull and then hand carved the sculpture and frieze. He used materials that the builders of the original vessels had access to. Using a 3D printer -- or a 4D computer controlled router to generate a part for assembly is not exactly the same thing. The raw material are "better living thru chemistry" in origin.

same coin different sides if i flip the coin Hahn could not do what i do with technology and i cannot do what he did with a knife. but the end results are the same a ship model that represents the original in appearance.

Back to ship modeling - sure - at the end - both methods get you a physical object. The objects may appear to be nearly identical if the finish allows that. Is this really doing the same thing?
in a sense yes, it is the same thing and it is a matter of technique some artists use a paint brush Paul Jackson Pollock splashed and dripped household paint on a canvas. the end results, both are art.

i personally am not in favor of seeing wooden ship model kits being turned in paint by number just gluing parts together. But is a model builder started with a timbering set of raw material and fabricated the model and added printed carvings is that so bad?
 
Human skill, talent, knowledge, expertise, persistence, dedication, LOVE, blood, sweat, & tears. And then there is the "PRINTER". To me it's apples and oranges. They are not the same. But they both still have a place at the table.
 
I agree with MisterCA, it's apples and oranges. If we ask our 3D printers to produce a completely finished model ,including every block and rigging line, the talent (art) of model ship building has been lost and replaced by technology. We don't know how to build a beautiful scale model ship using time tested knowledge and materials, but we know how to program our technological computer equipment to print us one over night. Thanks, but I will stick to the old ways of building my ships.
 
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