HMS Druid P.O.F. - Unicorn Models by Donnie [COMPLETED BUILD]

Maarten said:
Hi Donnie wonderfull work sofar.
Uwek said:
I can fully confirm the words by Maarten.
Based on his tip working on his model I tried it and also water colours on my Coureur and I am very happy with the result - I am using the ecoline stuff
View attachment 258549
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Instead of using black paint you can also use black ink. The difference between paint and ink is that the ink penetrates into the wood ad leaves the wood grain visible. If you then finish it with oil afterwards the whole hull gets the same luster.
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Nice tips these.... THANK YOU !!!

Daniel
 
Donnie said:
I now have all the 'base' railings in place. There is another 'level' of railings plus the stanctions that will be installed.

However, at this point, I must make a decision. To paint or not to paint. I have some lin seed oil that I am going to use on the hull. But, the part that I am completely undecided about are the RAILS and also there are some 1 x 2mm walnut strips that are decorative strips that go length wise on the hull right above and below the cannon ports. I would paint them black.

But I am open for anyone that has more suggestions. I wanted to leave the model natural, but as I go along, it seems that this is just not going to be a good choice. I could cover the entire model with lin seed oil, but some test that I did on some pieces just does not look right.

Any suggestions?


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Beautiful work...
 
I really do appreciate the kind words. So many of you are much fine artists and give me great encouragement. My camera is not best and therefore, to make images a little sharper / better (for now) , it is best to make it smaller to reduce the softness.
And . . . I am using now the India Ink which does produce a soft glow.

trim09.jpg

trim10.jpg​
 
Donnie said:
I really do appreciate the kind words. So many of you are much fine artists and give me great encouragement. My camera is not best and therefore, to make images a little sharper / better (for now) , it is best to make it smaller to reduce the softness.
And . . . I am using now the India Ink which does produce a soft glow.

Click to expand...
Looking very nice Donnie! How are you applying the ink? Brush? With paint, you can scrape off any you accidently get on the adjacent wood. With ink, that seems like a scary proposition, unless you dye the wood first. So I am wondering what technique is being used by those who prefer ink. Thanks!
 
Dean,
I am using just a basic brush with a fine point - this also helps to get into tight spots. Unfortunately, I had already painted the handrail and the stern rail all the way around with plain flat black acrylic. Then (I know this makes everyone cringe), I left the stern as is and did not try to remove the acrylic, but rather just used the Black India Ink on top of what was already there. As it turns out, I am really actually very pleased with the results. You can still notice the grain of the wood and the ink gives a soft sheen. I will do the same procedure for the rest of the handrails. From there on, I will use the ink only.

I did notice that if the surface is painted with Acrylic flat black FIRST, and then the ink, the ink does not require but one coat. If I am using ink on (like for walnut), it takes about 4 to 5 coats before it will look more like Ebony. After all, it is the Ebony look that we are after I suppose. Dave Stevens was the one that sent out a video on this furniture craftsman that was experimenting with many ways to produce a false Ebony. It was the high-grade India Ink that produced the best result as close to Ebony as he has seen. I say this because I am not sure if all India Ink sold in stores is the same.

I am using "Speedball Super Black India Ink" from Hobby Lobby.

1632931551797.png
 
Thanks for the details Donnie. I placed an Amazon order of that ink.

So many things to learn !!! This is a never ending learning hobby.

Cheers
Daniel
 
Donnie said:
Dean,
I am using just a basic brush with a fine point - this also helps to get into tight spots. Unfortunately, I had already painted the handrail and the stern rail all the way around with plain flat black acrylic. Then (I know this makes everyone cringe), I left the stern as is and did not try to remove the acrylic, but rather just used the Black India Ink on top of what was already there. As it turns out, I am really actually very pleased with the results. You can still notice the grain of the wood and the ink gives a soft sheen. I will do the same procedure for the rest of the handrails. From there on, I will use the ink only.

I did notice that if the surface is painted with Acrylic flat black FIRST, and then the ink, the ink does not require but one coat. If I am using ink on (like for walnut), it takes about 4 to 5 coats before it will look more like Ebony. After all, it is the Ebony look that we are after I suppose. Dave Stevens was the one that sent out a video on this furniture craftsman that was experimenting with many ways to produce a false Ebony. It was the high-grade India Ink that produced the best result as close to Ebony as he has seen. I say this because I am not sure if all India Ink sold in stores is the same.

I am using "Speedball Super Black India Ink" from Hobby Lobby.

View attachment 258762
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OK, Thanks for the info Donnie.
I typically thin out water based paints, and brush on in thin coats, and you can still see the wood grain. Not as well as a dye or stain obviously, but you will still have grain showing. They do have water based wood dyes, in different colors, that I have used with success in the past.
I typically use General Finishes...
dye1.JPG

But I am considering these...
dye2JPG.JPG
dye3.JPG
dye4.JPG
 
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Donnie,
I'm just curious.
The holes, are you leaving this one?
Or will you fill them up later?
The way they look now, looks good, and doesn't look out of place
Good choice the black
 
I am leaving the holes. it seems that the ink is wanting to fill those up. I am nearly done with the Black Trim. NOTE: since I could not decide at the beginning to leave the model natural or paint, as you know, the Wales had not been painted --- It is probably obvious to most that you should paint the Wales and as much trim as you can before gluing the parts to the hull. It was a very tedious operation to paint the wales to make it look as if they had been installed after they were painted.

Then I build the stairs leading from Deck 1 to Deck 2. (Deck 0 is on top) --- still can't get used to the 0, 1, and 2 arrangement.

Then the last photo just shows I am starting on the Gratings. I am not good at scratch building these so I am thankful they come already done.

Well, the camera don't lie --- what looks fairly decent to the naked eye - just doesn't look all that great when the photos are done.


trim16.jpg


stairs01.jpg


stairs02.jpg

gratings01.jpg
​
 
Ok, so the gratings turn out to be a ROYAL PAIN. They are very fragile and a few notches broke, but they gave a few spares. The parts MUST be sanded down to a certain thickness before they will interlock. I did not know this until I had punched out all the parts for Grating #1. Thank goodness I left the others intact on the CNC board. What I plan to do for the next set is to sand the ENTIRE CNC board before punching them out as this will give all a nice flat and should not have to worry about breaking any notches. All in all - it was about 5 hours of work just for one.
I am not too sure about the Black frame, but I could not decide - so I guess I continue to either make the model good or make it a complete mess of the worst paint job LOL.

gratings02.jpg

gratings03.jpg​
 
Donnie said:
Ok, so the gratings turn out to be a ROYAL PAIN. They are very fragile and a few notches broke, but they gave a few spares. The parts MUST be sanded down to a certain thickness before they will interlock. I did not know this until I had punched out all the parts for Grating #1. Thank goodness I left the others intact on the CNC board. What I plan to do for the next set is to sand the ENTIRE CNC board before punching them out as this will give all a nice flat and should not have to worry about breaking any notches. All in all - it was about 5 hours of work just for one.
I am not too sure about the Black frame, but I could not decide - so I guess I continue to either make the model good or make it a complete mess of the worst paint job LOL.

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Maybe a struggle but it looks good to me.
 
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