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Hms Sussex - A dockyard model made of card

Again, thank you for all the positive comments and the likes.
In the mean time I started another dockyard model, the Mordaunt, from Richard Endsor's book The shipbuilder's secrets. The lower hull and the ship"s sides were finished in two weeks time, but I am not completely satisfied with the bow. If it all works out in the end I will surely let you know.
Odd scale: 1/4 of the original dockyard model: 1/192.
 
Dear Ab,
as a card modeler I always planned to build a 1677 est. ship, probably Tyger or resolution but I've absolutely no idea how to realize the carved works without using a 3D printer. How did you manage that?
Regards, Alex
 
Hi Alex,

Carvings on a 1/200 scale model are a relative concept. It is obvious that carving in wood is impossible. It is also nearly impossible to make carvings that really picture recognizable images. It's all fake. I use several materials to suggest the gingerbread carvings: 2-components stuff like Magic Sculpt or Miliput, or small threads of paper or gesso. The last can be made in little doses with a mixture of chalk, white glue and acrilic paint in the color you choose. Small blobs are added to the locations where they are needed, until sufficient volume is reached. Finally some 'sculpting' can be done with round and sharp bamboo sticks or something like that. It works both for relief work and for free standing statues. It's a matter of bluff. You don't have to create real carvings, they only have to look like them.
That's all I can say about it. I'm not particularly good in it, but it's a technique that can be learned.

By the way: how would you produce carvings with a 3D printer?
 
Hi Ab,

that's what I wanted to hear. I recently read a book about navy board models and the author used thread, wire and tissue to "sculpt". It's always a bluff but it works. To answer your question: I think about buying a 3D printer to produce something like the ornaments around the gun ports. Things that repeat. I learned that at the "Texel-diorama" figureheads and repeating ornaments were made of Raisin.
I'll see. It's just an idea...
 
It has been a while since my latest posting. In case you thought I was out of business, well, I am not. I just forgot to anchor what I was building, so there was not much to tell.
In fact I am working on two models at the moment. The Sussex I showed earlier in this thread was a third rate man-of-war. The Mordaunt however, my second try, was a fourth rate and therefore smaller than Sussex. I found the necessary drawings in Richard Endsor's magnificent book The Master Shipwright's Secrets. Here is to what it has come to so far:

Schermafbeelding 2026-01-23 om 13.51.27.png


Schermafbeelding 2026-01-23 om 13.52.25.png

Schermafbeelding 2026-01-23 om 13.53.00.png

The model is not finished. Apart from the beak head, all the details like stairs, bitts, deadeyes, gunport lids and lanterns will have to be done. The stand is also a temporary one, just a left-over from my previous efforts with the Sussex. I could have finished it (and I certainly will later), but suddenly I felt inspiration to do a next-level experiment: I wanted to build an open dockyard model. So I did. This is the Tyger, actually a rebuild of the Mordaunt, both in open and in closed condition.

Schermafbeelding 2026-01-23 om 13.06.21.png
Schermafbeelding 2026-01-23 om 13.01.57.png

Schermafbeelding 2026-01-23 om 13.02.58.png

Schermafbeelding 2026-01-23 om 13.05.15.png

Schermafbeelding 2026-01-23 om 13.03.38.png

As you can see I have a small problem here: I ran out of my stock of card of the right consistency and thickness. I know my colleague at the Rijkmuseum is working hard on gathering new material for me, but it takes some time, so I will have to be patient before I will have the opportunity to build the larboard half of the frames below deck level. Apart from that I will have to do the stern, both in the sides and above the transom, not to mention the usual details I mentioned concerning the Mordaunt.

In case you are having problems with the size of the model (scale roughly 1/200), this picture might help:

Schermafbeelding 2026-01-23 om 13.07.14.png

In case you prefer jpg. images above these ones, I regrettably failed to make them. It took me hours trying, but the matter is recalcitrant, like most things I try on computers. Sorry.
Hope to see you next time.
 
It has been a while since my latest posting. In case you thought I was out of business, well, I am not. I just forgot to anchor what I was building, so there was not much to tell.
In fact I am working on two models at the moment. The Sussex I showed earlier in this thread was a third rate man-of-war. The Mordaunt however, my second try, was a fourth rate and therefore smaller than Sussex. I found the necessary drawings in Richard Endsor's magnificent book The Master Shipwright's Secrets. Here is to what it has come to so far:

View attachment 572313


View attachment 572314

View attachment 572315

The model is not finished. Apart from the beak head, all the details like stairs, bitts, deadeyes, gunport lids and lanterns will have to be done. The stand is also a temporary one, just a left-over from my previous efforts with the Sussex. I could have finished it (and I certainly will later), but suddenly I felt inspiration to do a next-level experiment: I wanted to build an open dockyard model. So I did. This is the Tyger, actually a rebuild of the Mordaunt, both in open and in closed condition.

View attachment 572320
View attachment 572316

View attachment 572317

View attachment 572319

View attachment 572318

As you can see I have a small problem here: I ran out of my stock of card of the right consistency and thickness. I know my colleague at the Rijkmuseum is working hard on gathering new material for me, but it takes some time, so I will have to be patient before I will have the opportunity to build the larboard half of the frames below deck level. Apart from that I will have to do the stern, both in the sides and above the transom, not to mention the usual details I mentioned concerning the Mordaunt.

In case you are having problems with the size of the model (scale roughly 1/200), this picture might help:

View attachment 572321

In case you prefer jpg. images above these ones, I regrettably failed to make them. It took me hours trying, but the matter is recalcitrant, like most things I try on computers. Sorry.
Hope to see you next time.
That looks great, Ab. My respect to do this on this scale!
Now you owned the HCSA (Half-Cut Saw Association) membership!
Regards, Peter
 
Never heard of Peter, but it feels great!
It was erected after Uwe @Uwek, following Maarten @Maarten and myself, also split the hull of his model into two parts.;):)
Jim @Jimsky has applied ….. ;)
P.S. With this purchase, am I entitled to be a member of the HCSA (Half-Cut Saw Association)?
So, you are in good company. :)
Regards, Peter
 
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