How far do you go?

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I'm puttering away on The Discovery1789. It's my first build, it's a POF and I've kinda been using Don Vada's Vulture as a model. Stuglo's build gives more detail but I'm just a little ahead of him. Anyway, I'm to the point of starting the lower deck. All the platforms and cabins on the platforms are pretty much done. I put the inner walls in the magazine and it crossed my mind that some barrels of powder would look cool. I can see myself heading down a deep rabbit hole here. How did some of you decide that enough was enough? My initial idea was to model her as she was when she sailed past my house. Well a couple of miles from my house.. I've discovered that she had a fish on the foremast and the bowsprit so I'm going to try to put that in but I'm stuck as far as how much inner detail to put in. Even done like Vada's how much can you actually see down though two or three decks of carlings and ledges.
Maybe some advice from more experienced builders that have been down this road before
Thanks
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I'm puttering away on The Discovery1789. It's my first build, it's a POF and I've kinda been using Don Vada's Vulture as a model. Stuglo's build gives more detail but I'm just a little ahead of him. Anyway, I'm to the point of starting the lower deck. All the platforms and cabins on the platforms are pretty much done. I put the inner walls in the magazine and it crossed my mind that some barrels of powder would look cool. I can see myself heading down a deep rabbit hole here. How did some of you decide that enough was enough? My initial idea was to model her as she was when she sailed past my house. Well a couple of miles from my house.. I've discovered that she had a fish on the foremast and the bowsprit so I'm going to try to put that in but I'm stuck as far as how much inner detail to put in. Even done like Vada's how much can you actually see down though two or three decks of carlings and ledges.
Maybe some advice from more experienced builders that have been down this road before
Thanks
Hello, Don. I have the same issue building HMS Sovereign of the Seas. At present, it is clear that most of the details I plan to build in the lower gun deck will only be visible by peering through the gun ports. Basically, I have decided to install most of the internal features of the ship even though they will not be viewable and the ship will not be a cutaway model. Those features which can not be viewed through any of the gun ports will be omitted. The includes interior cabins, other than bulkheads visible from that gun deck. What it comes down to is how much your personally want to include in the interior. You know the features will be there, but no one will probably ever see them. One excessive idea is to install interior cameras or provide a borescope to be able to look inside, but implementing this in a manner that does not distract from the ship's appearance is another problem to overcome. At best, being able to peer into gallery windows is probably the best one can do to create the illusion of a fully furnished interior without lots of extra work that is not viewable. An example in my build is replacing dummy gun barrels with fully constructed gun carriages, allowing you to peer beyond the guns deeper into the interior, which will be lit with LED's to make it possible to see interior details. With any model build, you have to set the level of detail where you want it. Hope this helps...
 
First of all - for a first build; this already looks as though you have five builds under your belt; very nicely done!

Generally, I agree with Uwek. Right now I build in plastic, and don’t feel compelled to build inner structures that can’t really be seen.

Eventually, I will get to making arsenal style models from wood. When that time comes I plan to build at least one model that is fully, structurally complete, but I also plan for there to be strategic cutaways, on one side so that this work is visible.

Some things, even if they can’t be seen, are pleasing to the builder just because they know it’s in there, and they will always have the satisfaction of building it. For example, I considered making the cable bits on the lower gun deck just because I thought they were cool structures, but ultimately I decided to move on, in the interest of time.
 
Maybe one possibility would be, that you later cut out some area of the frames (like a window) , to get a view to the interior from the side !?!

And, looking at your photos of your model, it would be very interesting to see your work in abuilding log of your project - you can easily start from the actual status - it would be great
 
Thank you for the kind comments. Lots of stuff to think about. I noticed on Vada's build that that he built a hull section immediately after the full build. It makes me wonder if the partial planking doesn't give great visibility.
After a lot of thinking I'm kinda leaning toward much the same as he did. The full build and then a section build. This would allow me to do less interior stuff on the full build. I think I would do the section in a larger scale though.
 
Thank you for the kind comments. Lots of stuff to think about. I noticed on Vada's build that that he built a hull section immediately after the full build. It makes me wonder if the partial planking doesn't give great visibility.
After a lot of thinking I'm kinda leaning toward much the same as he did. The full build and then a section build. This would allow me to do less interior stuff on the full build. I think I would do the section in a larger scale though.
Very good idea with the section
For inspiration take a look at Karls alias @Jeronimo ´s section models
 
Good question. My first reaction is even if no one else will see it, you'll know it's there. But you probably do want to have some way to display your work--windows or removable decking. Good luck!
 
I suppose the ultimate would be to build a half model(split along the centerline) but then it would have to sit in the center of the room so people could see both sides. Try to get that around the boss :)
 
One thing I wonder is how about the ships in museums? What level of detail do they show. I wish I could see period ships in a museum but where I live, that doesn't exist. Probably have to go to Europe, I guess.
 
Since many of the internal details are not visible for most models without some portion of the model having to be omitted or cutaway, the idea of building a second, cross section or cutaway model and displaying it next to the full model is appealing. Perhaps more than one cutaway model from different sections of the ship could be made. It would be nice to have them at the same scale so they are instantly recognizable as being part of the same ship, but larger scale cutaways afford more detail.
 
I saw one model that was split horizontally lengthwise at each deck. I really showed off the interior but you couldn't really get a nice look at the whole ship. I was imagining telescoping masts with actuators inside to assemble/disassemble the ship with the push of a button but that's getting kind of silly.
 
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