Stern Decorations - Hahn Drawings - Prototypes

Please keep in mind, what you see below is a work in progress and the result of 3 different people's efforts. This is what I call 3D Assembly (actually the drawing is only in 2D). Bascially, we take all the various elements that are being worked on individually as has been described in previous posts and bring them together into a single image. The purpose of this is to ensure scaling is correct and that each object/element will fit proportionally to each other on the final model. This is a very important part of the prototyping process to ensure that when the physical parts are actually fabricated they will not only fit together but also fit on the model ship as well. When you think of @Brian077 's scratch built HMS Alfred, he lives in Australia and my shop is in North Carolina. We want to ensure that when I make parts for him and ship them all the way down under they will fit his model as needed. For something as complicated as custom decorations where we are attempting to duplicate Harold Hahn's hand carved artwork, this task can be quite daunting. This takes us far, far beyond what any kit manufacturer does (apologies to our good friends at Trident and CAF) and moves us into an arena of "customized build to order". Not necessarily "kits" per se (sorry @donfarr ) but pieces and parts that can both greatly enhance existing kits as well as give the scratch builder parts he may not easily be able to make himself. Try to imagine an entire library of 3D objects/parts that you could search for, select the scale, select the type of wood (or plastic) and then have those items made for you and shipped. We are not talking about your standard wooden blocks or 6 pounder cast cannon here. This would be more like: 6 pounder cannon in 1:48 scale with King Charles II emblem.... or Stern Transom Window frames, USF Confederacy, 1:64 scale, in boxwood. Now imagine if you could simply take a photograph of any object you want and have that object turned into a scale model part. This is where we are trying to move the needle to. Where else is this happening?

While the learning cure on all this advanced software is indeed steep, it is not impossible to learn. Let me give you an example. Only 3 weeks ago it took me over 8 hours just to draw and properly scale a single set of window frames. Now I can do the same thing in a few minutes. Several days ago it took me an entire day to trace and render the vines/flowers for the side gallery of the HMS Alfred. Just 2 days ago, I did the same thing for the stern in under 2 hours. This morning I performed the 3D assembly you see below in about 20 minutes. It is one of those skills where the more you do it, the faster and more intuitive it becomes.

Of course, I am not getting any "real" model building done while learning all this. But something tells me all you guys would rather have me learning this anyway.

I would appreciate your thoughts and feedback.


Stern Assembly.jpg
 
the "layout" is vital to any project it makes sure everyone is working as a team.
i can contact the Hahn's and photograph most of the models built by Harold because they are still in the hands of the family.
The 2D to 3D image work is great IF you have the carvings to start with, but when you only have a drawing and a rough one at that it still requires a CAD artist.
 
but when you only have a drawing and a rough one at that it still requires a CAD artist.
Yes, very true. And of course you still need CAD drawings of the ship itself as the basis to overlay any 3D artwork on top of for scaling and many other purposes. I was primarily discussing those types of decorations such as decorations (figures, fillagree, wreaths, windows, etc) that model builders find difficult to make.
 
3D scanner would that speed thing up
Actually I have been working with @shelk on that very subject. He is a dentist and has access to a high resolution dental scanner. You may have seen the prototype work we did on some Black Pearl fillagree on another thread. I am just waiting for him to 3D print the results to see how it look. Like a lot of this technology the current price point for high resolution 3D scanners of the type needed for detailed scale modeling is still very high. Consumer model scanners will not do what we need.

BP Fillagree.jpg
 
MIKE, DAVE AND ALL THE OTHERS, WHAT YOU GUYS ARE DOING IS JUST UNBELIVABLE, NO WORDS CAN ADAQUICLY DESCRIBE THIS, PLEASE, PLEASE CONTINUE, THIS AND YES MIKE I WOULD LOVE A X SECTION KIT, BUT THOUGHTS ARE SWIRLING IN MY HEAD, THAT IS A DANGEROUS THING, WILL EXPLORE WITH YOU BOTH PM AND OPEN FORUM., AND IT DOES TAKE A VILLAGE TO DO THIS., GOD BLESS YO AND YOURS DON
 
Hello Mike, Dave and all of you guys working on these mode ship enhancements that will make our build stand out. I wish to congratulate you for your patients and very impressive work that you guys are turning out. I for one appreciate this very much and do wish that I could help more but this kind of thing is far beyond my ability, so I sit on the side lines and applaud all of you that have these skills and are willing to share with your SOS Ship Mates.
Regards Lawrence
 
one thing that comes to mind years ago when i introduced laser cut frames at a conference i was told "well that is interesting, but there is no place for that here"

Seems the old school model builders felt this new fangled techno approach is destroying the age old craft of model ship building.
Maybe we should stop and go back to a knife and whittle out a model?
What will this do to the little guy down in the basement still doing it all old school?
 
What will this do to the little guy down in the basement still doing it all old school

It'll give him something extra special, a Choice in how to proceed. Not everyone can carve wood and have the carving end up looking how they wanted.
If that old schooler decides to go his own, it's his choice but if he can't get it just right to his liking then this will be his resque. For the rest of us with more asperations than skill sets I applaud your efforts to improve the hobby, and eventually other hobbies by example.
 
While I can't speak for the international community, I can guarantee you there in not a single ship model company in the United States doing anything close to this type of work!!
We have found at least one company working in this arena. Similar idea but not nearly to the same level of sophistication. I haven't looked into the actual origins of these parts but I would guess they probably come from China. Just guessing.

 
Sorry It seems I can no message you for some reason. I have a question because I really do not understand your computer software requirements but I would like to know if you can use diagrams/line drawing like this attached and if so what the cost estimate would be. If you can do it then I would be interested in getting some boat designs in the future like attached.
Thank you
Balaca83167c99c579f4681e9b145c9ef6286 (6).jpg
 
I have the plans for the HMS Alexander (Alfred class) and I zoomed in to the stern area.
HMSAlexanderStern.jpg

A blank canvas for sure.
I have hopes of building an HMS Alexander some day, but I cannot find any details on what the stern or figurehead looked like.

Dennis
 
I have the plans for the HMS Alexander (Alfred class) and I zoomed in to the stern area.
View attachment 176924

A blank canvas for sure.
I have hopes of building an HMS Alexander some day, but I cannot find any details on what the stern or figurehead looked like.

Dennis
All the contemporary drawings available at the NMM are drawings of this class and are not showing the figurehead.
But I found once a page showing a beautiful and fully rigged contemporary prisoner of war model of the HMS Alexander which was once in auction. There you can find several photos of the model and could be a good base for your way of making the figurehead - better than nothing and maybe the only source available

2020_pow_model_alexandre-5.jpg

2020_pow_model_alexandre-9.jpg

2020_pow_model_alexandre-16.jpg

 
Back
Top