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Author Topic: Scratchbuilt keelboat for my Pathfinder campaign  (Read 3425 times)

Offline PhilB

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Scratchbuilt keelboat for my Pathfinder campaign
« on: January 18, 2019, 10:28:49 AM »
After my last set of posts, I knew those vikings needed a boat or three. So here is my first attempt at scratchbuilding a waterline model of a ship's boat. It's a little on the small side to call it a "knarr", and far too small to call if a "longboat", so I guess I'm going to call it a "keelboat".

I have to say for starters that I was really intimidated by the idea of doing a ship model, especially after visiting this excellent site and seeing all the cool stuff the real shipbuilder hobbyists put together. I knew I would never be up to their standards, but I kept thinking that whatever I made would surely be good enough for the gaming tabletop. So I sucked it up and gave it a shot.



Here is my starting point: the tiny boat that came with the Warhammer/Citadel Laketown house, which you can see at the top. But it was too small; I could barely fit two figures on it. So I vowed to make something big enough for 6 or so figures, just the right size for my current adventuring party. I started with some dense foam, sketched out the hull profile, cut it out, cut the foam in half because it was too thick, and eventually decided to make the central deck area lower, like in the Laketown house boat. After carving and shaving off bits for a while, I decided that was as close as I was going to get, so I prepared some  1mm thick balsa and scribed planks and nailholes, then cut to fit the three parts of the deck.



I first tried this with thicker balsa, but even after soaking it for a few hours, it broke when I tried to bend it. So it was back to the 1mm thick balsa sheet. I sketched out a profile, based on the foam core I was going to use, soaked the sides for a few hours, then clamped it in place for another hour to start giving it the right shape.



But it was still a real dog to get to adhere to the shape of the foam core. I had to stick dozens of pins to get it to conform to the right shape, then left the PVA glue to dry overnight.



To my surprise the next morning, it had mostly worked! There were only a few small unsightly gaps, and I counted on the decking to cover my sins.



I also cobbled together a steering oar, and glued on the fore and aft keels. They really didn't want to stick, so I had to use sewing pins stuck deep into the foam core to get them to stay in place.



And after a quick very dilute coat of brown craft paint mixed with black ink, this is what I got. Not bad, eh?

I plan to drybrush some grey on, to lighten and weather it, and work on improving the wood grain. It would also be nice to glue some very small and subtle braces along the interior side of the gunwales, as can be seen in the Laketown house boat, but I may not have time before tonight's session. Still, I think it's already an acceptable piece for the gaming table, despite being so dark.

Any suggestions?

I'll post some in-game pics tomorrow, it should give the thing a better sense of scale.
« Last Edit: January 18, 2019, 10:31:22 AM by PhilB »

Offline Yuber Okami

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Re: Scratchbuilt keelboat for my Pathfinder campaign
« Reply #1 on: January 18, 2019, 11:11:34 AM »

Any suggestions?


Maybe you should keep building bigger ships and make a living selling them? I mean, what you did is astonishing  :o


Offline PhilB

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Re: Scratchbuilt keelboat for my Pathfinder campaign
« Reply #2 on: January 18, 2019, 11:16:59 AM »
The funny thing is, I really just slapped it together in a few hours (not counting soaking time and glue drying time). The balsa did most of the heavy lifting, in the sense that it got the curve of the hull to look good despite the hackjob I did on the foam core that holds it together.

Scribing the planks and putting in nailholes didn't really take long, maybe 20 minutes total.

But rather than pay for one, I'd bet that anyone could follow the same techniques I used and get a decent result.

Offline Daeothar

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Re: Scratchbuilt keelboat for my Pathfinder campaign
« Reply #3 on: January 18, 2019, 01:11:18 PM »
That is looking amazing; you've achieved an impressive result for your first try! 8)

I always admire people who work with balsa; I usually stick to plasticard, as the cemented bonds are usually much stronger, and putty can cover a multitude of sins. Actual wood is much more stubborn and not as easily forced to do as you please. But the result is always very nice indeed.

I'd certainly lighten up the finish with at least one drybrush; it's pretty dark right now, but that is actually sort of realistic of course. Braces are a must I'd say (and more than on the Laketown boat).

Maybe a roll of rope somewhere?

And judging from the picture, the stern part of the keel could do with a bit more sanding, as it looks a bit rough right now. Probably because of wood fibers standing up after the wash.

Great stuff though; please keep it up. Any larger, and you're going to have to do masts, and rigging, and sails and all that... ;)
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Offline Dentatus

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Re: Scratchbuilt keelboat for my Pathfinder campaign
« Reply #4 on: January 18, 2019, 01:23:00 PM »
That's a nifty bit of scratchbuilding there. Pix of the game?

Offline Belisarius

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Re: Scratchbuilt keelboat for my Pathfinder campaign
« Reply #5 on: January 18, 2019, 01:56:36 PM »
Brilliant bit of scratch building and a good tutorial. These boats would fit into most periods from Ancient through to Modern . Add a sail or an outboard engine and the possibilities are endless. A scratchbuilt jetty must come next , using the same materials . I suggest dry brushing the boat in grey , to simulate old wood , leaving it darker at the bottom where the waves hit against the hull .

Offline Bloggard

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Re: Scratchbuilt keelboat for my Pathfinder campaign
« Reply #6 on: January 18, 2019, 03:18:32 PM »
superb  :-*

Offline tin shed gamer

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Re: Scratchbuilt keelboat for my Pathfinder campaign
« Reply #7 on: January 18, 2019, 03:52:09 PM »
An excellent build especially given its your first.
I'd recommend you add the ribs as it will strengthen the models side's.
As for the colour I'd recommend going much lighter as dark wood colours are more suggestive of water logged wood.
I did make a couple of boats for a display game round four or five years ago.
I think the thread was called Saxon/Viking long ships ( probably had cereal packet card in the title some where. ;D )
If you can't find it I'll dig out some old images (from an old phone)and would like me to I can add them either here or on my workbench thread .Just because it's easier to use an image than describe the whole thing.

Mark.

Offline PhilB

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Re: Scratchbuilt keelboat for my Pathfinder campaign
« Reply #8 on: January 18, 2019, 04:03:44 PM »
OK, just an hour before I leave for tonight's game, but I did the grey drybrush. I can't help thinking I went a little too heavy on the grey... but maybe it's a good look. I also added some inner ribs, but didn't go crazy on the forms. Could be better, but it's a start. What do y'all think?



And here's with a few more pirates on board, but before the drybrush. You can really see the difference.



More tomorrow. Thanks for all the comments, I'll take time to see what more I can do over the coming days. The real test will be when I try to make another one. <g>
« Last Edit: January 18, 2019, 04:06:43 PM by PhilB »

Offline Shaved Dwarf

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Re: Scratchbuilt keelboat for my Pathfinder campaign
« Reply #9 on: January 18, 2019, 06:23:36 PM »
It sure looks impressive (especially considering it's your first scratchbuilt boat).

Offline Swaelg

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Re: Scratchbuilt keelboat for my Pathfinder campaign
« Reply #10 on: January 18, 2019, 07:47:56 PM »
The boat looks great. I could not say it was your first attempt. Keep building!

Offline gibby64

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Re: Scratchbuilt keelboat for my Pathfinder campaign
« Reply #11 on: January 18, 2019, 08:46:27 PM »
man that looks real... i think the black pearl needs to be next!!
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Offline PhilB

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Re: Scratchbuilt keelboat for my Pathfinder campaign
« Reply #12 on: January 19, 2019, 10:24:51 AM »
Well, as it turned out, we didn't use the boat much during last night's game. I thought they might explore the coastline of the tropical island, which would have led to more shipboard (or overboard) combat, but instead they opted to go exploring the mountain at the north end of the island, where they faced giant spiders in the rain-soaked jungle, and an evil necromancer whose trail they've been on for four sessions now, and whose lair was deep under an active volcano. You can see a session-by-session report with a few pics here, it's in French, but Google translate is your friend.

But hey, y'all came to see the ship, right? Only one decent shot of it, as they came ashore, one of the party having already left to scout strange rustlings in the bushes...



The baguette in the background is *not* part of the terrain, BTW.

And, just because it's the only other halfway decent picture from last night's session (lots of blurry pics, must've been that bottle of Diplomatico...), here are the intrepid heros facing the first of a nest of giant spiders:



To reply to some specific suggestions:
@ Daeother: Sanding? What sanding? Seriously, I didn't do any sanding at all. I know I should've sanded and sealed the balsa, but what can I say, I was impatient and had a deadline (I thoughtą. After your post, I tried lightly sanding one keel end, but the whole ship felt so fragile that one wrong move would see a piece of keel break off, forcing me to do that over. I think I need to find a source of stronger wood, at least, say, basswood or similar, for a future project. Balsa might be OK for the hull, but everything else feels ultra fragile.

@ Belisarius: I didn't manage to leave the lower part of the ship less grey, as you suggested, and I agree it would've probably been better if I'd listened (and executed) better. A jetty and indeed a whole waterfront are in the cards, as I've been building scratchbuilt and kitbashed half-timbered houses for a fantasy medieval village project which needs to include a waterfront. But since I'm obsessed with making playable interiors, I'm only on the 4th house after many months.

@ Tin Shed Gamer: I did some very minimalist ribs, obviously it would've been much better to do curved ones like you see in a real drakkar or knarr, and which come up through the floorboards rather than being slapped on by a rushed gamer. I saw your 2015 thread, and... wow. You put me to shame, since you produced those in a comparable amount of time to my pale effort. You give me something to strive for, though. Just one question: aren't the oarlocks on those boats pointing the wrong way?

@ Gibby64: Not the black pearl, but I do need to make some larger sailing ships, like a small cog. Which is of course a far more involved project and requires design decisions like weighing the merits of full rigging vs playability with fat fingered access to the deck for figure placement, not to mention the fact that with 25mm bases on most of my figures, they take up rather more space than a ship-based crewman would next to his mates. And then I'll need another ship for boarding actions, and... GAH!

But despite the work in store for a hapless scratchbuilder, it's still a better prospect than using photocopied ship plans during games. That's almost as bad as playing with unpainted figures. <g>

« Last Edit: January 19, 2019, 10:34:38 AM by PhilB »

Offline Elk101

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Re: Scratchbuilt keelboat for my Pathfinder campaign
« Reply #13 on: January 22, 2019, 04:52:22 PM »
Very nicely done.

Offline tin shed gamer

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Re: Scratchbuilt keelboat for my Pathfinder campaign
« Reply #14 on: January 23, 2019, 12:51:15 PM »
 lol
No they're not on the wrong way .They just look wrong until you think about the physics( had to think hard about it myself even having seen the real thing. ;D )

Mark.