Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Medieval Adventures => Topic started by: Verderer on 29 December 2014, 12:26:29 PM
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Got me one of these for Christmas, and was wondering if anyone's tried converting this into a waterline version for gaming? Any experiences or suggestions, or should I leave it alone? I am planning to convert the mast into a wooden one at least.
About the ship model, can anyone tell me what those three T-shaped poles are around the mast area in the centre of the ship. At first I thought they'd be for stowing the oars but I am not so sure anyone?
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Verderer, i´ve cutted mine in waterline but its very dificult to do it in a straight line.
When i glue it on a base i will have to disguise the waterline errors somehow.
About the t-shaped poles i think its for a covering support as a tent.
I also thought they where for the oars.
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Funny, we were talking about waterlinng this model the other day when I had some friends over for some SAGA gaming.
My first concern is how far up from the keel would you make the cut? Not sure how low in the water these ships sat...
Im thinking a dremel tool or maybe a band saw, with some tape on the hull as a guide.
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Hope this is usefull.
Miniatures are Black Tree Design for size comparison.
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Step 1: spray the hull a light color so your marks show up easily.
Step 2: Balance the keel on Blutack to hold it steady and level on your worktable.
Step 3: Use a flat, smooth piece of plasticard and some BluTac to hold a fine-point permanent marker horizontal. Adjust height as needed.
Step 4: Use your level-marker to mark the waterline desired around the hull.
Step 5: Dremel to hack away the bulk of the plastic - approach the line, don't cut to the line. For the rest, I suggest a stationary belt-sander or a piece of sandpaper affixed to your bench-top. The former requires care and a keen eye to keep from removing too much material. The latter requires elbow grease and persistence.
Step 6: Install a plasticard base with no overhang & sand to match the line of the hull. this means you can set the ship on the "water" or run it up onto the beach for those wonderful "Land, loot the village and bugger off before the defenders get their s#!t together" scenarios.
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Thanks for the tips, everyone! I guessed this might have been attempted by lots of people before! In the boxe cover picture the ship seems to be swimming fairly deep, not much space between water and the oar holes, but that's the artist's impression, of course.
I think I will try to do it, I will use masking tape to mark the line, and 'dremel' (proxxon) with a very slow speed, so the plastic won't meld. Or maybe by hand with a model railway track saw which has very fine teeth?
Is the consensus that I should assemble and glue the hull first before sawing it?
At least it's safe to leave those T-poles out together, as they're not necessary, and would be sure snap in use. And I will make the mast out of wood dowel to be sure. Maybe two versions, one with the sail furled and one with fully unfurled sail? The sail doesn't feel too sturdy either...
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Step 1: spray the hull a light color so your marks show up easily.
Step 2: Balance the keel on Blutack to hold it steady and level on your worktable.
Step 3: Use a flat, smooth piece of plasticard and some BluTac to hold a fine-point permanent marker horizontal. Adjust height as needed.
Step 4: Use your level-marker to mark the waterline desired around the hull.
Step 5: Dremel to hack away the bulk of the plastic - approach the line, don't cut to the line. For the rest, I suggest a stationary belt-sander or a piece of sandpaper affixed to your bench-top. The former requires care and a keen eye to keep from removing too much material. The latter requires elbow grease and persistence.
Step 6: Install a plasticard base with no overhang & sand to match the line of the hull. this means you can set the ship on the "water" or run it up onto the beach for those wonderful "Land, loot the village and bugger off before the defenders get their s#!t together" scenarios.
This was more or less how I plan to approach it :D
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Those T-shaped posts are for stowing the yard. I think the mast could be unstepped and stowed in the same way. Very useful for sneaking up rivers under oar!
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Have a look here: http://stronghold-terrain.de/index.php/blog/viking-dragon-boat/ (http://stronghold-terrain.de/index.php/blog/viking-dragon-boat/)
They made it waterlined. Maybe they can give you some help.
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Here is an article that I did for Wargames Factory in 2010
Page 10 has a section about the Revell ship.
http://wargamesfactory.com/announcements/viking-painting-guide
Mick
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I water lined the Heller "Guillaume le Conquerant" longship. It was a bitch. The water line is quite shallow, due to the interior deck (beneath the rowing benches). But it still looks quite spiff on the game table. The method I've used several times over the years is to mark the cutting line with masking tape, after gluing the two hull halves together. I've used a hot knife, a "Dremel" and a handheld craft saw. In other words, I managed through dint of trying out different ways of getting through the plastic enough so that I could snap off the rest. Once removed, the jagged edges were smoothed down by passing the hull over coarse sandpaper on a table surface. Final detail on the Heller ship is to get rid of the rear dragon head and fashion a "tail" in its place. Two dragon heads? Really? A "push-me-pull-you" longship? Never heard/seen the like until that model. I wish I had had the Revell ship instead, but we take what we can get at the time.
The "T" trees behind the mast are multipurpose. Spare oars and yard go there, and it serves as a "cabin" with the spare sail draped over the lot....
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Since the two sides are mirrored, why not cut one side to size, and then the other to match? Even if off by a mm, sanding can fix up rough stuff.
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That´s very helpful. I planned to buy and waterline that boat for a while, but couldn´t find proper pictures to compare scale to miniatures. Thank you very much - this looks perfectly appropriate to me!
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Since I am fortunate to have the tool, I have used a band saw to accomplish this type of cut on a model. If the tool is available to you (or owned by a friend) I would suggest the use of a band saw to waterline a model boat. The boat could be secured level to a board and that board could be placed against the fence of the band saw. The key is to run the board through the saw at a 90 degree angle to the band saw table, with the fence adjusted so the blade slices off the hull portion below the waterline with little effort. Follow that cut with a little sanding of the cut edges and then mount the ship hull to a base cut to fit the shape of the hull outline. Or a larger base can be used and fitted with bow wave and water surface relief. Of course, you must have access to a band saw with a throat dimension greater than the width of the hull (some bench top tools would not have the capacity), but most shop tools would be big enough to accomplish this cut with little problem. One might need to change to a fine tooth blade on the band saw for a smooth gut in plastic, etc.
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From the pictures I have seen, they used to ride high in the water:
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Moragsoorm.jpg)
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Add some armour some shields, some weapons and some loot.
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If its any help I've been asked to make a couple of waterline models for the 1st Corps display game at York These will be made from cereal packet card (as I'll only have week to make them)So I can Post a' how to' over on the workbench topic board later in the month.I've already a couple of tutorials done.So I've no objection to posting another as it won't conflict with my work load.
I've a fair handle on this kind of model As the Grand Manner Tri marine,and Roman Swan headed trading ship are old sculpts of mine.So if anyones interested I'll run a tutorial on how to make one from card,For nothing!
Just let me know.Mark
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Mark, that would be great.
I´m more than interested. :)
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I "waterlined" a boat once using sand. Flat area of sand, sit the boat in it, (just the hull) and then spray painted what was sticking out of the sand. left a nice unpainted area under the sand which then got removed. :)
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I like it simple and quick.A quick spray around the edge,then a rough saw through the hull,and sand paper down to the paint line,Job done.This method also allows you to play with the pitch,and roll angles of the hull without cutting.Changing these from a dead level deck give's a model a bit of a movement and a bit of story telling.With out it a boat is just a pritty hill on your table.
Rumacara,as your interested I'll start a tutorial later in the month over on the Workbench.(as I've just posted the images of the 8" howitzer,and I've a few other jobs to finish first.).
Mark.
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Many thanks Mark. :)
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I used this same model as the basis to make the ship you see below.
I sanded the keel off, down to the actual hull. I then added a plasticard base & topped the base with a bunch of artists impasto medium (you could add a lot more under the hull). It isn't quite waterline but for this conversion the prow helps to create the illusion.
(http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg91/ikhemm/Argo_13_zps3d4e5169.jpg) (http://s246.photobucket.com/user/ikhemm/media/Argo_13_zps3d4e5169.jpg.html)
(http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg91/ikhemm/Argo_01_zpse6e62f04.jpg) (http://s246.photobucket.com/user/ikhemm/media/Argo_01_zpse6e62f04.jpg.html)