Trireme fleet (in being)

[robh]

That is certainly the best one yet.

I think you should try making the deck section from textured plastic card and then add the curved putty sections to it.
If you make the deck as a " T " with a strip of plain plastic acting as a keel you will be able to keep everything the same width and height.

[valerio81]

Many thanks Rob for the great idea! I am now using a "tool" to measure up and obtaining same lenght (more or less).

This in the picture is what I aim as final product. The base will be integral to the ships, as Irregular minis does.

[von Lucky]

Looking good, and a nice suggestion Rob.

[valerio81]

Long time no post! I am very happy to post the very first complete prototype. This is how it should look like. I am now able to sculpt 3 ships in a single session, all reasonably decent and coherent in size and style: therefore I tought it was time to start putting it all together.

It was more difficult than I tought, of course, and naturally new issues came out - the base warped during cooking, just to mention one..why?!? Super sculpey is not meant to.. anyway.

Very happy about the sea, looks moving and not-billiard-table-like, but not too agitated (they wouldn't sail in it, would they?). On the other hand, I haven't figured out how to sculpt the ships' foam trail yet. I also decided to combat my obsessive complusion and cancel the epotis. It's too small!! Hope no one (else) notices or cares.

Happy for your comments!

[von Lucky]

Nice - what's the dimension of the base? And the epotis isn't missed - though you could cut a triangle of plasticard, etc.

[valerio81]

The base is 7x4cm. I cannot use plasticard, as the final prototype will be moulded and cast in metal...

[valerio81]

So long again, but at least this time I spent it practising. I also got brand new tools - I was working with only one carving tool really, which was really limiting. Buying myself a set of tools opened new possibilities and made things that I was not able to do really easy. So if you are starting sculpting - get yourself a basic set of silicone brushes!

While getting better, the design is still not there, however. There is still something not right. I think it's not enough sleek and slim and sharp maybe. It's a chubby trireme. But, this time at least the epotis is well done!

I am thinking maybe to change style and forget about being realistic and scultping epotis, planking etc.. maybe I should adopt an "impressionist" approach, much like 2mm Irregular minis blocks. This would also allow me to do even smaller ships than this 2 cm trireme 

[valerio81]

New lesson learned: it's easy to get trapped into a pattern of making the same mistakes, so it's a good idea to step aside for a while and then start again from scratch. This is how I came up with a new tecnique that allowed me to reach a much better design. This is good enough I think!
In the photo you see it with some 1/1200 scale liburnians from Navwar, just to give you an idea of dimensions

[Teardrop World]

Your last sculpt is the best, really clean lines. Beautiful. Did you plan to add mast and sail too?

Making them without included bases is better imho, as it let more basing choice - from small diorama to boring informative bases.

Following this post with attention. 

Best regards

[valerio81]

Many thanks! Maybe later I will do some with sails. But first I need to consolidate the design, do a couple more triremes and I also would like to do some eastern mediterranean ships, maybe taller with shields on the side. That would be the King's ships... and I think I need a couple of freighters, too.

Yes in the end I am going with the no-base design, more flexible

[Warren Abox]

This is such a great thread.  Just wonderful seeing you put so much of yourself into this project rather than just shelling out money for figs.  At this scale they look great - a little paint and some big scary eyes on the front, and they'll look even better.

[valerio81]

Many many thanks Warren for the kind words. I have still a long way to go but I start to see some encouraging results which helps to motivate!

[valerio81]

I think I have got another good one.. this time they're rowing fast!

I also made a blog. Figured I liked to have it as a motivator, too...

https://alkedominis.wixsite.com/blog

[valerio81]

My latest sculpt is pretty ugly.. but I am testing a different way to sculpt the oarage, which has a different feel from the previous... and I don't know which one to go for! What do you say?
For more details see my blog at https://alkedominis.wixsite.com/blog/post/an-experiment-is-never-a-fail

[valerio81]

Finally, I have a n. 3! Its prow is quite different from the first 2. Maybe these with longer rams can be "eastern" ships (phoenicians and egyptians?) while n.3 and the future n. 4 will be the greeks?
https://alkedominis.wixsite.com/blog/post/n-3-commissioned-finally