SS AVANTURA - 15mm Pulp Tramp Steamer Build

[FifteensAway]

frd, here is an image of the three plastic ships sitting and waiting conversion:



Two, while packaged differently, are actually the exact same model.   

Any tips or tricks on water lining plastic models are welcome - as far as cutting goes.  Most likely will use my Dremel tool but concerned about breakage.

Primarily for my Gorillas go bananas thread which can be found in the Interwar portion of LAF {here: https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=139638.0}.  One of too many miniature projects I dive in and out of - but at least all (most of?) the figures are primed and ready for painting for that project.

[BeneathALeadMountain]

Fred - what an excellent model - now I want a tramp steamer, I’m not sure what for but I want one 

Andrew
BeneathALeadMountain

[Gunbird]

Fifteen, does this help? https://finescale.com/online-extras/extra-articles/2018/09/waterline-hull

I have the hull of the Heller one as well, but turned it it upside down for a rusted hulk for my 28mm post apoc scenery (of course not finished). I need some freighters for my AK-47 harbour so I will follow your eventual conversion with prying but polite eyes.

[frd]

Thanks Jim and Andrew. Truth be told, tramp steamers can be used for anything XX century, so plenty of reasons to have one. I have plans of making a WW2 scenario using this model (on top of pulp stuff). You can easily use it in some AK47 games too, with an old tramp steamer docked in an African republic.

@fifteen.
Those are quite nice, but I wanted an older hull design than those. Although, now looking at them, they would work very well for early XX century. The kits just need an older boathouse/superstructure.

As for waterlining: the method Gunbird posted seems solid and much simpler than what I was thinking of.

I've seen ship model makers building a jig to draw their waterline. You place the hull upside down, so it's even on your surface and then use a marker pen placed in a clothes pin, or similar device that can rest on your surface, to draw an even waterline. You could probably modify this method to use a dremel or other cutting tool instead of a pen. It might be a bit more involved than what you'd like, but I can dig out some examples if you're interested.

[Cat]

Any tips or tricks on water lining plastic models are welcome - as far as cutting goes.  Most likely will use my Dremel tool but concerned about breakage.

Hmm.  The top edge of the hull pieces look flat and level.  If you have a straight edge of the desired width, you can stand each piece upside down and then use the straight edge as a guide to start lightly scoring with an XActo.
 
Make corrections as needed, slowly score deeper, then snap.

[FifteensAway]

Gunbird, thanks for the link.  The careful scoring easy enough and a good idea but a razor saw seems even more drastic than a Dremel tool - at least in my hands!  Definitely go with the base bottom and trim to fit.  I guess I just need to dive in and give one of those models some 'surgery' and learn some lessons along the way.

The superstructures will be the bigger challenges in the end, almost certainly scratch builds - but simple and designed for the rigors of the gaming table.

Any thoughts on what to use to fill in the hull to add strength?  Triple expanding foam seems excessive and likely to damage the model with the expansive force.  Perhaps just cutting some insulation foam as closely as possible and then a thinned plaster to fill in the gaps and keep the weight down?

[Gunbird]

The trawler is made from pretty thick plastic in her hull. Once you sanded her down to the waterline and glued in plasticcard for the base, and trim that back to the hull, you have a pretty sturdy box to work with so I would not bother...

[Cat]

Once scored, a razor saw follows the line very nicely for cutting.
 
Ditto, a plasticard base will do just fine without fill and allows puttying in any little gaps along the cut.

[Sakuragi Miniatures]

Thanks for sharing this, its a really beautiful model and I like the amount of detail and thought that went into it. It feels real and believable as a ship.

[Hitman]

WOW!! 

Absolutely amazing!!! Well done. Great work. You should be proud.
Regards
Hitman
😎

[frd]

Thank you all for the kind words.

I really need to step up, clean up my workshop and restart working on this ship!

[blacksoilbill]

Wow, that is really something. A beautiful build.

[FifteensAway]

"I really need to step up, clean up my workshop and restart working on this ship!"

Amen and Hallelujah brother!  Or, it's about time. 

[Andy in Germany]

What everyone else said: it's a lovely model and very believable.

Also, I may have stolen some ideas for my own build....

[FifteensAway]

You know what we all want to see really, really very much?  To see this lovely model in all its glory in an actual game.  So, when is that going to be?

Don't worry, we can wait.  Let's see, today is Saturday, how about by sunrise on Sunday!