The Makers Thread

[Leeman4Gilmour]

PuppetGuy, I have little to no knowledge of warships and when I saw the first few pics of your model, I thought "cool". Then, when I saw the real life picture you emulated, that thought went from "cool" to "amazing". Really well done.

[BlackArcher101]

Originally Posted by Puppet Guy

First model I've built in over a year, and I had to go big. HMS Hood is ready to put to sea!

This is a 1/700 scale kit (about 14 inches long), and the base is the usual styrofoam/foil combo. The cannon smoke is painted cotton, but I figured it needed something special, so I cannibalized some tea lights and wired 'em up (haven't tried actual wiring since my Hindenburg project years back) to get some muzzle flash. and did it ever work!

Couldn't find any photos of Hood firing her guns, so I used the pic of USS Iowa firing a broadside as inspiration. It came in handy not just for the guns, but the shockwave on the water.

REALLY happy with this. and I want to do another naval battle, only with pirate ships or with other wooden war vessels!

The kit came with a bonus of an E-class destroyer in the same scale (in the last photo). It's going to get its own display soon - I'm thinking with sea monsters!

Edit: my gifs weren't working, so I've added short videos of the cannons firing:

Spoiler!

I picked up some ship models with the intent on doing the same type of diorama, but haven't started lol. I could only hope to be even half as good as you, this is amazing.
Curious what technique you used for the waves, if you don't mind giving up your secret(s).

[Puppet Guy]

Originally Posted by BlackArcher101

I picked up some ship models with the intent on doing the same type of diorama, but haven't started lol. I could only hope to be even half as good as you, this is amazing.
Curious what technique you used for the waves, if you don't mind giving up your secret(s).

Thanks for the compliment! I hope this model gives you the urge to start you diorama.

The waves are really simple - it's just aluminum foil that's been crunched up and re-flattened, then glued to a sheet of styrofoam and painted, then covered in gloss gel medium. I've used celluclay (paper mache) to make really rough seas before, but the foil is much less messy and looks just as good.

[jayswin]

Excellent piece, puppet guy. That's seriously amazing. Like Sliver, I really love the blast effects.

[Puppet Guy]

Ahoy, mateys. Sit down and I shall spin ye a tale of the nightmares of the sea...

When we last visited the Puppet's workbench, I promised another ocean-faring project with sea monsters. I present this slice of horror, where the seafood eats YOU!

It's foil, styrofoam and caulking for the splashing water, along with a toy sea creature. Looking back I probably should've used a lighter shade of blue for the ocean in order to bring the ship out a bit more, but the ocean's a dark and terrible place. and now I want some calamari:


Here there be monsters!

Spoiler!

[Puppet Guy]

At it again over the weekend...

For some reason this was calling to me from the stash - a kit of a flintlock pistol that I bought dirt cheap years ago. The kit's plastic, so the challenge was to make it look realistic, and thus it was treated with a wash of oil paint to complement the wood and gun metal paint. I think it worked for the most part. Different from the usual sea-themed and sci-fi stuff, but it fits:

Spoiler!

[surferguy]

Originally Posted by Puppet Guy

At it again over the weekend...

For some reason this was calling to me from the stash - a kit of a flintlock pistol that I bought dirt cheap years ago. The kit's plastic, so the challenge was to make it look realistic, and thus it was treated with a wash of oil paint to complement the wood and gun metal paint. I think it worked for the most part. Different from the usual sea-themed and sci-fi stuff, but it fits:

Spoiler!

Looks really good man!

The paint on the “metal” areas looks very real. Be proud

[Puppet Guy]

This latest project is brought to you today by the letters "P" and "L": "P" as in "Push your Limits", and "L" as in "Learn from your Mistakes".

What you see before you is a 1/1200 scale model of Bismarck encased in resin. Inspired by that HMS Hood build and having wanted to try resin for years, I bought the goods and got to work, beating the ship up and building the forms with acrylic sheet and started pouring.

I learned pretty fast that resin likes warm temperatures, and with my basement being cold to begin with and a classic cold snap setting in, the resin set with a whole lotta bubbles in it. That combined with some bigger bubbles escaping from the hull, Bismarck would be obscured by bubbles and an uneven addition of coloured dye. Trouble ahead.

...BUT the obscurity could be made to work by adding a stormy surface to an apparent stormy sea! Silicone caulking to the rescue! It's not a great final product, but it looks okay.

Lessons learned for next time, and the next shipwreck will be spectacular. Enjoy this in the meantime.

Spoiler!

[surferguy]

Mysterious and murky!

It reminds me of the view you’d get from a submarine approaching a wreck. Perhaps you could “save this” one building the submarine pilots view. Think the cabin of the nautilus. The whole piece is then meant to be viewed down low through the sub windows?

[CroFlames]

That looks cool. Bismarck is one of my favorite historical ships.

[Puppet Guy]

Originally Posted by surferguy

Mysterious and murky!

It reminds me of the view you’d get from a submarine approaching a wreck. Perhaps you could “save this” one building the submarine pilots view. Think the cabin of the nautilus. The whole piece is then meant to be viewed down low through the sub windows?

I'm not sure it'd work with this one, but that's a really cool idea - especially with the Nautilus! Captain Nemo and Professor Aronnax in the salon admiring the sea, like so?

[surferguy]

You better call in sick for the next month and work on this.

[Puppet Guy]

Originally Posted by surferguy

You better call in sick for the next month and work on this.

Research will begin immediately.