Santa Brought Me A Laser

[Lawton Maner]

Not until he becomes proficient in 3D printing

[WP Rayner]

Paul, please don't be surprised when you read the following reply: GO STAND IN THE CORNER! -- Russ

Hooray, back in the corner again with cookies and whisky! Getting worried I was losing my touch...

[finescalerr]

I may as well post the 1:48 scale "skiff under reconstruction" I just finished assembling. It will sit in front of a boat repair structure I built years ago. The model is 3 inches long and still needs paint so you can see how it went together. It's entirely laser cut 0.016-inch thick paper (Strathmore 300 series Bristol Smooth). I'll probably color it gray to represent primer and, when it's done, I'll post another photo. That may take a few days; I don't have any gray spray paint.

I don't know how anyone can build a boat. Almost everything is curved and shaped to fit areas I can't even imagine. It was a real challenge just to design the few parts I used on the model.

Russ

[Bill Gill]

So now you're just showing off  (and doing it quite well)
I don't know the timeframe of your skiff & boat repair shop, and I'm not a boat builder, but I don't think that the frame would be primed with gray. Maybe white lead?

[WP Rayner]

Nicely done... and welcome to the dark side! Is the skiff going to represent a boat in use or one that's retired and weathered?

[Lawton Maner]

Which corner is serving crisps and whisky?  Far better then the one with the pizza oven!

[finescalerr]

Thanks for the paint tip, Bill. The boat represents a skiff in for rebuilding or repair circa 1890. That means white is probably the appropriate color.

I am blown away by the possibilities a laser has opened up. I never would have been able to create the parts for any boat with knives, files, or scissors.

Lawton, please schedule more therapy time with your mental health counselor.

Russ

[Ray Dunakin]

Looks great, Russ!

[Design-HSB]

Russ, such boats used to be never painted but left wood-colored. Because if such a wooden boat leaked, it was simply sunk then the wood swelled and the boat was tight again.

Still very nice and I like it.

Just enter wooden boat construction on Google and look at them pictures.

[finescalerr]

Thank you, Helmut. Now I have a real problem. The boat is made from paper and I cannot make it look just like wood. If I find some thin sheets of wood and re-cut and rebuild the model, the grain will be too coarse for 1:48 scale. In other words, I know of no elegant solution.

Maybe I'll just do what Bill suggested and paint it white. When I was very young, my father used to shoot a lot of photos of fishing boats. Nearly all wooden skiffs I saw as a child were painted (I still have my father's photos) so maybe a few boats already had paint around 1900.

Russ

[greenie]

Russ, for a very elegant solution/answer to your query about making the skiff in timber.


Go to a reputable timber merchant and start looking at all the different types of MYRTLE timbers.

You will immediately notice that there is virtually NO big pore holes showing in most of the MYRTLE timbers.
The grain in some Myrtle timbers will not be showing AT ALL and this type of timber can be used right down to 1/76 scale as polished Timber and still look IN SCALE.

Choose the one that has a colour that suits you, then get it cut into whatever sizes you want and put that timber thru a THICKNESS SANDER.
A good well made Thickness Sander can reduce that timber down to about the thickness of two bits of paper before turning it into $hit.

Now you can use your laser to cut the timber, easy as, eh. :-)


Check out the links below ---


https://www.wood-database.com/tasmanian-myrtle/


https://www.google.com/search?q=nothofagus+cunninghamii+timber&client=firefox-b-d&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjWraWpitb1AhWezzgGHVjOCKQQ_AUoAXoECAEQAw&biw=1678&bih=1014&dpr=2

[finescalerr]

I have no means of creating thin sheets of myrtle or, for that matter, obtaining a 9x12x1/16 inch sheet of the wood itself but your suggestion and links gave me an interesting idea. I could use my scan of a sheet of similar wood to create a photo on an appropriate sheet of paper, then cut parts for the boat from that photo. It might solve the challenge of scaling down appearance, grain, and texture. I've attached the scan to show how it is reasonably close to the Tasmanian myrtle photo in your first link.

I already have built a "pilot" model and just finished the boat in the photos. At this point I have little desire to build yet another model of what is only a prop for an existing structure. But at some point I want to experiment with the concept. I also want to experiment someday with a sheet of myrtle.

Russ

[greenie]

Yep, that would work as well.

See, there are more than just one way to skin a cat, eh.

[1-32]

Looking great young Russ.
Just look a the many different materials they used for the skin of boats.
The one that springs to mind is what we call Plywood the most common use that springs to mind is the patrol boats of WW 2, basically, a smooth skin cut from sheets. Your laser-printed wood sheet is really good to represent this finish.
Professional wooden model boat builders build up their skins in at least 2 layers the first to get the shape right the second or top layer to get the detail.
Enjoying your posts.
cheers.

[Lawton Maner]

only a new skiff under construction would be all new lumber, so if being repaired you should mix new with old and go from there.