Olympic 470 Sail Boat DSiemens

[DSiemens]

Started on the hull for a 470 sailboat. This one will be donated to help out the Great Britain olympic sailing team.

[ARUP]

Those are smart rigs! How are you going to replicate the translucent effect of the sails?

[DSiemens]

I don't know that I can make them fully translucent. The idea behind this build is to have the Olympic sailors sign the sails and then it will be auctioned with other builds to raise money for the Olympic team. Which means I have to use what ever type of paper they decide so sign. I do want to cut out the window sections and put in tissue paper or something to make that part more see through. I'm thinking white tissue paper that has dried after water was put on it.

[ARUP]

Maybe you can find some of that 'onion skin' paper. At least I think that is what it is called. My feeble brain might not remember correctly but might be the ticket to replicate those sails!

[DSiemens]

I've never heard of onion skin paper. I'll have to look that up.

[John Fox III]

Greetings,

 

I've made translucent sails using drafting vellum paper. Not even sure if it's available anymore, I used to be a draftsman many years ago, and had saved stash of it away for such uses. I never tried printing on it, but that might work.

 

Anchor's A Weigh!

John Fox III

[Dave Fellingham]

You might try cellophane from cigarette packaging or similar for the clear 'windows' in the sails. Glassine might also work but it is not quite transparent - but an option for the sails. Archival tissue may also work well for sails for the translucent effect. Onion skin paper is very much like either one, very light and thin, perhaps between the two. Haven't seen it since I was a child. About the same as tracing paper which I also haven't seen in a long time.

 

You could scan the signatures you're getting for the sail, and print them, reduced and arranged to fit best, on whatever you use for the sails. It does not seem likely to me that the actual signatures could be used. Odds of them being arranged and of a size to fit on the sail seem mighty slim.

 

I have some glassine and archival tissue - enough to last me two lifetimes. Be glad to send you a couple of 8 1/2" x 11" sheets of each. Just PM me a mailing address.

[DSiemens]

Thanks John and Dave. If I build a second one which is likely I'll consider the other paper. I already photoshopped the sail plan with all the designs and emailed it to Alan for the signitures. I'm at the mercy of what ever paper they decide to sign. Which is fine. I like the idea of using cellophane from packaging for the sail windows. I'll look into that. Still a ways before I get to the sails. I'll post more updates today.

[DSiemens]

Have to admit. It took a lot of effort to get it to this point. One of these days I'll figure out how to really use paints. I'm working with Testors acrylic paint then I sanded it down and polished it to give a nice glossy look. Five coats and lots of sanding later this is what I got.

[Landlubber Mike]

Looks great Daniel.  I started using Vallejo paints, which go on very thin but have great coverage.  They are used for modeling and those fantasy miniature figures, where thin paints are a must.  They have a ton of colors, along with additives for textures, washes, etc.  I'm sticking mostly with stains on my SIBs because they go on thin, but you are limited in the colors that are out there.  So, I'm going to use the Vallejo paints also.

[DSiemens]

I have some news on this one but not much to show just yet.  The sails came in with the signatures which is awesome.  I'm very excited to have everything I need to complete this.  However....the plans they printed were a tad smaller than mine.  Small enough  think I'll redo the hull but not so bad that it won't fill the bottle.  So I'll start over.  The funny part about all of this is I scanned the plans in pdf because I figured when they print it in the UK it would come out the same size.  What I didn't know is that Europe uses a different size paper than the US.  Turns out they use a size called A4 which is a tiny bit thinner and longer than the American 8 1/2 by 11 inch.  I should have figured with the differences in the measurement systems.  I'm mean why would Europe print anything to an even 11 inches when they don't even use inches.  So yeah not a huge set back.  I think the practice with the first one will make a second one even better and I have some new chisels I've been having fun with that will make it faster.  One of the funnest parts about ship in bottle building is that you always learn something new.  Some times it doesn't even have to do with ships.       

[Chasseur]

I found this out as well when I was the editor for BattleFleet in the UK. It took me awhile to get used to it in fact it was kind of weird at first. Good news about the sails anyway!

[DSiemens]

A lot of stuff going on.  First thing first.  I completed a little sloop I've been working on over the years.  It started out as test ship.  I bought a set of chisels and decided to test them out.  They worked really well and I actually prefer them over my dremel now.  The hull was carved out pretty quick and sat around for a while.  After I moved to my new house I set up my workshop and pulled out a few projects including the hull for this one.  My boys got excited about it so I decided I'd keep working on it.  I'd build on some other projects and while paint was drying or I needed a break from one model I'd work on this one.  It slowly came together.  Just recently I noticed all I needed to do was put the sails on and get her bottled so I finished her up.  

 

 

 

 

 

The model is a Lake Champlain sloop from 1780.  Plans were from The Story of Sail.  It's 1:400 scale.  I found a new technique for the sails and used golden oak wood stain to get a more yellowed look.  

 

Some more photos on the current build.  I hope to have this one finished up later today.  It's further along then these photos.  I decided to go with a similar look to the London Olympic 470's and mix it up for RIo.  Painting words that small was a real chore.   

[DSiemens]

Here's one of the signed sails.  

[DSiemens]

One more for now.  

[JesseLee]

Coming along nicely Daniel. I really like the Lake Champlain sloop. Years ago when I was a teenager & first started carving out ships  from scratch one of the firs ones I made was a Lake Chaplain sloop from a drawing in one of Chapelle's books.

Jesse

[Gwyl Blaser]

I agree.  This is looking nice.   What did you make the mast out of?  It looks like aluminum.   I would hope this will end up as a prized item in someones future.

 

Gwyl

 

[Chasseur]

Hi Daniel, the Story of Sail is that Bjorn Landstorms book?

[DSiemens]

Thanks Jesse.  They are good looking little sloops.  

 

Gwyl it's actually my usual bamboo painted with Testors paint.  

Chasseur the Story of Sail is a book by Richard Woodman and Verse Laszlo.  It was 1,000 plans from ships through out history.  All in 1:400 to 1:600 scale.  It's a great book to build ships in bottles from.

https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Story_of_Sail.html?id=dHYqAQAAIAAJ&hl=en

 

[DSiemens]

The ship is done below is the photo's of how she turned out.  

 

 

 

 

[DSiemens]

And Bottled.  I had some issues with the boom that I fought with for three hours.  It's supposed to look connected to the sail but I couldn't get it there.  retrospectively I think I would have done this a little different but all well.  It's off to the UK today.