May 5th, 1864

[Maltedfalcon]

Be careful, my daughter had a report on ancient greece, and I went to canon (I think) and downloaded the parthenon, I cut it out, but she folded/rolled all the pieces and did all the gluing, and Still there were lots of comments on "parents doing the Kids work..."

[ct ertz]

Well, the teachers here are almost a bit preechy about the whole parental involvement thing, so I don't think that there will be any problems there. Like I said, if this was an art class, then the boy would be doing all of the work, but with as involved as this thing is becoming, help would be expected. He is doing the important part, the research, writing and he will be giving his presentation.

The Commodore Hull is coming together fine, Michael just finished the forward bulwark and he glued up a bunch more parts, cannon pieces and boat divots. I got one of the gun crews fixed up and a few more figures "painted". We may start on the second ship tonight. I am still stressing abit about the water, but it will all work out. Pictures to follow soon!

[APA-168]

A simple way to do water is to take a sheet of watercolor paper and glue it to whatever base you're using and then paint it a blue-green-grey color (depending on which ocean/river/lake etc.) Cover it with a healthy coating of gesso or acrylic gel. It works very nicely in 1/350-700, so it might work in 1/250 too. Try and find paper that is as rough as possible to get a more realisitic surface. You can build up the wake with acrylic paste or use something like aluminum foil. Or, for rougher water you could just use aluminum foil, properly crumpled of course. Hope this helps.

[ct ertz]

Thanks Avery. I will give that a try too. As far as I know, the water on the river was pretty flat and calm.

[APA-168]

Then watercolor paper would be perfect. I got this idea from a fellow modeler, David Griffith. Here is one of his models using the technique I mentioned:
M o d e l W a r s h i p s . c o m - G a l l e r y
It looks even more fantastic in person, a pity the pictures don't capture the full effect.

[ct ertz]

Progress on the Commodore Hull. We are adding more gun crew members and the forward guns tonight.

[ct ertz]

Pictures of the work.

[Phil]

Your son (ahem) did a great job on that!! Seriously though, your active participation in his life makes me happy!

[Oliver Weiss]

Originally Posted by ct ertz

...Oh yah, does your USS Alarm come with a stand? Just wondering. I finaly have a little money in Pay Pal.

Sorry, I missed your question somehow. It actually doesn't come with a stand . I guess I'll have to make one!


Cheers,


Oliver

[ct ertz]

The only other full hull ship I have made is the V108 torpedo boat from Digital Navy, a great model. I have made a couple of tries at a stand but I have never liked the finished look. I may end up just doing the wood base with dowels, looks good anyhow. I am also looking at the best way to make glass cases for display now that I am starting to get a bit more done in the way of keepers.

We got the other guns in and this boat is about done. Sone it will be on to the next!