HMS VICTORY 1798, 1:96, Shipyard - Page 11

**John Wagenseil** · #**101** 05-01-2010, 07:17 AM

Doris:

:(

STOP

Stop everything, burn your sails and start over.

Please.

You have just made a very common mistake that will cause your model sails to prematurely self destruct. Tea is acidic, and will make your sails even more acidic than they already are. They might start falling apart in a couple of years, especially in a damp or humid environment.

I do not know what your shopping options are in Czechoslovakia, but in my part of the world I would dye my sails with a wash made from high quality water color paint, or use diluted Higgins Sepia ink.

If you want to see what acidified paper (and cloth is just a type of paper) will look like, go to a used book store and take a look at 50 year old paper back books, made in the immediate post WW2 era with cheap low pH pulp paper. The pages look burned, and are crumbly and falling apart. When you dip cloth in tea (or coffee) you are really dipping it in dilute acid.

Tea is wonderful to drink and is nice inside you, but should not be used as a colorant.

If you are really serious about your modeling and have access to a college library or a large big city library, find a book on artist materials that deals with longevity and safety of artist supplies.

You will learn how to stay away from potentially dangerous lead and bismuth alloys used for castings, what plastics have a short life time, and the use of acid free paper or archival quality paper and other acid free materials in order to make your models last a long time.

Starch is Ok, Rice starch is used as glue in traditional Japanese carpentry and artwork.

Toodles.

**B-Manic** · #**102** 05-01-2010, 07:37 AM

Although the tip about paper and acid content is valid I believe Doris' sails are cloth not paper. She takes her modeling very seriously and this is not her first build.

It does raise an interesting question about the longevity of tea stained cloth sails. I know modelers have been using this method for decades if not longer. Has anyone seen any negative effects in the long term?

**Tapcho** · #**103** 05-01-2010, 01:04 PM

I have a model with cloth sails stained with tea (and coffee too) that dates back to early '90's - I can't see any problems with those. If any changes have occured during almost in twenty years I believe those all are to the right direction, making them look even more weary.

**DORIS** · #**104** 05-01-2010, 03:39 PM

This is an interesting opinion. Thanks for this advice. Water colour paint is a good idea, I may try it on my next models. No problem to get it in shops in our country and use for dying sails.

I think the problem with longevity of material depends a lot on concrete kind of cloth. I must say, that I have never had any problems with this way of stained sails. Almost all modelers in our country use sails stained with tea successfully for many years so I decided to apply it as well. I always use cloth, no paper sails. My oldest sailing-ship models are about 20 years old and sails still look O.K. and without damage. I also use impregnation and special kinds of cloth.
I have changed the form of some sails for better and more realistic look. Here are some photos:

Here you can find my technologies how I formed sails:
papírové modely, galerie papírových model?

**doctormax** · #**105** 05-01-2010, 05:32 PM

i don't know about the tea on paper I have some drawings I done over thirty years ago that i soaked the paper with tea and then sprayed with hair spray and they look the same they did the day i drew them.

**DORIS** · #**106** 05-02-2010, 05:09 AM

Today I was a bit curious, how the ship will look like with all sails, so I decided to place them provisionally. This gave me an imagination, what I should change or improve before hanging sails in the end. Here are some photos:

**30-06** · #**107** 05-02-2010, 08:34 AM

Doris -
Your work is so amazing! When did you start modelling? Are you self-taught or did you have a mentor? Amazing -
Gregor

**DORIS** · #**108** 05-02-2010, 08:58 AM

Hello Gregor!
I´m very honored, you like my work! I started modelling, when I was six years old. First models were assembled by my Dad, but he didn´t have a lot of free time for this, so I tried to assemble easy models by myself and imitate my Dad. It was very difficult at first. I can say, I´m the self-taught modeler but some tips and tricks I knew on modelers´ forum and on internet. I like this hobby very much!

**SCEtoAUX** · #**109** 05-02-2010, 10:36 AM

There is a way to print on fabric with an inkjet printer. You take some freezer paper (the kind that has a plastic coating on one side), cut the fabric and the paper oversize, place the freezer paper plastic side down on the fabric, iron it until the two adhere, trim the result so it will fit through your printer, and print.

I have done that with some photos for someone that wanted to make a quilt with family pictures. You might need to treat the fabric so the ink does not fade or wash out, depending on the type of ink your inkjet printer uses.

Some information:
Inkjet Printing on Fabric

Bubble Jet Set 2000 & Rinse

You could use that technique to make some cloth sails with historic graphics on them.

**eTraxx** · #**110** 05-02-2010, 11:05 AM

Freezer Paper. I saw some in Wal-Mart yesterday ... not sure what brand but found this online ..