Need some advice replicating damage

Steve - My guess is the blown outward damage happened because a torpedo penetrated the ship before exploding.

As far as damage, I remember Shep Paine had tips on that in one of his books I read as a kid. I can't remember if it was "How to Build Dioramas" or the one about modeling tanks and AFVs. If you've got one or have access to one, it's probably worth a read.

If it were me starting from scratch, my first idea is to use actual metal, be it lead foil or really thin sheet steel, in the places for the damage. The thickness would probably be more realistic than plastic, and if you cut a section of plastic off the ship and replace it with the metal, that might work. But that's just a random thought.

-BD-

MC,

 Haven't done it myself (so take this for what it's worth) but have seen in FSM and elsewhere guys using motor tools to thin plastic for bending and smaller holes (which would be pretty large in 1/350).  Also, if you can find wire that has a threaded sleeve around it, pull the wire out and just spread the threads in the sleeve to mimic wires inside the ship.  I wouldn't make them stick out much at all, but they would likely look decent inside the areas where the ship broke off.  You can then use the wire to simulate piping.

 Another useful idea might be to use some evergreen and try the boiling water trick to bend it in the way you want it to model the bent up internal deck and bulkhead structure.

 The thing with WWII explosives is that the naval versions were generally fused contact explosives much like today's bunker busters.  On impact the fuse would start allowing the bomb/torpedo time to penetrate causing it to explode inside the vessel to cause more damage.  This is why the damage seems to push outward.

Groot

Personally, I like to use a ball burr in my motor tool to grind out the plastic in areas where I want to model damage. The trick is to keep the bit moving at all times to keep things even and check it often against a strong light source to gauge how thin the plastic has gotten. But, in the scale you're working with, I'd have serious problems judging "scale thickness", so I'd probably go to RobGroot's suggestion of using foil. Pretty sure that Greg Hildenbrand had an article in FSM many moons ago where he had replaced a sizeable chunk of an FW-190's fuselage with heavy duty aluminum foil to model damage from flak and he did a great job of feathering in the edges so that it all blended together seamlessly. You might also get away with aluminum cut from a beverage can because it may be easier to work with than foil.

Thanks guys for the suggestions,

Yes, I belive metal would be the way to go here. I did git some sheet styrene of varying thicknesses to simulate but the metal would be easier to work with I should think

BD,

I remember Paine's book. I read it as a kid and totally forgot about it. I tried to duplicate his work many times as a lad.

Groot,

The motor tool has come up a few times. Looking at my old model, I do believe I will need to do that. The wire strand idea for piping is pure genius. I was going use strip styrene, but why? The Yamato's and Musashi's torpedo belt were constructed as such the there was an opening inside the bulge (see pic below of the mis section) I read on the Modelships.com forum that the two ships had the armor palting attacked to 1' thick sides. I would think, assuming a torpedo would make it through the around 16" of armor, it would explode inside the bulge so there would be damage outward on the belt and damage inward on the inner hull. I think I'm rambling hare and forgetting which thread I'm on.

KT,

Ahh, an aluminum can, great idea. You see, this is why I asked the question.

Steve

MC,

 If the armor was that thick you are probably looking at a wave propagation issue as to why the damage bows outward (likely penetrating the armor belt and reflecting off the inner hull maybe?).  If beverage cans don't work (great idea!) clear plastic like the kind that is used in product packaging might also be easy to work with.  You might also try experimenting with heat (candle maybe) on both the metal and plastic to see what that gives you, kinda like stretched sprue but much, much bigger to simulate the areas torn and bent by the explosions?  I would just experiment outside with some type of breathing protection and a bucket of water just in case.

Groot

Aw, just whack it with a hammer!  Easy!

I'm seriously studying this thread ,taking copious notes of the technical explainations for the battle damage techniques listed by the experts here-in for future referance when Cadet Chuck chimes in with " Aw, just whack it with a hammer!  Easy! "  LMAO

You've made my day Chuck.  However   Now I hafta clean the coffee off my computer screen

So rather than going ahead and strapping a firecracker to a piece on soda can, like my train of thought was in the Musashi wreck WIP thread (I still may do it on a different piece for the fun of it), I just glued a piece of aluminium can to the side of the ship, stuck it with an Xacto knife, and twisted. While strapping a Black Cat or using a hammer, as Chuck suggested, may have been more satisfying, it may just have destroyed my work thus far.

So here is the culmination of the ideas so far....minus the hammer and explosive device ideas. Now being aluminum, I can still mold it any way I want.

Steve