Technique for Copper Plating

As I can understand it, the green base wood will represent the "patina" that copper plates take on when exposed to salt water. What you are doing will be "adding" the copper plate then washing off some of the Copper paint to show the "Patina & Oxidation".

However on most copper plated ship, there was strong "white"
oxidation around the top band/row of plates because these were not submerged in water all the time. Most modelers do not replicate this because it might take away from the model???

Email me direct and I shoot you a few photos of the Cutty Sark I did.

Jake

Hi guys,

They must be pre-primed eh? I paint each plate before assembling. Then I put a wash of mint green / black / gold oil paint over the finished model. I use Rub-n-Buff copper, zinc, gold, and bronze to give off different hues and then buff in different areas to give off effects. Rub-n-Buff has actual metal in it, so if left un-treated, will oxidize and turn green in time. I treat it with a clear laquer. Trust me, I made the mistake of not treating the gold leafing on my Royal Loise I built 13 years ago, now I have green spotches all over my ornate stern.
Scott

Yes the kit comes with 1,700 pre-treated pieces of tangayika wood. I like your technique of using the rub-n-buff as a finish. I will, with out a doubt, be testing and practicing this many times before appling the process to my ship. Thanks for the help.

Dave:
Of course you can use the wood that came in the kit, but I suggest trying a couple of blocks off the model first to see if you are happy with the result. IMHO you will end up with a hull that looks like it is made of little green wood blocks. Copper plates were also put on over the hull planks in bands, and I suspect this will be difficult to achieve with wood blocks.

If you want the most realistic look, then I say go with real copper. Plank the entire hull in the normal manner except you do not have to use the expensive hardwood below the waterline, since it will be covered.

Get some 4 mil sheet copper, you can use the tanganyika wood to estimate how much. Real copper plates were about 48" long and between 15" and 18" wide. Cut them out with scissors, and glue them to the hull with contact cement. Start at the foot of the stern post and overlap upwards and to the bow.

If you really want to go to town, get a "pounce" wheel from a fabric store (the thing that looks like a cowboy spur), file the points blunt, and run it over each plate to simulate the copper nail heads. The nails were pounded home against the hull, so a subtle effect is called for, you are not making rivet heads.

After they are all applied, clean thoroughly with the finest grade of steel wool and then a tack cloth to remove any residue. Wear gloves and a mask during this step and until the copper is clear coated, as any body oils that get on the copper will show up as spots of oxidation. Do not try and weather the copper. Fix it with a clear spray, and in a couple of years it will have a beautiful patina even under the clear coat, and until then it will look amazing against your stained wood hull.

Again, IMHO, you will never be able to replicate the look of copper plates with the wood blocks.

The best reference on coppering I am aware of is in Wolfram zu Mondfeld's book "Historic Ship Models".

Good luck and success with whichever way you choose to go.
Bruce

I'd use real copper like Bruce suggested. Model shipways even sells adhesive backed strips of copper.

If you go that route, there's a model railroad company called A-west that makes a product called 'Blacken-It', whereby you soak the metal in this liquid (solencus acid and copper chloride) and it turns it black. Well, they also make a liquid called 'Patina-It', which I would assume does the same thing. I've never used it, so I can't comment on the effect.

It's available through Micro-Mark.

Jeff Herne
Modelwarships.com

Dave:
One other thing to consider before you decide, and that is how does the model treat the coppering on the keel, stem and stern posts, and rudder? These were coppered on the real ship as well; do the instructions say to add the tanganyika wood to these areas as well, or what?
Bruce

Bruce,

Thanks for the great post! I will look into going with real copper. This is what I thought of doing but wasn't sure if I should/could. The wood thing just sounds like a "half-step" idea. The kit instructions do show to apply the copper plating to the keel, stern, stern post and rudder. From the reference material I have found on the internet the Mamoli plan looks correct for the plating.

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Jeff,

Thanks for the tip - I'll check out Model Shipways for the adhesive backed copper. My experience when I worked for a sign company is the "Patina-It" is an acid wash which will turn copper to a very dark teal color to look like tarnished copper. I'll try some of that and see what the final product looks like. I'll post pics of my tests once I have them.

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I also found (through correspondence with Bob Andreotti) that the deck planking in the Mamoli kit is not correct. After doing some research I found that he is correct so will have to draw my own deck planking plan and make appropriate changes.

I have the keel, bulkheads and decks assembled. Today I am going to add the stern filling between the keel and quarterdeck and make any necessary adjustments to the bulkheads in preparation for the first planking.

This weekend I plan to start my "progress" photo album. I'll post a link once I have it established. Once established and the link posted, for those that would like to help, I would appreciate pro and con feedback.

Looking forward to seeing the pictures Dave.
Regards,
Bruce

Wow Dave, sounds like your moving right along. Planking should go well for you since you know wood. Can't wait to see your work.
Scott

Yea, medically retired and nuttin' to do, I put in about 3-4 hours a day building and 6-8 hours a day watching the glue dry. My hands are pretty shaky so spend 2 out of every 4 hours of building time lookin' for flying parts.

Hmmmm... maybe that's why they call it the Flying Cloud.

The Patina-It that Jeff was suggesting works pretty good. Now I do Plastic so I paint
the part with copper paint from Testors.It has real copper in it. Than I'll brush it on or soak the part in it.. It is real slow acting so you can control the amount of Patina you want on your model.
Rod