Hello all,
After asking so many questions and receiving even more great answers I thought it was about time to show you people what I’m working on.
I’m trying to convert the 1:180 Airfix HMS Prince 1670 into a dockyard model. My big example for this is the beautiful model in the Science Museum Kensington.
A special feature of these kind of models – apart from having only partially planked decks – is the stylized depiction of the underwater hull. By leaving of the planks between the lowest whales and the keel one gets a good view of the construction of the frames. These frames however are not represented as they would have been in the real ship but are arranged in such a way as to clearly show the rising-line and overall shape of the hull.
I started work on this model in early August by sanding the insides of the hull with a Dremel tool thus removing all raised detail and opening the gun ports and windows. After that I sanded away the raised plank detail and the lowest whale on the outside of the hull. The openings in the hull were indicated by using strips of 3 mm wide tape.
After determining the location of the rising-line the excess tape was removed.
Finally the 182 openings between the frames were cut out by hand. After one hull half was done I altered the location of the rising-line a little bit. This is how the hull looks at the moment.
More pictures will follow as building progresses.
Thanks for watching,