USS MAINE Paper model --Finished--

TheMongoose

Now that you're done do you coat it in varnish or something to keep the board from getting damp or dried out over time?

No, other than the Vallejo clear matt (which was essentially to hide shiny glue residue and 'blend' everything together), I leave them pretty much untouched.

I live in a relatively low-humidity environment...and because I do most of my rigging these days with elastic materials, I don't have to worry much about 'sagging' from humidity changes, like in the old days. The acrylic clears I've used for the last decade or so seem stable and pretty resistent to darkening, browning or other color changes, so I'm content with that.

I have learned over the years to keep paper/card models especially away from direct sunlight as much as possible, to avoid bleaching and fading...but the same goes for plastic models. I do quite a few home-made decals, and every once in a while I've had odd color-changes on older projects, sometimes on single decals out of a whole set, that seemed linked to sunlight.

Cheers

Beautifully done indeed. Paper in the right hands can be as good or better than any other medium. It's also cheaper with more subjects than any other form of modelling.

This is the first paper ship I recall seeing. Imagine me with a stupid look of amazement, becuase I have one.

That is really quite a model. Thanks so much for sharing the process and sorry I missed this whilst in the works. I finally understand TB's posts over the years speaking of expanding ones horizons and trying a paper model.

BTW, as if it's not cool enough to begin with, the rigging truly sent it over the top.

Thanks again, guys, for taking time to reply, and for the kind words.

Paper models are indeed a cool 'niche' more people should at least be aware of. There are so-o-o-o many models available...in a wide range of subjects, often including those 'dream' subjects that we modelers long for (but which plastic model companies have determined they could never make a buck on). The really good kits are shockingly inexpensive...but there are so many really neat kits available worldwide for absolutely free, that you could easily spend a modeling career happily doing nothing but, for little more than the cost of your inkjet printer cartridges, some good 60 and 100 pound paper, and the occasional bottle of Tacky-Glue.

Plus. there's the fact that if something goes awry in the modeling process -- and when does that ever happen? -- you don't have to wait three weeks to order replacement parts from Iowa or Europe or Japan...you just print them out, and have another go.

[Climbing down off soap-box, before I get a nosebleed....]

Greg

BTW, as if it's not cool enough to begin with, the rigging truly sent it over the top.

Thanks, Greg. As to the rigging...

First off, the photo-etch shrouds/ratlines make all the difference. I've scratch-built 'em over the years in many different ways...but the P-E is so much easier to work with. Just always...always...be prepared to 'fiddle' them a bit, to adjust heights, angles and such. (I had to 'extend' mine, to fit the kit for which they were supposedly purpose-made. It happens.) And -- silly as it sounds -- remember the obvious: never attach your delicate spider-web P-E shrouds until all your other rigging is on and tensioned (and preferably allowed to sit for a day or two, just in case.) Masts and yards can 'wander' in frustrating ways. The rule for P-E shrouds is 'super-glue at the bottom, if you must...but only water-based (i.e., removable) glue at the top...just in case.'

The really frustrating thing about the rigging was that every single available photo of the Maine...and there were a surprising number, over a relatively short career...seems to show different rigging. Even things like the funnel stays seem to come and go (or move), so it was hard to 'pin down' some reasonable fit, even with the merely-representational 'rigging lite' version that I was doing. I finally just settled on what seemed obvious and reasonably workable.

But the one thing that still puzzles me for ships of this era in general..and this one in particular...is the matter of ships' standing rigging around cranes. Some photos seem to clearly show lines and stays smack-dab in the middle of where cranes would be expected to deploy. Maybe some of those lines were removable. Or maybe those 'old salts' of the day just had the hand/eye coordination of brain surgeons, to 'float' their whaleboats and pinnaces through that forest of rigging to reach the briny over the side. Either way, it's a wonder.

Excellent work!  She's a credit to papercraft. 

Gary

That is really cool. Nice work!

That’s some amazing stuff!  The use of PE makes sense, as well as your other mods and upgrades!  Well done paper models just melt my brain, and keeps me firmly on the other side of the fence!

Real G

That’s some amazing stuff!  The use of PE makes sense, as well as your other mods and upgrades!  Well done paper models just melt my brain, and keeps me firmly on the other side of the fence!

Thanks, G!

I freely confess that my own plastic to paper ratio over my modeling history has been about 100:1...but it is nice to 'flex' one's skills a bit now and then with something not-so-familiar, and which calls for different approaches to problem-solving.

Though I've got the usual backlog of plastic projects piling up...I figured that as long as the 'paper madness' was upon me, I'd go ahead and take a crack at scratchbuilding the 63' steam torpedo launch that was slated to be deployed on the Maine and a sister ship of the era. The prototype was a dismal failure -- never came close to its projected top speed, due to some serious weight and balance issues -- but it's such an elegant, Jules-Verne-looking design, I just couldn't resist:

I'm doing her up in a manageable 1/72 scale, about 10.5 inches long:

I'll post it when and if it turns into something post-worthy.

Cheers

Hi Gregbale. 

   Gotta tell you. I thought the same when I reported aboard my first ship It was a Gearing and the Motor Whaleboate were tucked behind some stays. Guess what? They rotated the davits till the stern came out first, then the bow and lined them up square out the sides and secured the Davits in place.

 The Bos'ns made it look like Childs play. Geez I am glad I was in Engineering Division.( Damage Control)

Tanker-Builder

Guess what? They rotated the davits till the stern came out first, then the bow and lined them up square out the sides and secured the Davits in place.

I've seen videos of just that sort of operation. To me it looks like juggling and trying to play the violin simultaneously.

But I guess you learn to do what you gotta do.