I have kicked around the idea of making cloth sails for sometime now. I found some tight weave white cloth at a fabric store a while back that has been aging in my supply drawer, so I decided to give it a shot. I used the same 3rd rate sail stencil that I use to make my usual paper sails to trace out the sails on the cloth. I also drew in the sew lines with a sharp pencil before I cut them out.
A shot of the cloth I used after I cut out the sails |
To shape the sails I mixed some watered down PVA glue with a dollop of Country Twill paint and a drop of Antique White. I dipped each sail into the mix then let the excess drip off. Then I draped them over a set of larger 1/450 scale sails from a Victory plastic kit I haven't built yet.
The pencil sew lines showed through pretty well after they dried.
In this picture there are three completed jib and fore staysails and three staysails I decided to add still in process. Note that I forgot to draw in the sew lines before the dip. I just penciled them in lightly after they dried and I couldn't really tell a difference.
Spars glued and tied to the mizzenmast then the sails are tied on. |
Mainmast finished |
Spars attached to the foremast |
The first half of the standing rigging is strung before the ratlines and staysails are added. |
All of the sails and standing rigging is on. |
The running rigging, flagging and removal of the acrylic base's plasti seal film are the last things before completion.
I've been thinking a lot about book nooks lately so I don't know at this point what will be next.
6 comments:
Splendid ship and presentation, congrats on this little gem!
Wow, Vol! I think you nailed it on this one. The transparency of the cloth sails is just impossible to attain with any other media. Are you using monofiliment for the running rigging?
Thank you Phil, much appreciated
Great job! I’m really starting to warm up to the 1/700 size being used to 1/1200. Now that you tired the cloth sails, is that the way of the future?
May be Stew. I just made my 2nd cloth sail set tonight and it's drying, for another Temeraire, but I went a bit lighter on the color this time. I also lengthened the sails a smidge to see if I can get a little more billow effect. I also have a full set of shaped paper sails I made for this ship, before I thought of making cloth sails. I really don't want to just toss them...
Thanks Jeff
No monofilament, I use Uni-Thread 0/6 & 0/8 weights. It is a product for tying fishing flys. It comes in quite a few colors and doesn't 'fuzz' or stretch over time. The standing rigging is just common cotton sewing thread that I wax beforw using to stop the 'fuzz'.
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