Making Sails for Wargaming Ship Models

I am going to divide this post into three parts

I: Making & Dressing Ship Sails
II: Making Brass Sails
III: Making Sails for a Cutter

The most important tool I use for starting scratch built masts or sails is the Mast Log I created.

In this Mast log I have recorded the lengths of masts from every size and type of ship I have purchased. In addition I have traced most of the sail sets from Langton Miniatures, GHQ and several from Davco.

When I want to make a set of sails I flip the log open to the sails for the size ship I want and use a small sheet of old fashioned carbon paper to trace the sails onto a sheet of heavy bond sketch paper.

I: Making & Dressing Ship Sails

For full sail rigs I like to cut the sails out in blocks so I can keep them straight. Sometimes, when I have to stop working and come back later, I will store them in small zip-lock  bags marked with what mast they go to.

Next step is cut the sails out then give them the proper shape. I do this by applying Elmers white glue (PVA) to a smooth surface cylindrical object like a marker pen or Xacto knife handle then press the sail onto the glue in the proper orientation to form a curve.

After the sails and glue dry they will pop off fairly easy as long as the marker surface was clean. And this is what you get:

At this point I measure across the top of the sails plus a bit of overhang on each side then mark it out on a length .015 or .020 gauge music wire I purchase at Hobby Lobby.

Super glue does a good job of affixing the new spars to the new sails. After the sails have been painted and dried, single rows of window screen mesh are cut and glued to the larger sails for reef points.

Then I start tying on the leech lines. These will be used later to tie onto the masts.

Sometimes I will just use a colored pen to add in the reefs and leeches. I will do it that way when I make single piece sail sets like the picture below.

After painting the spars it is time to attach the sails to the masts. I always start with the mizzen mast, working bottom to top, then forward to the next mast.

As shown the leech lines are wrapped around the mast and tied with a drop of super glue.

Ship with full sail compliment

II: Making Brass Sails

I use thin brass shim sheeting you can buy in rolls for about $4 to $6 just about anywhere from Walmart to Lowes. A little more expensive at auto shops. The sails are traced out the same way as with the paper, then cut out.

After shaping the sails over a marble, details like the reef points are added the same way with single rows of window screen.

Prime with black primer, measure and cut spars. Attach with super glue.

A finished ship with scratch brass sails

III: Making Sails for a Cutter

Sails traced for two cutters

Shaping the sails

Dressing the sails. Adding the reef points

That is all there is to it

Making Ratlines/Shrouds for 1/1200 Ships

Here is the method I primarily use for making ratline shrouds for my 1/1200 ship builds. Back when I first started building Napoleonic ships I tried using common window screen material. This was much too big for the scale, so I started looking around for a replacement. I visited some local fabric shops and found a couple of possible meshes at Hancock Fabrics.

The two on the left are from Hancock's, on the right is the window screen

Closer view of the meshes. Notice the upper right has thicker thread running vertical.

The two examples on the top of the previous photo are my preferred meshes. The smaller one I use for the smaller ships like small unrated 2 to 10 gun boats. The other one is what I use for all the rest. Our local Hancock Fabric store closed in 2016 so I bought a few yards of the mesh, enough to last forever. The description and skew number is 4" Medium Heading 8540CL. It comes in white rolls so must be spray painted black. I also spray it both sides with a cheap fixative like hairspray to keep it from unraveling when cut into small ratlines. Even then I will paint the small cut rectangles with super glue before I cut the diagonals.

The next step is to measure from the chains to the fighting tops and from the fighting tops to the cross tees. Now for each measurement add the width of the chains and the fighting top platforms. Now cut rectangles out matching the recorded measurements, making sure to orient the thicker threads for the long measurement and the thinner threads for the short side.

Cut the rectangle pieces then cut diagonal across from corner to corner to make two ratlines from each rectangle 

At this point I use a solder clamp set in my modeling clamp to hold the ratline.

I cut a length of black thread, coat it with super glue and lay it across the open diagonal cut of the mesh.

Hold the thread in place until it sets then lay it aside to dry.

Cut the tails off and glue each ratline into place.

That's it. Hope this one is helpful.

How I Make Ship Bases - Update

Update: I stopped pressing the hulls into the wet plaster. I found it is much easier to position the hull on the base after it completely dries, then just trace around the hull with a pencil. Use a Xacto craft knife to cut on the mark,  through the plaster. Then just chip the inside plaster out  it is very simple and doesn't mess up the sculpted wave forms.  

The following is a short explanation of how I go about making a base for a new ship mini. For the 1/1200 scale ships I use the following dimensions:

• Unrated 2 - 14 guns                                     30 MM x 40 MM
• Unrated sloop of war 16 - 18 guns              30 MM x 60 MM
• 6th rates 20 - 28 guns                                  30 MM x 70 MM
• 4th & 5th rates 30 - 60 guns                        30 MM x 80 MM
• 2nd & 3rd rates 64 - 98 guns                       30 MM x 100 MM
• 1st rates >100 guns                                     40 MM x 100 MM

1. I use acid free mat board for bases. It's inexpensive and a sheet lasts forever. It is easy to cut with a sharp Xacto knife or a guillotine type paper cutter like I use. Next I liberally coat both sides with two coats of spar varnish. This helps prevent warping from the moist sculpting plaster later. 
2. After the varnish thoroughly dries, the plaster can be applied. I use vinyl spackling for sculpting the sea base. I determine how I am going to orient the sails on the ship and then sculpt the waves slanted across the base in the desired direction.
   
3. After the plaster has set up a bit but not completely hard, I will push the hull bottom into the plaster to mark it. 
   
   
   
   
4. When setting it aside to fully harden I set a weight down on the center of the hull impression to ensure the base dries flat and does not bow up. 
   
5. When completely hard the base can be painted. I completely coat the base with a navy blue. 
   
   
   
6. When that dries I apply a light dry brushing of aqua green with the waves and white against the wave crests. If it is a calm sea base I skip the white.
   
   
   
   
7. After the paint is dry the base is coated with Americana Triple Thick Gloss Glaze, or I have also used Mod Podge Gloss. When completely dry the base will be almost hard as rock but can still be carved with a Xacto knife if needed to make hull fit adjustments.
   
   
   
   
8. I prefer to add a name and nationality to the ships I build. I create my labels using Microsoft Word and print out the sheets, I keep them in a binder and when I need a label I just cut it out.
   
9. I save clear plastic packaging to cut up for this purpose. I cut a strip the same size as the base but a bit longer to take the label. 
   
10. After I cut out the label to size, super glue is used to glue it to the clear plastic. Then the base is super glued to the plastic strip. 
    
11. This not only helps the bases glide easily on the sea mats, but it also protects the ship information I write on the underside of the base.
    
    
    
    

So that is it! I tried other methods early on and different paint schemes, but I rarely vary from this method now.

I hope this was helpful.

Cheers

How Do I Do What I Do?

I have been asked several times on forums how I do five things; bases, ratlines, sails, masts, and lifting hulls to match Langtons. I have already done a post on how I make masts (see A Miniatures Hobby Room: Scratch Building 1:1200 Ship Masts), and how I lift hulls (see A Miniatures Hobby Room: My Method for Raising Navwar Hulls).

I have gone through all of my posts and gleaned the photos showing how I do the bases, ratlines, and sails. So for the next three post I will attempt to explain the process using these photos for illustration. I hope these posts will provide some help to anyone who enjoys building these miniature ships as much as I do.

Cheers