Forums Latest Members

Any Scale Ship Modelers About?

  1. sxl2004 Jul 9, 2019

    Posts
    2,302
    Likes
    5,985
    Totally Awesome.
    Congratulations for your outstanding craftsmanship.
    :)
     
  2. speedbird Apr 3, 2022

    Posts
    875
    Likes
    836
    It’s been a long time since I updated this thread. Since I last posted here, I shifted my focus to complete scratch builds, settling on a scale of 1/1500. It’s easy enough to do the math, big enough for the detail I want, and being a scale no one uses commercially, means that I can’t sneak in commercial parts. Everything you see below is made entirely of European boxwood and brass.

    8A09C183-1D98-4222-A9BA-F74F6EB24BBA.jpeg 413DD6B8-4FDB-4534-B07B-D3A31C67F799.jpeg 0F00A18B-E311-4919-9726-77079ADF649A.jpeg D9C2743F-A4F0-4DC7-A9AC-BDED8C534DE4.jpeg CD7057FA-38A5-4E01-B392-76C06D9456E1.jpeg 8857BADA-E394-43A2-A715-E1380747C6CD.jpeg 964D3EF5-EF8D-4DB7-997D-A73A3FFB18C8.jpeg FA1B9CD7-FEF1-4FB5-9A51-2FF6CC2CD552.jpeg 5203F62B-4B5D-464A-96D0-D28730C0653A.jpeg 6EF4B71F-B3F5-4549-B3DF-4855E18198C9.jpeg 700C55F6-A6B8-4F36-8285-FF7661398F01.jpeg 1C0A46A2-A581-4DAC-AA35-B9A93DA34556.jpeg D12FE2E3-4494-495D-A912-994B2A2F27D3.jpeg BD71247E-CC2D-484B-88FB-C075CD8C5E03.jpeg E5150F92-66F6-41A7-933E-BA6E6A66E2F7.jpeg
     
    B3C117D9-6162-4631-A92F-044D6FF227DC.jpeg 2AFACE7E-5A1D-49D7-9708-D371E7A92B82.jpeg C4137F7A-4E68-4D38-9EBD-A39FE7B698E3.jpeg 96D4DE9C-5A51-464F-9386-24BEDEE15170.jpeg
  3. LuckyLes Apr 3, 2022

    Posts
    192
    Likes
    177
    WOW!!!
     
    Omegafanman likes this.
  4. speedbird Apr 21, 2022

    Posts
    875
    Likes
    836
    Currently under construction at the “shipyard”, HMAV Bounty, the ship famous for the mutiny. I’ve read probably every word written about the expedition in a couple languages now, and recently I was able to acquire artifacts from the wreck. I’m a bit of a fanatic when it comes to the story.

    The model is built entirely of boxwood, from scratch, using the original Admiralty plans, and so far we’re looking at around 3500 individual pieces. I’ve been on this project for several months now. The hull is just about 3 and a quarter inches or about 82mm.

    28DBBD79-FF46-4353-B78C-DCB84DB6E4D1.jpeg F73CEB20-A6FE-4A2B-AB04-1820C3654DD0.jpeg
     
  5. speedbird Apr 21, 2022

    Posts
    875
    Likes
    836
    55A1B555-E5B5-4F23-A51A-503C08F5A5ED.jpeg Another
     
    Retsamaes, Erik_H, Pahawi and 4 others like this.
  6. JimInOz Melbourne Australia Apr 21, 2022

    Posts
    15,404
    Likes
    32,170
    I'm still in awe of your work (and I thought watchmaking was an intricate hobby).

    How difficult would it be to have a scale model of a human in each setting?

    Not permanently, but maybe if you had one each to the scale of particular models, it would help us gauge more accurately just how incredibly bloody tiny these models are.

    Cheers
    Jim

    PS: Just sent an email to one of my mates who is into detail modelling, I think he will be amazed.
     
    Mark020 likes this.
  7. speedbird Apr 21, 2022

    Posts
    875
    Likes
    836
    Hey thanks! I plan to add the crew to the ship. I did so on my HM Cutter Alert model, but they haven’t been photographed. The figures are made from cut brass and canvas paste, it’s very meticulous.

    To add a little context here, the coin is exactly 1 inch or 25mm, for scale
     
    Scarecrow Boat likes this.
  8. Scarecrow Boat Burt Macklin, FBI Apr 21, 2022

    Posts
    5,153
    Likes
    23,381
    The detail achieved at this scale is incredible. To re-share one of your images:

    89FD48E7-9299-4DAE-B4EF-817986498F9E.jpeg

    The fact that that is just shy of 4” in length is mind boggling. I have a massive appreciation for your talent. I applaud your patience and eye for detail.
     
    Edited Apr 21, 2022
    Duracuir1, 63TR4, Mark020 and 2 others like this.
  9. Mark020 not the sharpest pencil in the ΩF drawer Apr 23, 2022

    Posts
    4,612
    Likes
    6,475
    How is it possible I missed this thread. This is epic work
     
    Scarecrow Boat likes this.
  10. Engee Apr 23, 2022

    Posts
    1,537
    Likes
    3,209
    Here’s one you might like to make:

    upload_2022-4-23_23-15-49.png
     
    Dsloan, Foo2rama, Duracuir1 and 5 others like this.
  11. speedbird Apr 24, 2022

    Posts
    875
    Likes
    836
    Hey thanks!

    I haven’t had much time lately to work on anything, and with the pending move almost everything is packed up anyway. Recently I’ve acquired some new plans so I have to decide what’s next after Bounty is finished. At the pace I’m not going to have her finished until this fall! I need to step up the pace.

    The models are made almost exclusively from boxwood, which is a hardwood. The tools required to shape it have to be small, but also extremely high torque to deal with it. So most of the tools I have for woodworking are miniature versions of what can be found in most well stocked woodworking shops. As you can imagine they’re mostly custom ordered to spec. Picture extremely small cutting, milling, and lathe machines powered by very large motors! I’ll post some photos of the new studio once it’s finished.
     
    Erik_H, Engee, JimInOz and 2 others like this.
  12. pdxleaf ... Aug 4, 2023

    Posts
    4,244
    Likes
    14,200
    Joe and I were able to meet up today, as we were both in the Austin area.

    His work is mind-blowing. This is a made from scratch ship that has 300 people on board. He uses a 20X magnification to build it. The ship was part of a modelers convention, during which other modelers were continually coming up to admire his work.

    20230804_152742.jpg 20230804_152556.jpg 20230804_152547.jpg

    He also made this, with a full figurehead.
    20230804_152034.jpg 20230804_152039.jpg 20230804_152335.jpg


    This Saturn V was made from scratch by another modeler.


    20230804_153529.jpg 20230804_153542.jpg


    Great fun!
     
    Retsamaes, sxl2004 and Scarecrow Boat like this.
  13. propervinyl Aug 4, 2023

    Posts
    421
    Likes
    920
    Wow, these are all extremely impressive.
     
    pdxleaf likes this.
  14. Scarecrow Boat Burt Macklin, FBI Aug 4, 2023

    Posts
    5,153
    Likes
    23,381
    This is incredible. Every time this thread pops up, my mind becomes blown once again. The attention to detail and just the level of detail working within this scare is just… mind boggling! Thank you for sharing these images Dave!
     
    pdxleaf likes this.