Trumpeter's HMS Naiad in 1:350 scale

Treehugger
I already have so many work-in-progress stuff going on, but I need to finish this smaller project to get to try out making custom railings with wire and styrene, instead of doing that on that other heavy cruiser build from before with the USS Guam. Re. the Guam kit, to try re-work all that photo etch railings was a big mistake, just too much work and probably much harder to align than individual pins togehter with wiring for the deck railing.

The 3d printed turrets w. barrels really look nice, however I also have metal barrels in stock. I will try drilling out just a couple of mm's deeper and see if that works out, if it fails I will have to cut off the resin barrels and add the metal barrels. If I end up using the metal barrels, I must remember to make a "jig" to get the barrel alignment as good as possible without the barrels looking weird "not looking straight".

Hmm, maybe the ship ought to be less angled in the photo there? Not parallel with the "white" edges, but not as angled as this I think. Thinking about this now, I think an "angled" ship is all wrong with the mood of the still water, and I will straighten the model a little to avoid the obvious diagonal angle of the hull there in photo #01.

Not sure if I have larger "isopor" material around, will have to look. I just thought, this might work ok, to draw attention to the model itself, and not end up with a large ocean surface acting as a frame.

A photographer once wrote: "Frame what you love" I think what he meant was, to not add other things into the frame other than the stuff you like/love. A "closer framing" I think is also more "intimate and works better, and also makes the model seem taller as opposed to flat.

Hm, I forgot to think about maaaybe having additional models in the ocean. I do have a tug boat of the same era, I could use that. 🙂

Jörg Schäfer
Interesting, I'll stick with it.

Matti Thomaes
Interesting technique, following with interest. I also used aluminium foil when I made the seascape for my Tashkent, Soviet destroyer, but the way you are doing it is new to me.

Treehugger
Not sure what to expect. A danger here is the foil is so mallable, any accidental denting has to be smoothened out. Should "stabilize" after a few layers of paint and goo hopefully. Hm, if I keep adding goo on top, the goo will flatten and work the opposite way of shaping waves. Might have to just create a glaze close to the foil surface and not fill up with gransparent goo.

Although I have this "isopor" plate ready, I might add black cardboard ontop, as a base for the foil, then add paint on top of that and hopefully some water goo. Probably not a good idea adding too much transparent goo on top of this alu foil as it might look weird perhaps when the foil isn't at the very top of the surface anymore if adding too much transparent goo, unsure.

In computer 3d modeling, there are tools for modeling realistic water waves, but that is too complicated for physical models, unless somehow one starts carving out large waves, then smaller waves and ever smaller waves again, and somehow end up with a nice looking result. Ofc, here there just wouldn't be big waves at all, just smaller waves that slosh around, which is what the steel ball is for.

Steven Van Dyck
Nice project. I once used alufoil too for a 1/700 dio, Operation Torch | Project by StevenVD (1:700) . I found out that if I covered it in Stillwater, I could use water paints on that. But the end result remained quite metallic.

I've read books that described placing ships oblique in a frame as an error, trapping the ship in an undersized frame, so do this only if there is ample space for the bow.

Treehugger
Right, I personally think however that tallness of the model with counter will dominate anyway. Heh, I am willing to risk it. 🙂 Also the ship will be at anchor, so not moving, which works in my favor I think.

Ingmar Stöhr
As I will also soon face the cahllenge of creating a nice seascape, I will be following your approach.

Treehugger
I have some difficulty gluing the foil to the paper (dries, but then comes loose when bumping it with the steel ball bearing), which is problematic if the foil comes loose. Seems to me that, I might as well try dent the black cardboard directly, and leave out the problematic foil.

Ingmar Stöhr
Hm, Just some random thoughts:
There are special boards that are cardboard-foam-cardbord. They have very smooth surface, and having the foam inside you might be able to dent them.