Blast Bags

Modeling Subjects Ships
1

Hi all,

I have just started to build ships after years with tanks, guns, lorries etc and am about to start a build of the Trumpeter 1/350 HMS Hood. Does anyone have any good tips for making blast bags for the main battery? I’m replacing the gun housings with more accurate resin items and they will need the blast bags added.

Thanks ladies and gents.

Nick Moore

2

I get good results with Elmer’s white glue.

3

I’ve had good luck using small pieces of tissue soaked in white glue. Use a toothpick or dental pick to form it around the barrel and stuff it into the openings in the turret and add the wrinkles where you want them as the glue dries. The glue slop cleans off with a cotton bud as long as you get to it before it dries completely. A bit of paint the next day and you are done. If it doesn’t look exactly as you would like you can always put some water on it and do a little more forming or add another layer.

Some builders use various types of epoxies including Milliput, a water clean up epoxy. I’ve used it too but watch out for finger prints on the barrels or turret! The epoxy in the prints dries as hard as the rest!

4

IIRC mike ashley puts aluminum foil inside the turret behind the barrels and uses white glue.

5

You might also check out a product called ApoxieSculpt. Its a two part, epoxy like compound but has a long work time, up to an hour, and I find it easier to work with than Milliput. I’ve used it from time to time to sculpt blast bags and once you get it on you can work it nicely with either a tooth pick or a clay modeling tool dipped in water. Seems to be minimal shrinkage as it dries and it holds it shape very well during the sculpting process. Also great for filling seams as you can roll it into a snake of whatever size you need and stuff it down into the seam. Sands nicely once dry. You might be able to get it at your LHS, especially if you have a HobbyTown U.S.A. nearby. I think you can probably order it from Sprue Bros as well.

Hope this helps.

Bob

6

I use small pieces of BRAWNY paper towels soaked in ALEENS craft glue .It,s sticky ,because it,s thicker than ELMERS .It will work and when you build in the bags and put the wrinkles and sags in they will stay put . I like ELMERS , BUT prefer ALEENS . tankerbuilder

7

I have also used the “tissue soaked in diluted white glue” method with terrific results.

Bill

8

While you’re in the process of makng blast bags, may I just ask what the color of blast bags for the following are:

US Navy

Imperial Japanese Nay

Royal Navy

German Navy

I sometmes get confused by box Arts.

Constructor

9

For the USN, during WW2, when the ships were in M21, the blast bags, which are really weather seals, were the same color as the decks. The reasoning is that the canvas coloring in stores for turret weather seals, boat covers, AA gun covers and all of the many other cloth tarps etc. were universally drawn from stores.

I buy that, but beyond that I don’t have source material.

10

There’s some variation as well for the US - sometimes they were black, sometimes lighter than Navy Blue, sometimes not even installed.