I’m planning on rebuilding a 1:72 German WW2 KFK (Kriegsfischkutter - you can see it on the SteelNavy website gallery) - I had a nightmare problem with the home-poured resin hull “melting” - and I want to do a bread-and-butter hull with basswood. I’ve seen several descriptions of running the “bread” vertically, i.e., along the keel; and horizontally, i.e., parallel to the waterline. Which is better? The hull will be approx. 14" long.
Second question: I’ve been dissatisfied with the cargo boom rigging I’ve been using - I’ve got the Jeremiah O’Brien and I’d like to make it more realistic. I use sandwiched tiny styrene discs for the topping lift blocks, vangs, and cargo whip blocks and 0.010" styrene rod for the wire but it all just looks clunky. Any suggestions on how to make something more to scale without sacrificing realism?
I’d go with horisontal layers (waterline), because then you have fewer parts to glue together, and it also seems more natural to me. It should also make keeping everything symmetric easier.
The thing with the blocks depend on the type of blocks - they were probably metal, so then making them out of several layers of thin styrene seems OK, just take care to shape the block shell, or put a kind of frame around the round part, so that the blocks are slightly elongated, that should make them look better. Hope this helps, have a nice day
While I am aware that some people laminate vertical sections, I have never done it and I have had great success with the horizontal (waterline sections) method. I predrill holes through the sections to put a couple of bolts through for clamping while the laminations are drying. These holes eventually become the holes for the display mounting stanchions.
The problem with rigging is generally that rigging appears too large and heavy. This is NOT such a problem with 1:72 scale, but with smaller scales. For smaller scale I use the “transparent” monofilament. But for 1:72 scale (the few I have done) I use thread- grey for wire cable/ropes, tan for manila line.