Making Waves 3

1
January 22, 2020
I first make the wave pattern with a gas burner, very carefully and under proper ventilation (!!!) . Nowadays, I make the cutout for the hull after this step. That´ll make for sharper and neater borders and the hull sitting snugger inside the cutout.
2
January 22, 2020
Only then will I cut the board to its final size, as that will leave nicer borders than cutting first and torching later.
3
May 22, 2021
I bought this foam cutting device a while ago, and it really eases cutting the foam board.
4
May 22, 2021
For my HMS Hermes, I produced the wave pattern with the gas burner, then made the hull cutout, and then cut the piece to size. That makes much neater borders. I was even able to thin the piece down with the cutting device. It was hair-raising, but it did work.
5
May 22, 2021
This is the completed base for HMS Hermes, ready for the next step, which is fitting the hull into the base.
6
January 22, 2020
Acrylic caulking is ideal to fit a hull into the cutout. The hull needs to be isolated, I use kabuki tape and vaseline. The material needs about two days curing time.
7
January 22, 2020
Two days. I mean it.
8
January 22, 2020
White glue can smoothen out too coarse areas.
9
January 22, 2020
The base has been prepared.
10
January 22, 2020
Now white wall paint is stippled onto the base to produce a surface texture similar to that of water.
11
January 22, 2020
Green paint is sprayed away from the hull to start colouring the base.
12
January 22, 2020
Sometimes one shade of blue suffices.
13
January 22, 2020
Sometimes two.
14
January 22, 2020
Sometimes three.
15
January 22, 2020
These shades were used in this case.
16
January 22, 2020
Test-fitting the hull is always motivational.
17
January 22, 2020
The transition between the hull and the undisturbed water around it helps the illusion of depth.
18
January 22, 2020
Further wave effects are sculpted using clear gloss acrylic gel.
19
January 22, 2020
The base is now gloss coated. That adds depth. But: The previous water-based materials need to fully cure before the gloss coat may be applied. Otherwise things will get ugly. Believe you me.
20
January 22, 2020
Further test-fitting. Always fun.
21
January 22, 2020
There are true masters like Chris Flodberg, Kostas Katseas and Won-Hui Lee that excel in wave and spray effects. I´m working on it.
22
January 22, 2020
The trick is to use cotton wool spun and mixed with acrylic gel and/or gloss acrylic like Future to achieve the illusion of spray ...
23
January 22, 2020
Not easy, but well worth the try.
24
January 22, 2020
For the MCMV HMS Hurworth, the base was made lively yet without spray. It was shaped mostly by gas torch.
25
January 22, 2020
Only one shade of green and one of blue were used.
26
January 22, 2020
The gloss coat really brings the base alive.
27
January 22, 2020
The completed base, with the vessel diving into the swell.
28
December 31, 2021
I added this image long after starting the album. This is the excellent 1:350 Starling Models kit of the RN Round Table Class trawler Sir Gareth.

Comments

13 22 January 2020, 13:04

Holger Kranich
Auf solch ein Tutoriale habe ich doch schon lange gewartet!

22 January 2020, 13:11

Frank Spahr
Das freut mich zu hören!

22 January 2020, 13:24

Łukasz Gliński
What a great tutorial, many thanks for sharing the knowledge 👍

22 January 2020, 13:47

Harry Eder
Danke Frank! Immer gut zu wissen! Kommt auch noch ein Wassergestaltung-Tutorial in 1:72? 😉

22 January 2020, 14:18

Frank Spahr
Sorry, Harry - nicht mein Maßstab für Wassergestaltung - dazu kann ich leider nichts beitragen...

22 January 2020, 14:44

Werner Jonczyk
Habe mich an Wassergestaltung nie rangetraut. Da ich jetzt aber vermehrt U-Boote baue, kann ich mich mit Hilfe deines tutorials daran mal versuchen. Danke

22 January 2020, 15:03

Patrick Hagelstein
👍

22 January 2020, 15:15

Harry Eder
Trotzdem danke!

22 January 2020, 16:20

Frank Spahr
Schwierig wird´s, wenn das Wasser durchsichtig ist. Dann kommst Du mit diesen Techniken nicht weiter. Wenn es nicht durchsichtig ist - dann schon

22 January 2020, 16:56

Paul Juliano
Wow, what a great tutorial. Thank you, water wiz!

22 January 2020, 17:18

Frank Spahr
Thanks a lot to you all, much appreciated!

23 January 2020, 04:55

Christian Bruer
Excellent tutorial👍

23 January 2020, 05:34

Frank Spahr
Thanks a lot, much appreciated, Christian!

23 January 2020, 20:38

Norbert Steffens
Great tutorial many thanks. But again how did you create the turbulented water direct at the hull. The the polygonal shape is very interesting.

25 January 2020, 08:00

Starbase101
The water looks awesome, but typically I see these water builds without "wet" areas on the hull which detracts from the illusion because a real boat (or anything else in the water) would not be completely dry everywhere above the water. To go along with the turbulent waves maybe some gel on the hull itself so it looks wet from moving up and down in the water? Again, love the look of well-done water bases like this!

25 January 2020, 08:59

Frank Spahr
You´re right, Mike, I just might add some wetness to the hull yet - which it would show in reality. The problem is arriving at the right amount of gloss to make it look convincing. Norbert, I answered your query in the MCMV post.

25 January 2020, 09:48

Mike Kryza
Bemerkenswert! 👍

25 January 2020, 09:55

Frank Spahr
Thank you!

25 January 2020, 10:03

Ben M
Thank you for the fantastic tutorial.

25 January 2020, 14:14

Glyn Adams
Excellent, love it. Going to try it myself. Thank you very much.

25 January 2020, 16:13

Frank Spahr
Thanks a lot for the friendly feedback!

25 January 2020, 17:02

Patrick Hagelstein
That's what Scalemates is for! 😉

25 January 2020, 18:42

Frank Spahr
That it is!

26 January 2020, 09:48

Ben Decker
Sehr schön! Danke!!

26 January 2020, 13:13

Frank Spahr
Gern geschehen!

26 January 2020, 16:10

Stephan H.
I used the same technique for my Loire C130 project and was really happy how good it works, even in 1/72😉 . The only difference is that I used Styrodur insulation foam, which is very dense (dt.: Styrodur ist sehr dicht und hat sehr kleine Partikel, tolles Zeug) . That means that you can even sand it if necessary and cut it quite easily. But if you use Styrodur dont apply too much heat on one spot over long time, because this will cause the foam to create a solid top layer which is almost strong as plastic and can hardly be corrected. Always keep the flamer in motion, like an airbrush 🙂.

28 January 2020, 09:42

Frank Spahr
Thanks, Stephan! I also use Styrodur, insulation board from the hardware supermarket. I also second your recommendations on flame use!

28 January 2020, 18:33

Frank Spahr
Well, this is not a new album, it just popped up when I added a few images as new. I added photos of the foam board cutter I have bought, and what it did to the base of my HMS Hermes.

22 May 2021, 15:38

Frank Spahr
Thanks a lot, Jorge!

22 May 2021, 17:33

Alexander Grivonev
Seems so simple, but the realism is astonishing

22 May 2021, 17:35

James C
Awesome tutorial Frank, many thanks for sharing 👍👍👍

22 May 2021, 18:06

Frank Spahr
Thanks a lot to both of you, much appreciated!

22 May 2021, 18:45

Peppy
Ah, the Magician opens the book of spells.

Masterclass tutorial.
Thank you, Frank.

23 May 2021, 04:39

Frank Spahr
We aim to please 😉

23 May 2021, 05:00

Album info

Full hulled models or livelier seascapes need bases with more substance. I use ordinary styrofoam insulation boards from the hardware supermarket. This is what I do:

Making Waves

49 images

1:350-700

In progress

Scratchbuilt

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