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5 years ago I wrote an article for TMP about scratchbuilding and casting 1/600 ships. Here is a copy of that article:
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As I am collecting and gaming with 1/600 ship models like the ones by PT Dockyard or Skytrex and SDD, I wanted to have larger ships from cruisers onwards as well. These are difficult to come by. There are some models by Airfix or Revell, but only the most well-known ships (such as the Prinz Eugen, Bismark or Hood) are available. So I thought about trying to scratchbuild one myself. First I had to build a master model. As I am not very expirienced in carving wood, I thought about using paper as the material to work with. I had a look at paper ship models (such as those from Paper Shipwright) to help me in constructing my own ship. As 1/600 is not a very common scale for ship models, I started drawing plans from pictures and smaller-scale plans of the Koeln class cruisers. Then I constructed the paper master model. |
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Now I tried to make a silicone mold out of two-component silicone rubber, which has to be mixed on a 1:1 basis. To prevent the paper of the master sticking to the rubber, I spray-painted the master model (that's why it is black rather than white). |
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When the silicone cured, I got the master out of the mold and started to make the first resin model. I am using a resin which has to be mixed 1:1 - this is the best mixing ratio. I poured the resin into the mold and - after 2 hours, when the resin cured - I had the first resin model in my hands. |
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Some smaller parts, such as the ships boats and the torpedo tubes, are made from white metal. The molds were made in two parts, and the models were dropcast. Now there is only the assembly of the components. The gun barrels of the main armament and the AA armament were made from metal rod. |
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