I found these images of my old final college project from 1997!
Once the actual project I had prepared for could not happen because of funding issues at college...... I decided to build a model of Novgorod based on plans and references in a book on odd ship designs. It included cigar ships built by the Winnans family amongst others and of the most famous family of vessels the circular 'Popovs'.
Image selection one shows the hull being turned from MDF. It caused quite a stir in the carpentry workshop because it was a big lump of laminated MDF and despite assurances from technicians that I could up the speed from quite slow, the only time I did speed the lathe up, it wobbled all over the place causing me to turn it off and lean on it to dampen down the now quite mobile lathe
The turret was also turned as was the deck piece, funnels, Prop hubs, Shaft cones, Gun barrels and cowl vents*. The superstructure was built from Styrene sheet while The deck, turret floor and superstructure deck/roof were planked using veneer and impact adhesive with no attempt to create caulking.
The figures were converted from 1:50th scale architectural items to create one officer and two sailors.
The propellers were made thus: A propeller blade was made from acrylic bent and shaped. This was cast in resin from a silicone mould. Then Hubs were turned from Jelutong and the resin blades fitted to the hubs. These were then moulded and two three blade props and four four blade props cast.
The Cones that the shafts would have gone through were turned from Jelutong and the wide ends shaped until they fitted to the hull and the props mounted onto the outer ends with glue and some rod.
Ships wheels were made from a 1:76th scale waggon wheel with handles added mounted onto a styrene mount. Stanchions and other eyes were etched brass from Scale Link. The model was coated inside and out with epoxy resin and then painted using rattle cans and acrylic paint where applicable.
On the way home from college one weekend I lost a cowl vent, and being a lazy sod back then didn't make a replacement. I think it fell out of my friends car when we stopped in Petworth for a Chinese takeaway!
The model was displayed at the annual end of year show and thereafter lived at the college's display area for a year or two before I came and retrieved it. I then tried it in the water at the village pond where it understandably rode very high in the water. I kept it for about ten years but the damp got to the MDF and it plimmed up a bit and a few prop blades broke of etc etc. I disposed of it when I moved out of the family home in the noughties, but kept the figures and the stanchions!
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Topic: Novgorod: A new old project (Read 1229 times)