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Dry Dock Modeler

Dry Dock Modeler Building Better Ship Models

Dry Dock Modeler

Dry Dock Modeler

Dry Dock Modeler Building Better Ship Models

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Welcome to Dry Dock Modeler

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Ships in Scale - Latest Issue
September/October '26

SMS WESPE 1876 by wefalck - 1/160 scale - Armoured Gunboat of the Imperial German Navy - when first commissioned

Porthole Glazing
Following the discussion on ways to make the porthole glazing further up, I looked over all available photographs and came to the conclusion that one does not actually seem to see the bronze frame from the outside. On the other hand, most photographs or their scans do not have sufficient resolution to really see such detail.
In order to make my life simpler, I decided to go for solid Plexiglas plugs. I did have 1 mm Plexiglas rod in stock and short sections were cut from this to make 2 mm long plugs. The plugs have to be a bit longer than their diameter, so that they can be inserted straight. The front face was turned flat on the lathe and the back-end was given a bit of a chamfer for easy entry into the pre-drilled holes after which it was painted black using a black permanent marker pen. The pieces were then transferred to the micro-mill for polishing the front face with a silicon rubber polishing bit.
In order ensure that the porthole plugs are set at equal depth, a little ‘tool’ was made, a punch with a recess of 0.3 mm depth around the rim.

Collection of Plexiglas plugs ready for insertion

Glazed portholes

Glazed portholes

To be continued ....

By wefalck · 53 minutes ago53 min
tools for milling sheets and strips for ship modelling

The guide stays fixed in place (in the T-track). You set it to the strip thicness you want - say 2mm - out from the outside edge of the saw blade. After that, as each strip comes off you just move the fence up until the now slightly thinner workpiece butts up against the little roller wheel on the jig. The roller wheel guides the outer side of the workpiece accurately into the spinning blade. Quick and easy.

By Tony Hunt · 57 minutes ago57 min
Hello from Venice/Santa Monica Calif.

Welcome to DDM! 👋

By AJohnson · 1 hour ago1 hr
Captain John Smith's Shallop by JpR62 - Pavel Nikitin - 1:32

Thank you to everyone who follows this build log, and thank you for the “Likes”.

The metal parts and the rudder
All the metal parts are cut out from the various photo-etched sheets included in the kit. They are lightly sanded to remove any chemical residue, and the small attachment points are sanded down.

I also assemble the rudder, which comes in three pieces that are carefully put together.

The parts are blackened using a blackening agent (Brass Black by Birchwood). The handles of both boat hooks are first rounded with an X-Acto knife and then smoothed with sandpaper.

Small sections of metal tubing were glued inside the four rudder fittings. On two of them, I glued a small metal rod. This will make the rudder removable and functional.

The fittings are mounted on the rudder, which is then treated with teak oil.

By JpR62 · 1 hour ago1 hr
HM Gun Brig Adder by Russ2025 - Vanguard Models - 1:64

Great work Dale, looks really neat.

By AJohnson · 1 hour ago1 hr
Hello from Venice/Santa Monica Calif.

Hello! And welcome to DDM Peter 🙂

By Ronald-V · 3 hours ago3 hr
HMS Surprise 1796 by KillicksToastedCheez - Vanguard Models - 1:64 - Fiction Version

Nice work on the stem and bow. Your figures look excellent.
Looks like the headrail assembly is coming-up soon. This critical structure will take time to get all the pieces aligned properly, especially the sanding prep. On the kit's various lasered pear items, don't forget to "break" (round-off) sharp edges, especially on deck items; this finishing touch makes a subtle difference, even when subsequently painted. Your hawse bolsters caught my eye.

By modelshipdood · 5 hours ago5 hr
HMS Surprise 1796 by modelshipdood - Vanguard Models - 1:64

@Ronald-V here are the acrylic paints for my Surprise's color palette. The Black/Grey is right out of the bottle, thinned.

Left to right: Cadmium Red, Ochre, NATO Black (for most PE "iron" fittings), Black/Grey, Aged White and Soft Tone (accent wash). In the background just two mineral spirits based stains: Natural & Weathered Oak. The blue can is a polyurethane acrylic (water based) for most of the final protective finishing. I haven't used an airbrush on this model but the Vallejo "Air" paints work really well with conventional paint brushes.

By modelshipdood · 5 hours ago5 hr
HMS Surprise 1796 by modelshipdood - Vanguard Models - 1:64

Thank you Chris, much appreciated. I decided to work on her name today.

By modelshipdood · 6 hours ago6 hr
Arrived today..

Yes.. that's the plan. As I'm old and slow, the build will probably reflect that.

By Peter Crow · 6 hours ago6 hr

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