Post by caveman on Jun 3, 2013 14:19:47 GMT -5
Here's my current work in progress, nominally the ship "Man's Promise" from the Skull and Shackles adventure path. I've added several decks to the ship and did not use Paizo's deck plan at all, but I'm labeling it the "Man's Promise" so that it can be found by other S&S players.
I dumpster dove behind a bicycle shop and got the perfect stock material. It was a huge box that barely fit in my car, but it was 1/4" thick cardboard and very sturdy. Since I needed long slabs of cardboard for each deck's base, as well as for each deck's border, as well as for each deck's "stacking base" (put beneath each deck in order to allow for stairs), this box was perfect. I used just about the entire box. There's little shards of it all over my craft room, but not much else.
Here's each deck's base cut out. Note that I switched the names on the bilge and the lady's hold -- just a whoops on my part. Also note that I deliberately mislabeled "lady's hold" because in the 18th Century, it was actually called the "lady's hole." Since I'm playing with kids, you can see why I didn't want to call it that.
I glued borders on each deck and stacked them up to get a feel for how "ship-like" the model looked. It looks kind of like a tramp steamer, I think, but I am still digging it.
Then I glued "stacking bases" to several of the decks (all decks except the lowest (the bilge) will have them on the finished model). Basically, I copied the inner border shape of each deck, added the first step of each stairway, and that glued that to the bottom of the deck. This step took forever because I was figuring it out as I went. For instance, the poop deck's "stacking base" does not exactly match the inner border of its lower "mate," the stern castle, which means that on the assembled model, the poop deck can slide around inside the border of the stern castle deck. Once I saw how much that sucked, I made the "stacking base" of the stern castle match the inner borders of its lower "mate," the quarter deck. However, since the quarter deck is so much wider than the stern castle, I wound up putting "feet" beneath the stern castle that stretched to meet the inner borders of the quarter deck. In this case, where the deck above is smaller than the deck below, "feet" were the only thing I could think of to stop that annoying "deck slide" on the assembled model, but I don't really like the way it looks because real ships don't have those "feet." However, it was good enough so I let it stay. (I could put a skirt on the stern castle that stretched down to meet the perimeter of the quarter deck. Hmm…)
Note the bowsprit at the fore of the ship. It does not drill down into the model beyond the fo'c's'le deck's stacking base, even though on the real ship it would pierce the main and lower decks, and stop in the cargo hold.
Decks with Stacking bases:
Decks with stacking bases (annotated):
Poop deck with stacking base. I put Groo on and substituted an old, unpainted dire wolf for Ruferto. This, as dmkade commented, is to neutralize Groo's affect on ships.
Stern Castle with stacking base. Note the ugly "feet." The blue circle will be the ship's wheel, and the magenta circle will be the mizzenmast.
The Quarter deck. I had originally thought to leave this as one huge open cabin space, but I might change it. The two aft bulkheads on the sides would arc up to touch the bottom of the stern castle, which means that this whole deck is enclosed. I think it would be a great cabin which the captain could use to "entertain" his guests (like some huge pirate feast -- roast pig with an apple in its mouth, golden goblets, strands of pearls in a chest on a huge oak table, etc), but that's kind of a waste of space.
Fo'c's'le with bowsprit. From what I can tell from my reference photos, this bowsprit isn't at a very realistic angle, but I'm no expert with a handheld drill so that was good enough.
Main deck with cabins. I'm not sure how to indicate doors. When the model is assembled, it's perfectly clear that the space Groo and "Ruferto" are standing in is open to the weather, but that isn't so clear when the deck is presented by itself. Note the masts and bowsprit. I had to chop them off in order to allow upper decks to stack on this one. It would be cool to make the masts and rigging as one assembly that pierced all the decks, but then I don't see how you could "unstack" the model in a reasonable amount of time (a.k.a. before you exceeded players' attention and patience spans). the stacking base on this deck wasn't something I had time to tackle this weekend, but "Ruferto" is aimed at the stairway that leads to the lower deck, and Groo is aimed at the cargo hatch. I'll cover that cargo hatch with some kind of lattice. Note that making a stacking base for this deck is going to be a chore because of the complexity of its lower "mate," the lower deck.
Lower deck. The small squares are posts upon which the crew's hammocks would hang. Aft is the galley and the cook's cabin. I haven't finished this deck's bulkheads yet -- there will be at least one cabin in the fore. Note the stairway hole amidships and the hatchway aft -- these will lead down to the cargo hold. Groo and the dog are standing by the cargo hatch which leads up and down, and which will get a lattice cover in the finished model.
Cargo hold. You can see where I've marked for the masts and the stairway and hatch leading up. The hole "Ruferto" is running away from is the stairway down to the lady's hold. Again, Groo is standing by the cargo hatch which goes up through the lower deck to the main deck, and down to the lady's hold. In another "whoops moment," it is only now as I'm typing this that I realize I should have written "no cut" on the cargo hold square on this deck. The cargo hatch would NOT go down to the lady's hold on a real ship. Crap. I guess it's easy enough to put that piece back in and glue it down. Crap.
Lady's hold which I accidentally mislabeled "bilge". Hatchway leading down to the actual bilge deck.
Bilge which I mislabeled "lady's hold". This is the lowest level of the ship, so I think the keel would actually be running down the center of the room. I think I'll paint that on rather than indicate it with a raised border -- don't want people to think a bulkhead runs down the center of the room.
Poop, stern castle, and quarter decks stacked up as they will be on the assembled model. I'm digging the way the staircases line up.
Above, the stacking base of the quarter deck, and below, its lower "mate," the main deck.
Note that I put grooves and slots in the stacking base in order to allow all the decks to stack in the assembled model. The rest of the decks will get this treatment too, but that's a lot of work and for another weekend.
Below, the fo'c's'le's stacking base, and above, its lower "mate," the main deck. And, another "whoops" moment. Also, note that I keep misspelling fo'c's'le, but who cares?
Groo and "Ruferto" running around by the cabins on the main deck.
I sure learned a lot even from getting this far in this project, but the list is too long to get into. Basically, it gave me a new appreciation for the capacity of human intelligence. I don't know HOW somebody designed a ship in the days before CAD. I ran into so many times when my 2D idea didn't match the 3D reality that I ceased being surprised by it. Actually, I think the main lesson this project is teaching me is how to really embrace the concept "good enough."
I'll be out of town for about three weeks, so I won't get to work on this again until late June, but I'll post more pics as I get closer to the finish line.
Thanks for reading such a long post!
I dumpster dove behind a bicycle shop and got the perfect stock material. It was a huge box that barely fit in my car, but it was 1/4" thick cardboard and very sturdy. Since I needed long slabs of cardboard for each deck's base, as well as for each deck's border, as well as for each deck's "stacking base" (put beneath each deck in order to allow for stairs), this box was perfect. I used just about the entire box. There's little shards of it all over my craft room, but not much else.
Here's each deck's base cut out. Note that I switched the names on the bilge and the lady's hold -- just a whoops on my part. Also note that I deliberately mislabeled "lady's hold" because in the 18th Century, it was actually called the "lady's hole." Since I'm playing with kids, you can see why I didn't want to call it that.
I glued borders on each deck and stacked them up to get a feel for how "ship-like" the model looked. It looks kind of like a tramp steamer, I think, but I am still digging it.
Then I glued "stacking bases" to several of the decks (all decks except the lowest (the bilge) will have them on the finished model). Basically, I copied the inner border shape of each deck, added the first step of each stairway, and that glued that to the bottom of the deck. This step took forever because I was figuring it out as I went. For instance, the poop deck's "stacking base" does not exactly match the inner border of its lower "mate," the stern castle, which means that on the assembled model, the poop deck can slide around inside the border of the stern castle deck. Once I saw how much that sucked, I made the "stacking base" of the stern castle match the inner borders of its lower "mate," the quarter deck. However, since the quarter deck is so much wider than the stern castle, I wound up putting "feet" beneath the stern castle that stretched to meet the inner borders of the quarter deck. In this case, where the deck above is smaller than the deck below, "feet" were the only thing I could think of to stop that annoying "deck slide" on the assembled model, but I don't really like the way it looks because real ships don't have those "feet." However, it was good enough so I let it stay. (I could put a skirt on the stern castle that stretched down to meet the perimeter of the quarter deck. Hmm…)
Note the bowsprit at the fore of the ship. It does not drill down into the model beyond the fo'c's'le deck's stacking base, even though on the real ship it would pierce the main and lower decks, and stop in the cargo hold.
Decks with Stacking bases:
Decks with stacking bases (annotated):
Poop deck with stacking base. I put Groo on and substituted an old, unpainted dire wolf for Ruferto. This, as dmkade commented, is to neutralize Groo's affect on ships.
Stern Castle with stacking base. Note the ugly "feet." The blue circle will be the ship's wheel, and the magenta circle will be the mizzenmast.
The Quarter deck. I had originally thought to leave this as one huge open cabin space, but I might change it. The two aft bulkheads on the sides would arc up to touch the bottom of the stern castle, which means that this whole deck is enclosed. I think it would be a great cabin which the captain could use to "entertain" his guests (like some huge pirate feast -- roast pig with an apple in its mouth, golden goblets, strands of pearls in a chest on a huge oak table, etc), but that's kind of a waste of space.
Fo'c's'le with bowsprit. From what I can tell from my reference photos, this bowsprit isn't at a very realistic angle, but I'm no expert with a handheld drill so that was good enough.
Main deck with cabins. I'm not sure how to indicate doors. When the model is assembled, it's perfectly clear that the space Groo and "Ruferto" are standing in is open to the weather, but that isn't so clear when the deck is presented by itself. Note the masts and bowsprit. I had to chop them off in order to allow upper decks to stack on this one. It would be cool to make the masts and rigging as one assembly that pierced all the decks, but then I don't see how you could "unstack" the model in a reasonable amount of time (a.k.a. before you exceeded players' attention and patience spans). the stacking base on this deck wasn't something I had time to tackle this weekend, but "Ruferto" is aimed at the stairway that leads to the lower deck, and Groo is aimed at the cargo hatch. I'll cover that cargo hatch with some kind of lattice. Note that making a stacking base for this deck is going to be a chore because of the complexity of its lower "mate," the lower deck.
Lower deck. The small squares are posts upon which the crew's hammocks would hang. Aft is the galley and the cook's cabin. I haven't finished this deck's bulkheads yet -- there will be at least one cabin in the fore. Note the stairway hole amidships and the hatchway aft -- these will lead down to the cargo hold. Groo and the dog are standing by the cargo hatch which leads up and down, and which will get a lattice cover in the finished model.
Cargo hold. You can see where I've marked for the masts and the stairway and hatch leading up. The hole "Ruferto" is running away from is the stairway down to the lady's hold. Again, Groo is standing by the cargo hatch which goes up through the lower deck to the main deck, and down to the lady's hold. In another "whoops moment," it is only now as I'm typing this that I realize I should have written "no cut" on the cargo hold square on this deck. The cargo hatch would NOT go down to the lady's hold on a real ship. Crap. I guess it's easy enough to put that piece back in and glue it down. Crap.
Lady's hold which I accidentally mislabeled "bilge". Hatchway leading down to the actual bilge deck.
Bilge which I mislabeled "lady's hold". This is the lowest level of the ship, so I think the keel would actually be running down the center of the room. I think I'll paint that on rather than indicate it with a raised border -- don't want people to think a bulkhead runs down the center of the room.
Poop, stern castle, and quarter decks stacked up as they will be on the assembled model. I'm digging the way the staircases line up.
Above, the stacking base of the quarter deck, and below, its lower "mate," the main deck.
Note that I put grooves and slots in the stacking base in order to allow all the decks to stack in the assembled model. The rest of the decks will get this treatment too, but that's a lot of work and for another weekend.
Below, the fo'c's'le's stacking base, and above, its lower "mate," the main deck. And, another "whoops" moment. Also, note that I keep misspelling fo'c's'le, but who cares?
Groo and "Ruferto" running around by the cabins on the main deck.
I sure learned a lot even from getting this far in this project, but the list is too long to get into. Basically, it gave me a new appreciation for the capacity of human intelligence. I don't know HOW somebody designed a ship in the days before CAD. I ran into so many times when my 2D idea didn't match the 3D reality that I ceased being surprised by it. Actually, I think the main lesson this project is teaching me is how to really embrace the concept "good enough."
I'll be out of town for about three weeks, so I won't get to work on this again until late June, but I'll post more pics as I get closer to the finish line.
Thanks for reading such a long post!