"A couple of painted trawlers" Topic

In the Cod Wars post on my blog, several people wondered how the clear ships from Shapeways would look once they were painted up.  So, I've put together a quick post showing off two of the trawlers that I've finished.  Please drop by and check them out:

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They look good!

Nice

The models look very crisp! I had imagined they'd be a bit rounded and perhaps striated from the layers of 3D printing. These look really good, though.

You mentioned the white stripe on the funnel should have had a red line through it. Have you tried using a Micron Pigma pen? I buy them at art stores, and find I can manipulate them better than a brush when it comes to drawing things like stripes on Viking trousers. I've heard of others who use them for tattoos on their figures.

Grelber

Thanks guys. There was a little bit of striation visible under the flare of the bow. With the higher quality plastic you could see it but not really feel it. I took some advice from one of the Shapeways discussion forums, and washed the ships with green stuff and Dawn to remove any of the leftover wax. Then, I painted the models with Vallejo Matt Varnish which seemed to fill in any rough areas without filling in any detail.

Grelber: I have a couple of Micron Pigma pens in black, but have never seen one in white. Where did you get yours? I would LOVE to have something like that in white.

Sorry to have been confusing. To the best of my knowledge, they don't make white. I was thinking of doing the white with a brush and the stripe in the middle of it with a pen.

I really wish they did make a white pen, though--so many uses!
Grelber

Actually, painting the funnel white and then doing two lines with a red pen might actually work. I just checked with my local art supply store and they have the .2mm red pens in stock. I'm going to pick some up later today. Thanks for the suggestion!

The only white pen I've seen is a Sakura 'Gelly' ball-point.

It is actually relatively easy to paint a stripe in the middle of another stripe, though. Just takes practice on some scrap card.

I've painted Waffenfarbe on 15mm Germans. You paint the whole shoulder board the edge color, then paint a smaller stripe inside that, and so on until you have however many stripes you need.

I've painted waffenfarbe on my 15mm Germans as well. This is a little bit different, as the curve of the funnel makes it more difficult. I also think it might be time to replace some of my smaller brushes.

Very nice Brian!

I went round a preserved trawler at the Fishing Heritage Centre in Grimsby a couple of months ago – they make quite a big thing of the Cod War. My life those trawlermen had a hard enough life anyway, without anyone trying to cut their nets!

Nick

They look good. I see now that I'm going to have to smear rust over mine – so far they look too neat!

BJ,
Lucky you! I looked at a lot of photos of Arctic Corsair in Hull when deciding how to paint the decks, gear and whatnot. I wish I had been able to walk around one myself, as I think that would be quite helpful.

Grelber,
Drop back by the blog; I posted a photo of the ship using a Micron pen for the red stripes, and put a thanks to you for suggesting the idea.

colkitto,
Yes, a bit of rust goes a long way on making the trawlers look better. From looking at pictures and videos, it seems that everyone other than the RN needs to have rust smeared on them.

May have overdone the rust on my generic trawler …

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Might try painting navigation lights on the ICGVs next. Also have some stern trawlers but am still wondering about colours for the working deck. Rusty metal? Green?

I'm glad the Micron pen worked out well. I had assumed the red would be in the middle of the white band; narrow white, narrow red, then wide white means having to keep both the top lines straight in a way that being in the middle doesn't. Looks good!
Grelber

Sorry for the late response guys, but we went on a trip and I didn't take my computer. I had my phone, but hate typing long answers on it.

colkitto: I don't think the rust on the trawler is overdone at all. The sidewinder trawlers I see in photos from the time all look pretty beat up. I also like the gray deck, as it's a good workman like color. As for the stern trawlers, I'm still looking at that. I think a rusty ramp where the net comes in, and after that any one of the "usual" deck colors: red oxide, green, gray or what have you. I suspect David Manley might be able to help us out with that, if he drops by this thread.

Grelber: Yes, the pens worked great. The pictures are so far over actual size that I need to take another one with something like the Quarter of Comparison(TM) so people can see how small they really are.

Thanks Brian. I nicked the grey idea from somebody's model of a Revell 1/142 fishing trawler which I saw somewhere on the net. I see the Arctic Corsair appears to be preserved with reddish decks. I also saw a model stern trawler which had a red working deck but it looked too clean and tidy to me. I imagine the ramp might be worn down to the metal quite quickly!

I think I found the very model you're talking about in an online search myself. Given the different owners and whatnot, I suspect that there is no generic color for a trawler's decks, and as long as you stick something reasonable, you'd be OK. Even with the side trawlers there are differences; most of their working decks are wooden, but I've seen pictures of some that look like painted metal.

Stern trawlers are particularly frustrating, as I'm not finding a lot on them. I found a picture of a model of the trawler Hammond Innis in a museum that shows the decks as green (even the working deck). The working deck is at least rust streaked, and the ramp is nothing but rust color. A mixture of bare metal and rust is probably a pretty good idea!
BWW

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Here are a couple of examples – afraid I can't remember where I found them, so apologies to copyright holders if I am trespassing …

I find that picture labelled "stern" most interesting. The gates at the top of the ramp are beat all to hell, as you would expect. What's interesting though, is that the working deck looks like it's in better shape than the other deck areas surrounding it. Maybe we're looking at this the wrong way, and the working deck is kept well painted and maintained so that it doesn't snag the net?
BWW