Dirigibles And Dreadnoughts

Resin Casting Continued

2008-10-03T13:01:00.000-07:00

In this part of the demo I will show how to cast the actual miniatures. Now I was out of uncast resin and the local hobby shop was as well. So I had no resin to do a new casting but I will try to explain how to do it any way.

Step one take your mold out and make sure it is clean. Mix the two different halves of liquid resin in a separate cup. Pour it slowly in to the mold. It helps to use a tooth pick to stir it around and fill all the corners and small bits

Step two Let the resin sit and dry for about ten minutes, it gives off heat as it sets so be careful not to burn your self. Once the resin has set and cooled flex the mold and pop out the model. It may have small holes in it, don't worry these can be filled with various types of putty or GW green stuff.

Step three once your model is in shape (note the green patch where an air bubble was) You can get into fine details. I like to add "gun sponsions" or small swivel guns to the superstructure. These small details don't cast well so I add them after that step. I use a small drill to drill holes where the guns will go. It is possible to go further and cast separate components such as large turrets or superstructures and add these to your ship (This mould be ideal for a monitor). This lends detail and complexity to the design but can be very tricky to get right.

You can see here the holes drilled into the side of the superstructure.

Lastly cut small pieces of paper clips and fit them in as guns, the same can be done for masts. Now you can paint and base and you are ready to go. As a final warning I will say not all castings will be usable many of mine have failed and your first few might be failures but keep going you will get it in time.

Resin Casting

2008-10-02T14:33:00.000-07:00

I received an inquiry a while ago as to how I do my resin castings. It took me a while to get around to it, but I finally did, and here it is. Or at least the first part. this part will show you how to make a vulcanized rubber mold.

Step one is to make or find a suitable ship. First it heeds to have a flat under side. and second it you made it out of wood such as this one its best to spray it with a thick coat of clear lacquer of finishing spray to seal the surface so nothing will soak in and it will slide out of the mold more easily. On another note it fills the uneven splinters and wood grain on wooden ships such as this one.
Step two is to glew the ship to a piece of paper (hints the flat under side) this keeps the ship from floating to the top of the rubber solution.

Step three build a barrier around the ship to create the edges of the mold. legos work well as seen above.

Step four mix the rubber and catalyst then slowly pour over the model. Make sure you fill the rubber a few millimeters above the highest part of the model. Let sit for about five hours to harden completely.

Step five after waiting a few hours test to see if it is hardened. It should be solid and dry but somewhat flexible. If so remove the legos or other casing.

Step six tear off the paper and test under side for hardness.

Step seven carefully remove model from mold by flexing the mold until model pops out. The first time is often tricky, and if the rubber tears slightly that is fine, but be careful. Now you have a mold that should be good for about 100 castings. In time it will wear and likely break so hang onto the master if you are planning on making a lots. Good luck and God speed.

Dazzle crusier

2008-09-08T08:30:00.001-07:00

An armored crusier with dazzle camo for the north Seas fleet. being that I have other matters to attend to this may be te last posting for a while, but check back later.

Steam Punk Gear

2008-08-25T14:42:00.001-07:00

Not Quite Aeronef, but still intresting. Some friends of mine (Yes I do have Friends) Have been playing a steam punk RPG. I myself will have no such part in such foolish matters, Prefering the strategy of my Aeronef fleets. But upon request I made a few items for use in their games. One is a gun made from a repainted Nerf gun and a thermomiter.

Next is a pocket sized tool kit made from an altoids tin and som old tools and bits I found in the garadge.

2008-08-24T11:02:00.000-07:00

A squad of dazzle camo destroyers includes three destroyers and one leader. They will reinforce German forces on the North Sea.

Name Change

2008-08-13T20:15:00.000-07:00

Due to the fact that the danish fleet only makes up a small fraction of my collection I have changed the name of the blog.

Dazzling Destroyers

2008-08-06T13:41:00.000-07:00

A pair of destroyers in matching dazzle camo escort the german raiders.

German Refitted Squad

2008-08-04T15:51:00.000-07:00

After the deployment of the German Far-East Squad the Raider Rhun was recalled and repainted in a new dazzle camo. The Torpedo Crusier Ravenwater was also refitted with an armored belt to deflect torpedos and repainted in a dazzle scheme as well. Both ships will now serve together as raiders in the North Sea fleet.

2008-08-04T12:59:00.000-07:00

Here is the first picture of the German Empire's Far East squad. This task force consists of four heavy cruisers six destroyers and one lead destroyer. All figures were resin cast from custom masters. Unlike their Baltic counterparts they sport greed hulls and red smoke stacks.

terrain

2008-07-17T12:18:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture od an Empire State building 3-D puzzle that may become a centeral peice of terrain in future campaigns. A German Schleswig-Holstein class Dig Battleship. Scale may prove to be an issue in this matter. But I'll see how it goes.

Germans Spotted in the Far East

2008-06-22T13:13:00.001-07:00

I was able to get my hands on a camera just long enough to snap this pitcure of a new German commerc raider as it headed off to the German colonies in the fareast. I used cottin balls to give it's stacks the look of emeting smoke. I thought it looked good and did the same with all the other ships in the german fleet.

Fleet sets sail

2008-05-07T12:35:00.000-07:00

The Danish Fleet commenced practice maneuvers over the North Sea earlier this week. A photograph caught one squad of ships as they left port. Fleet command has since commented that the practice maneuvers went off with no major mishappenings. The maneuvers were ended a day early due to bad weather conditions. Belgian and Luxembourg ships did not participate due to increased activity along their borders. Fleet command commented that they are ready to respond in aid of our allies at a moments notice.

Full Force German Baltic Fleet

2008-05-02T13:29:00.000-07:00

Here is the Full German Baltic Fleet. Consisting of eight cruisers, a seaplane tender with four seaplanes, two monitors and, three gunboats.

The digs are Revell Hindenburg models the nefs are made from balsa wood.

Full Fleet

2008-05-02T13:25:00.000-07:00

Here is the Full Danish fleet consisting of two battle ships, three crusers, three destroyres, and four frigates. The nefs were constrocted out of stacked layers of plastic card and the digs were made from spare bombs and drob tanks off of an old airplane model.

Full Defence

2008-05-02T13:21:00.001-07:00

Here are the Danish defensive forces. A flying fortress a flying gun battery and a seaplane scout carried aboard the fortress. the fort was constructed from spare GW bases and CD's, and the battery was also countructed from a pair of spare GW bases. The plane was made of plastic card and toothpicks.

The Black Fleet

2008-05-02T13:15:00.000-07:00

Here is the full Belgian fleet. I love the stylistic design of this fleet. It really fits the Aeronef world. By the way this fleet was constructed from Pencils. It consists of two battleships, three cruisers, and six destroyers.

Full Force

2008-05-02T13:12:00.001-07:00

I realized that most of my fleet photos were outdated and missing ships, so I decided to up date the collection. Here is the full Luxembourg fleet, it was constructed from Furniture dowels. This fleet consists of three destroyers, three Frigates, and three bombersHumm... Still a bit small, I may need to add to it.

My best yet!

2008-05-01T13:49:00.000-07:00

This is in my opinion my best ship yet. This vessel is a German torpedo cruiser with a fine level of detail and an authentic WWI look.

2008-05-01T13:47:00.000-07:00

A squad of German Patrol boats.

Baltic Forces

2008-04-27T09:56:00.000-07:00

Elements of the Baltic fleet. Nef Colional Cruser (left) and Nef Protected Cruser (right).

Over the high seas

2008-04-23T19:50:00.000-07:00

Elements of the German Baltic fleet. (Made from Revell Hindenburg models, they have surprising detail.)

German Assualt

2008-04-23T19:12:00.000-07:00

Here is a German Dig fleet, with plenty of gunboats for bombing raids. And yes this one is all brigade figures (one is a british Engadine, but I think it looks good in the German fleet). Below is the entire fleet with a fixed wing bomber squad and fighter escorts.

Seaplane Tender

2008-04-19T06:11:00.000-07:00

You also voted for this one so I built a German Seaplane Tender, with four seaplanes. You can see it has a steam catipult to launch aircraft and a crane to recover them.

Monitors

2008-04-19T06:05:00.000-07:00

You voted for it so here it, I mean they are. A pair of German monitors.

With a view of the underside turrent.

Sneak attack

2008-04-18T19:19:00.000-07:00

Here is a German Auxiliary Cruiser. I made it out of a German cargo ship, by tossing a few pop up guns in the cargo bays.