After the construction of my 1:50 gaff sloop was nearing its end, I had to decide which kind of sail to get, cloth or tissue paper. Fabric sails are very nice when they are well made and I was not sure if I could do it in this scale. So I decided on silkspan, studied Tom Lauria's video, read an article by Werner Zimmermann and then got down to work.......
The first experiences were absolutely sobering. Since the material is very thin, only a double layer can be used, whch must glued together with a glue-water mixture.
What a catastrophe, the material curled like crazy and tore in every conceivable place. Tom Lauria's solution is more complex and has the same dangers.
After some considerarion I decided to make it like the real sailmakers, in lanes.
The markings are recorded on the double-layered clothes, where they are laid on top of each other an glued together with a glue-water mixture.
The contours of the sails are cut out using a template, with duplications on all sides and reinforcements at the end. Then painted with airbrush. Be careful, the sails are vey sensitive when they are wet. When dry, they are very stable.
After painting the sails they get a bolt-rope and the necessary holes are punched with punch and die set.
Then the sails are treated with a weathering pencil to get a natural look.
At the end the gaff sail gets the necessary reef straps.
Of course I'm not quite satisfied yet, because it still has too many wrinkles, but I'm still working on that.
To be continued.
The first experiences were absolutely sobering. Since the material is very thin, only a double layer can be used, whch must glued together with a glue-water mixture.
What a catastrophe, the material curled like crazy and tore in every conceivable place. Tom Lauria's solution is more complex and has the same dangers.
After some considerarion I decided to make it like the real sailmakers, in lanes.
The markings are recorded on the double-layered clothes, where they are laid on top of each other an glued together with a glue-water mixture.
The contours of the sails are cut out using a template, with duplications on all sides and reinforcements at the end. Then painted with airbrush. Be careful, the sails are vey sensitive when they are wet. When dry, they are very stable.
After painting the sails they get a bolt-rope and the necessary holes are punched with punch and die set.
Then the sails are treated with a weathering pencil to get a natural look.
At the end the gaff sail gets the necessary reef straps.
Of course I'm not quite satisfied yet, because it still has too many wrinkles, but I'm still working on that.
To be continued.