A thing a week 2020, week 25

This post represents probably the last of the liftships for a while because a) I don't think I'll Need(TM) more than the ones I've got, and b) because I'm a little tired of building them.  I did cut out some bits that I haven't used yet for a few knarrs and smaller vessels but we'll save those for later--I've got other stuff to do.

First up is a cutter and the first thing to notice is that this ship is big.  Stem to stern it's around 16.5 inches.  The next thing to notice is that it was built in levels which is way more work than I expected.  It was built in cross sections and I put a lot of thought how I'd attach the two with magnets.  If you're wondering how I got the keel to line up, well, it was attached as a single piece tying the top and bottom together then I cut it awfully carefully with my wrong-handed Olfa knife.  And before you ask, yes, I know they make left-handed models...now.

Didn't strictly need it to be balanced
back to front, but it is.

I didn't put nearly enough thought into how to build the bottom deck.  I would have preferred a piece of textured Readi-Board but I didn't have much confidence in being able to accurately predict the dimensions of the lower deck.  I don't fully understand the form, sadly.  Instead, I hand-fit the deck plating and let the ribbing fall where they lay.  While it isn't what I would have liked, I think it looks OK.  If I do these again in the (far) future, I'll probably sculpt it in 3D to be able to figure it out properly. 

The aft-castle also didn't get enough planning.  I had the top deck shape but none of the other dimensions.  As usual, I sort of placed it where it looked good and let things fall as they may.  It's a little tilted on one side as a result and the magnets that I stuck in the top part don't actually attach to anything because they're suspended.  I built it around the main deck's aft...whatever that thing is that sticks up which is now doubling as the connection point for the two.  This will break at some point but to put that point as far in the future as I could manage, I drove a couple long pins into it.

Painting was pretty much like the previous liftships.  We start with a "priming" coat of Mod Podge + black craft paint.  Then we get an undercoat of something in the brown family with the airbrush.  This was followed by a couple coats of home-made black wash and a golden brown drybrush and a ligher highlight drybrush. 

It's a big structure and quite complex with three playable levels.  As an added bonus, the top two decks can double as a sailing ship.  The planking is more regular and more tightly fitted than previous outings.  The bow isn't super tight but the errors don't show super prominently either.   I'll eventually put some extra detail work on.  Specifically, a cargo deck gridwork and the windowing on the side and back.  To this point, though, construction was around fifteen hours with another three-ish hours of painting.


So...what happens if we crank it up a notch?  This is the Golden Sun, the PCs' liftship.  It's notably larger than the cutter stretching the tape at around 20 inches.  That's about 64 Lego studs, if anyone's wondering, and to scale about 1/2 larger than Columbus's Santa Maria.  While I could have done something smarter, the construction is largely the same as the cutter with all of the same kinds of difficulties plus a few extras since I was tired! 

The cross sections are variable thickness because that's the stuff I had available in the right size and I cleverly forgot to bevel it before I started gluing siding on.  This has resulted in some unwanted bulges in the hull but they thankfully don't show too prominently.  I also forgot to texture the bottom deck's planking.  Luckily, I'm probably the only one that'll notice.

I've been burning through some of the stock and scrap I've had laying around for the last, I dunno, year, since I last seriously built with XPS.  I've ended up with piles of blocks of weird dimensions that I used for building sides and bases before I realized it was 1,000 times easier to use Readi-Board.  I also had bins of bricks and off cuts which are great for shoring up planking after the fact.

The painting followed the same scheme...which I've decided I don't like.  The airbrush coat over the black "primer" was a nice, rich mahogany.  The damp-brush golden brown followed by the highlight looks...bad.  All of the ships suffer from the same issue which makes them consistent but chalky.  Before I do the final details, I think I'll pull it all back down with a light wash or a coat of, I dunno, a Badger Ghost Tint followed by a dullcoat which they probably need anyway. 

I think the end result is good despite the painting issues.  This exercise has pushed my ability with the material and I feel like I know it at least a bit better.  I'll also add that the previous "best" building I'd built, the three floor tavern last march, feels awfully simple and inelegant in comparison.  This will complete the buildingstructure portion of my 2020 thing a week challenge. 

2020 finished structure counter:  6/5