20 gun pirate xebec - 1:250 scale

[zathros]

Future information from a fellow boat builder big and small. I used to sail a 10 meter sailboat (Pearson10 meter) by myself on long Island Sound. I think back, and I must have been nuts. She had a 50' foot masts, fully battened main sail, and a 150 Genoa (Jib). 5'9" Fin Keel, 12'9" inches beam, 33 feet long, slept 6 people. Self furling 60% Jib(Genoa). She was a graceful beast, who would dive with her bow under the water on a hard day, but sailed hard and could take it.

My problem with building boat models is that I go crazy with them, then give them away! Some of my 3D printed designs. I lofted these hulls in Rhino8 then exported them wirelessly to my Creality K1 Max 3D Printer. The white one was printed vertically, with no supports. I recreated that boat in fiberglass and made it int5o an R/C boat and gave it to the women who used to let me take that boat out. The trust she had in my, I felt honored. She was older, and when no one would go sailing with her, she knew I was a phone call away. Dell was (I hope still is alive) a wonderful caring person. I did all the maintenance of the boat; never charged her a dime, I refused payment, and that paid off. ;.)

 

[ElMäx]

The Launch. I am still not that happy with it and should improve it. It consists of an outer and an inner side which are constructed out of three pieces each.
Outer hull side:

I used small thin paper strips to attach the two bow sides. Then fold along the keel and glue the bow and the stern together.

The inner hull is assembled the same way but the texture needs to be inside.

Then I glued the inner part to the outer shell.

I used a second print of the deck to cut out some benches.

Still don't have a pirate figurine to scale.

Glued two pieces of toothpick to the sides and placed it to the deck of the ship. Later I may design something more elaborate but for now there is other more demanding work to be done with this model.

Next will be skylights, trapdoor and cannons.

 

[zathros]

Not sure what kind of ink your printer uses. I use strictly only Pigment Ink, with a CISS (Constant-Ink-Supply) connected to it. I can probably print out 5000 pages with the ink I have now.

The reason I saw this is with Pigment Ink, you can wet the model and bend it with your fingers, then Crazy Glue points together. Wait till it dries, then finish gluing the newly compound shape that you can't make with dry paper. Just a suggestion. Try it out, you will see and it will open new horizons for you.

Best source for printers that come with CISS is www.inkproducts.com They get O.E.M. ink from a 1st tier supplier from DuPont, the O.E.M. manufacturer of all inkjet printers, as they hold the patent.

 

[ElMäx]

Not sure what kind of ink your printer uses. I use strictly only Pigment Ink, with a CISS (Constant-Ink-Supply) connected to it. I can probably print out 5000 pages with the ink I have now.

The reason I saw this is with Pigment Ink, you can wet the model and bend it with your fingers, then Crazy Glue points together. Wait till it dries, then finish gluing the newly compound shape that you can't make with dry paper. Just a suggestion. Try it out, you will see and it will open new horizons for you.

Best source for printers that come with CISS is www.inkproducts.com They get O.E.M. ink from a 1st tier supplier from DuPont, the O.E.M. manufacturer of all inkjet printers, as they hold the patent.

I am still using laser printer. Yes, some day I will try out water shaping.
I remember that good tutorial thread by @DanBKing, covering that technique.

Post in thread '(TIE Fighter) Sphere water shaping by DanBKing, in collaboration with Mijob'

Jan 12, 2025

"Interesting fact: a shark will only attack you if you’re wet." ~ Sean Lock


Pt 4: The process.

Right, let's do this.....

A few quick points before we begin:

• I am using 160gsm matte paper for this demo.
• I printed the templates on an inkjet printer using dye based ink, so you will see a little bleed of ink on the parts. Especially the template of UHU02 which has surface texture. The other two do not.
• The stickers I used turned out to be nightmare!! More on that a little later.
• I used a 5cm diameter ball for this demo.
• I am not concentrating on...

• DanBKing

• 
• 
• 

 

[zathros]

I originated the idea, Dan took to another level that amazed me and everyone else. One little suggestion, he grew that seed into a tree. I did that growing up, we were very low on money,
I made models out of the strangest things. I would saturate paper to the point of it falling apart, then drape it over one of the many spoons my mother had, when it dried, I would draw out the shape I needed, the gently pry the whole sheet, then cut out the shape I had drawn. I made 1930's style looking car fenders, of cars I imagined, sometimes, if I had a big white sheet, make billowing sails full of wind for small sailboats I would make. I learned how to read lofting tables when
I was 8 years old.
I grew up 2 miles from the shore, in an area with a vast traditional wood boat/ship heritage, that's how long I've done water forming, 60 years.

 

[ElMäx]

I originated the idea, Dan took to another level that amazed me and everyone else. One little suggestion, he grew that seed into a tree. I did that growing up, we were very low on money,
I made models out of the strangest things. I would saturate paper to the point of it falling apart, then drape it over one of the many spoons my mother had, when it dried, I would draw out the shape I needed, the gently pry the whole sheet, then cut out the shape I had drawn. I made 1930's style looking car fenders, of cars I imagined, sometimes, if I had a big white sheet, make billowing sails full of wind for small sailboats I would make. I learned how to read lofting tables when
I was 8 years old.
I grew up 2 miles from the shore, in an area with a vast traditional wood boat/ship heritage, that's how long I've done water forming, 60 years.

I had to look up lofting. Now understand.

wow, sounds really cool! are there any pictures left from your early creations? I am curious

Yes, that idea with the billowing sails is nice! I was already thinking about it and how to achieve that. Because I have the idea of presenting a basic rigging equipment for my xebec with the possibility to achieve different "sailing conditions" (don't know the words). for example full sails, billowed out in strong winds, or one yard down and so on.
And that part with billowed sails I think will be the first time I'm going to try out water shaping.

I have many ideas but still not the time and equipment. For example I have this picture in my head, where I designed the xebec with the whole hull and somehow put the ship into epoxy or something, resembling water, with waves and billowed out sails and stuff. But until I can realize something like that I have many other things to do and learn

 

[zathros]

I used to use a heat gun, with the white plastic bags that used to be available, but aren't found anymore much. The heat would billow out the plastic. I would mark out the area of the bulge I wanted, cut and then use that. I have no pictures of what I did back them. I always gave my models away. The only reward is knowing that some of those models are still being displayed in homes this day. Sails don't have to be white you know. Some of the most beautiful sailing ships I've ever seen had brown sails.
You could try water forming sails out of brown paper shopping bags, over a ball. After it dries, mark out the area you want to use, and voila, you have brown billowing sails. Spray with a satin clear finish afterwards.

 

[ElMäx]

Up until now I have some minor details for the deck. A skylight, a trap door and this chest.

And of course the guns.

Inspired by warartisans gun design I came up with my own method.
Cutting out and rolling up the barrel. Then glueing the half of the barrel length (beginning with the long dark grey area and up to the short dark grey area in the middle) to 1mm board, to the edge of it.
Laminating the two carriage sides to the paper used for the print, cutting them out and glueing them to the first side of the board with the barrel.

Then cutting the barrel and carriage out of the board piece, turning around and glueing the other side of the carriage to it. Trimming the sides and edges if necessary. Then glueing the back of the carriage to the back of the whole gun+carriage piece.
gun assembled.

Placing the guns to the deck. two of them belong to the forecastle, forward mounted. (it is no real forecastle on xebecs I read somewhere but you probably see what I mean).

That's 18 guns on the ship until now. But it is a 20 gun ship. Two additional cannons are mounted below the quarterdeck protruding out of the stern (I read somewhere that on xebecs it is not called quarterdeck but let's call it that way until we know better). I still need to design those openings and protruding gun muzzles.

-------------------

And yesterday there was an unnecessary accident. I transported the model and had to change the box/method of transportation because I finished another model and needed that box, put the xebec hull in a padded envelope...

...and it got crushed, well, compressed a bit.
The forward end of the quarterdeck got squeezed into the hull on the port side and the port gunwale next to the stairs also got dented quite badly.

This really bothers me as I achieved almost perfect shape of the hull. (yes, @zathros you told me to use strips of wood ...)

Well, it is a pirate vessel and they probably got some hits during raids. I will patch it up somehow

 

[mijob]

These canons came out great and sorry to hear you got some batle damage on the way.