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CARVING THE PROWS

                                  Having been asked on many occasions how I make the scratchbuilt prows for my Imperial ships I decided to provide a short modelling guide. Hopefully via the following series of text and pictures I will be able to give enough information for you to have a go yourself. In this case the prow in question is destined for an imperial transport.

Materials

                         The prows are produced entirely from styrene card, rod, and tube. Ideally the body of the prow should be carved from solid styrene but this is unfortunately difficult to find so I build mine from laminated sheets of styrene card. 

For this particular prow I have used 2mm card for the body laminate, 0.6 mm card for the decking and plating. The fittings and gun are made from1mm card, 0.4mm card and 0.4 mm plastic rod

Tools

                           I use 3 craft knives. The first is a heavy duty Stanley knife for rough cuts and cutting the sheet into strips.  The other two are scalpels the first is always fitted with a new blade prior to starting work and the old blade placed in the other knife.   The sharper blade is used for fine work while the older one is used for rough carving. 

You will also need styrene cement liquid and syringe form.

The Process

                       To begin we need a solid block to carve the prow body.  Here I take various thicknesses of plastic card and glue them together to form a block of the approximate size of the prow.

The prow will be roughly 8mm high by 11 mm long and 6mm thick. The block therefore will be cut from 3 pieces of 2mm thick card which will be glued together in a laminate as shown in the following pictures. You should also now cut a strip of  0.6mm card approximately 8mm wide and 3cms long for the decking

            1                      2                         3                              4

Cut the two strips previously described (fig 1)and put the 0.6 sheet to one side for later. Take the 2mm thick strip and cut it into three lengths (fig 2). Glue the three pieces face to face to form a rough block (fig 3). Leave to dry thoroughly and then cut it into a solid block roughly the size of the prow you wish to make. The final picture shows the prepared block with the required shape roughed out in pencil. (fig 4)

               5                        6                           7                         8

It is probably worth mentioning now that the knives we are working with are sharp and for safety and comfort and to avoid covering the pieces in blood you should protect your fingers. The photo of my thumb above( fig 5) demonstrates how a thumb turns out when you neglect to do so. I am right handed and I use a strip of linen elastoplast on the index finger & thumb of my left hand and a strip on the thumb of my right hand as you can see in as later picture.( fig 7) 

Now take the solid block and using vertical cuts shape out the prow till it has the appearance you require when looking down from above (fig 6).  Now draw in silhouette in pencil the shape you require looking at the prow from the side (fig 6). Lay the prow on its side and using vertical cuts form the silhouette shape required (fig 7). When you have completed this, your prow should now be carved in the vertical and horizontal planes and the fun is about to start. Looking down from above draw the shape of the top deck on the prow in pencil . It should now look like fig 8

             9                       10

Time to carve the prow for real. Using the base shape and silhouette cut previously and the top deck shape pare away the material into a nice curve to meet all three shapes. The best way to do this is to hold the prow between index finger and thumb of the left hand. Brace the prow against the thumb of the right hand and draw the knife blade towards you using the thumb to stop the blade and control the cut. Hence the elastoplast and the sad state of my thumb. (fig 9). continue this process till you achieve the shape you require and then using an extremely sharp blade scrape the shape smooth with the blade vertical as if shaving .  The finished prow should look like fig 10, if it does so on the first attempt then you are destined for great things.  heheheh

           11                           12                      13                    14

The next stage is the plates that form the decking and ribbing.  From the original piece of 0.6 mm card cut three pieces the size of the bottom deck, top deck and rear plate. ( fig 11) glue on the back plate, allow it to dry thoroughly  and trim to size. Glue on the bottom plate, allow to dry thoroughly and trim to size. (fig 12) . Finally glue on the top deck, allow to dry thoroughly and trim to size. The end product should now look like fig 14  

         15                        16

It merely remains to fit out the prow. Cut a piece of 1mm thick card 1.5mm x 5mm and cut off the front corners of the long face vertically (left hand piece fig 15) This will form a rear blast shield.  The turret is formed from a piece of 1mm thick card 2.5mm x 3.5 mm with the front corners cut off vertically and the resultant narrow edge bevelled back. On top of this is glued a piece of 0.4mm card 1mm x 2.5mm  (centre pieces fig 15) the gun barrels are 2 short pieces of 0.4mm rod glued together and cut to the length you require. .. Glue the blast shield to the back of the deck with the cut corners to the front. Glue the turret in front of the shield and finally glue the double barrels to the front of the turret . Your completed prow should now look like  fig 16 and is ready for adding to your model. 

Here's a transport  made earlier

WARSHIP PROWS 

                        Carving warship prows is basically the same method but requires a little more precision and more decoration. In recent times I have come to prefer the wonderful slab sided prows shown in the blue book and reproduced in the first shots from the exile films movie. (just as well as they are easier to produce) . Follow the same initial manufacture of a rough cut block to the size required but use an even number of strips which leaves a nice centre line to work too.   

                                                                        1                         2                         3                     4

Draw on the front slope of the prow (fig 1)  Cut to this line remembering that this will be the front edge of the prow. It has to be straight and will not allow for to much recarving. Draw on the curve of the  top and bottom faces. Cut the shape of the bottom face and then using cuts from bottom to top pare away too meet the top face curve always keeping a straight line along the centre line guide. Work on one side only, till you have the curve as required (fig 3). now repeat for the other side and when the two faces are the same then use the blade as a scraper to smooth the faces flat. This is best done under a strong light so you can see any undulations in the surface. (fig 4) 

                                                                            5                    6                         7                    8

Now is the time for the decoration.  The eagle's head is cut from 1mm thick plastic card. Keep a prow from a plastic kit handy as a guide and cut the head shape to match. bevel the edges with a knife and then put to one side. (fig 5) The wings are cut from 0.75 plastic card to the size that suits you. I have chosen a slightly larger than normal wing span but have used a full wrap around the prow which looks rather nice too. cut the outer form of the two wings then using a sharp blade scrape the indentation of the wing "feathers" into the plastic, When this is done use a pair of fine bull nosed pliers to curve the wings to the shape of the prow. (fig 6)

If you are making a torp armed ship then this is the time to make the torp tubes. If you are going to cock it up , this is it. ?=0) draw on the position of the tubes and with a good knife cut the tubes into the prow face from back to front leaving a deep back cut and shallow front cut. finish off the whole with a small router or a by twisting a 1mm drill bit in the slot with the drill tip towards the rear of the prow.  you are now ready to either make the top, rear and bottom plates as per the transport or throw the mess in the bin. Once the plates are dry cut them to shape and cut away the region where the eagle will be glued. (fig 7) Glue on the eagle starting with the head. This is best done by cutting a small flat on the leading edge where the eagle's head will sit. Glue the wings on to match. (fig 8)

                                                                                    9                       10                      11

The final stage is to add the ram from an imperial cruiser sprue with a couple of triangular supports each side from 1mm plastic card. add a top deck behind the eagle and a few anti ordnance turrets to pretty it up. now glue the whole assembly to your chosen model which in my case is a tyrant. (fig 9 & 10) Now paint to suit and there you have it  (fig 11)

The completed Tyrant model