papierschnitzel

Wako pirate ship prototype

I built the first prototype and it all went quite straightforward. Once I add the texture sketching you can get a good feeling how the final version will look. As this is a half size build (15mm figures size), I was worried about the posts of the tow...

Sloop and more ...

Yesterday I talked about the sloop for next month and I thought I'll share what the development looks like right now.

I have been working on the geometry and made a first prototype. It's not perfect - I want to extend the stern a little longer - bu...

Wako pirate ship concept

After last month's gunship I want to go back to the Asian theme for October. I had planned to do the Samurai Villa building but to be honest I have not had the time to formulate the design to my satisfaction. So while I am in the groove on working on...

September 2018 files are live!

I have dropped the Pirate Fleet Builder "Gunboat" files and authorized you guys for access  according to your pledges. Thank you very much for your support! 

As usual you will receive an e-Mail with the access links to the dropbox.  ...

September 2018 Content Announcement

 This month the reward set will include the Pirate fleet builder "Gunboat" containing  

• the Gunboat
• a couple of hundred thousand color and texture variations (skins)

I will make the "charge patrons post" in...

Scratch build swivel gun tutorial

I created a little tutorial on my site, explaining how I made my swivel guns for the gunboat. This will also be covered in the instructions but I thought I make this a public tutorial for anyone interested.

You can find it on my website (2018-09-25 07:30:45 +0000 UTC View Post

Swivel guns and flags

I have built a weathered pirate gunboat and added the swivel guns and a Jolly Roger flag. The flag - like the swivel guns - are removable.

For the flags I am planning to further add a British, French and Spanish flag.

2018-09-21 12:00:31 +0000 UTC View Post

Scratch building swivel guns

As the swivel guns are quite small for the mini scale, I decided to incorporate a very useful material: the toothpick. As with the cannons, there are certain parts that are just better than a pure paper solution. And as both paper and toothpicks are ...

Completed the sails!

I am very happy to show you the textured sails. It took a while to break down all the details, but I am very satisfied how it all turned out. 

Mast and ratlines

I have textured the mast (was easy) and the ratlines (was a lot of work!). For this kind of small vessel, I made very simple lines - no ladder thingie - just to hold the mast, as would be in real life. But the good thing is that now I can build all t...

Gunboat color customization

I have added a couple of variations, so that no boat has to look like another. 

I have made two basic wood skins. One has a light hull with dark details and the other is just the opposite. In addition I have added lots of color options.

...

A good rig prototype

I have been trying out a couple of version of splitting the sailing rig and making it removable. Most involved cutting slots into the mast and hooking the sails and ratlines into the mast. But I didn't like this approach, as you had to cut the slots ...

Starting with mast and sails

To get our beautiful gunboat moving, we need sails ... and masts and ratlines.

Above you see a very early test on how to attach the sails to the mast. I then realized also I should include ratlines to help the mast stand on it's own (#myfingersnoti...

Gunboat texturing

Here is a first look at the texturing of the gun boat. I have noticed a couple of things I want to change on the sides, but I like the general direction. The upward bending of the planks was too much, so I will make the curving a little flatter. It l...

Gun boat prototype

The white build prototype is coming along very nicely. Last month I had time to do some fine tuning of the geometry of the hull. So right now I am very happy with the results.

The mast is more of a rough sketch at this stage. I intend to have the d...

Back to boats!

After last months exploration in feudal Japan, we are back this month sailing the open seas ... and I am very excited!

I have started the Pirate Fleet builder series with the small rowing boat and the jolly boat. These were my "warm up" and now I a...

SVS Tea house release

I am happy to announce the release of the Samurai Village Specials" tea house" set. 

The set will include

• Tea house (4x4")
• Raised platform (6x6")
• Engawa/veranda roof (6x6")
• Host and guest entrances
2018-08-30 07:34:14 +0000 UTC View Post

August 2018 Content Announcement

This month the set will include the Samurai Village builder special "Tea House" containing 

• 4x4" tea house
• 6x6" engawa/veranda and platform
• host and guest entrance

I will make the "charge patrons post" tomor...

Building for instructions

First of all, a big welcome to the new patreons! I hope you will enjoy your stay and I am looking forward to building many more model set with you all :-)

Now that the design process is done, I am rebuilding the current sets to take pictures for th...

Tea house, the solo version

This summer was a very hot one. I will not tell you guys how little I did wear during the last month - it was the bare minimum, but I was still decent :-) - yet I often thought about how cooling a silken kimono would be. I have read that one of the r...

Entrance prototype for the solo version

A little update on the solo version of the tea house. I have optimized the entrance unfold and will start to texture it.

Once I have the missing bits done, I can go into weathering mode and start packing everything up for release!

Happy build...

Tea house: solo version and interior

I have been working on the version without the raised platform and veranda. When I talk to people, a lot imagine a tea house with them, but very often such a building did not have them. The veranda is an extension of the waiting area where the guest ...

Texturing the core tea house

For the missing core part of this set - the actual tea house - I started looking at floor plans of tea houses. This helped me to design my own room structure. With this finalized I could then decide how the walls would have to look, to support that.<...

Starting to texture the tea house

I have completed texturing all the segments except the main house (and the posts which are on the same page as the house).

For the house I want to recycle some of the elder house shoji panels, but I have to check if and how it makes sense. Also I w...

Tea house prototype

I have completed the white build geometry for the tea house. This time I did not want to add the veranda/engawa as add-on modules like in the Elder house, so I split the building horizontaly.

Now I have the core building, the raised platform as a f...

Tea house concepts

The past few days I have been away in the mountains to escape the summer heat. A friend of ours invited us to visit her beautiful house next to a lake which provided not only a beautiful view on the balcony but also cool winds.

I have been working ...

Waiting for the big ships :-)

First of all, thank you and welcome to all the new Patreons. I hope you will enjoy your rewards this month and I am looking forward to creating the larger boats in the future.

I will take this opportunity to remind you guys, that I love seeing what...

Fold-flat docks

While the boats are to small to pack some magic fold-flat parts, I did made the docks fold-flat. When you want to build a larger docks area, you want to store them away after the gaming session safely.

So in the first pic you see them disassembled....

July 2018 Content Announcement

For this month the set will include the small boats and the docks containing

• 4" small rowing boat
• 6" jolly boat
• 1x4" narrow dock module
• 1" dock ramp
• 2x6" wide dock module
• 2" dock ramp

&...

Finishing the small boats set

Quick update: Two instructions done, one more to do. 

Then I can start the cut files and I think I will have the time to add fold-flat templates for the docks. For the small boats there will be no fold-flat, there is just not enough space for ...