Shop Note

1. Wash out the sizing. My present stash, as the previous, had a very pale, bluish tint. Not good at all. Also, very slick surface. It was obviously sizing of some kind. A lot of experimentation with all kinds of solvents... couldn't get the damned stuff off. Turned out that plain hot water did the trick. The sizing is just plain starch. Step one, wash the cloth in hot water.
2. Let it dry, iron it flat with a steam iron, and roll it up for storage.
3. Die it to the color you want. I needed black and yellow for my Gokstad Viking ship and dark brown for my Foochow pole junk. Also a very, very, light brown for the whaleboat. Plain cloth die (e.g., Dritt) is good. For more exotic colors, look into the tie-died supplies at a good art store.
4. Soak it in a thinned out fabric stiffener. And then iron flat again.
5. I don't sew the seams. At 1/48 or 1/100, sewn seams are just out of scale. Okay for 1/16, but not for smaller scales in my humble opinion. Instead, I carefully ink in the panel lines and stuff using very thin Micron pens (e.g., 0.05mm). These are available in many different colors at good art stores. I've used both black and brown with good results. Important point is that these inks are indelible.
6. After the sails are fully laid out and all lines drawn on them, glue the bolt ropes, foot ropes, and other re-enforcing lines, as a appropriate. The watch crystal cement works nicely for this job. Also, for more modern sails, glue in the re-enforcement patches at the clew, head, tack. In the case of my junk and whaleboat, I also glued in some realistic looking patches. Medium thick cyanacrylate works well for this job.
7. Cut the sail out of the base material. A very sharp scalpel is the tool of choice. Cut very close to the bolt and foot ropes and clew ropes, if any.
8. The sail is now flat as a board and we want to put a nice belly in it. I find that for model scale, it pays to exaggerate the sail's belly. Otherwise, it looks too flat. After many, many, failed experiments, I will reveal the method that works best for me. I've ironed sails on a variety of forms, used all kinds bad methods. What works best for me is to dip the sail again in the fabric stiffener and rig it temporarily on masts and spars (not the ones on the model.. just some sticks you will use for the purpose.) Hoist the wet sail onto your temporary spars with all the lines (halyards, sheets, clew lines, braces, etc.) as they will be on the final model. Then dry the sail under a constantly blowing hair drier. When fully dry, dismount and rehoist on the model.

Back?