Further Adventures with 1mm MDF

All the hulls currently under construction for the Anglo Turkish War of 1883. The red-brown edged hulls at the bottom of the picture are for the Royal Navy and as you can see, one sheet of MDF is more than enough to provide the ‘boot-topping’ layer on the lower hull.

I never thought I could get so excited about sheets of 1mm thick MDF! Usually Tuesday is quite a busy day at Maison Crook but today we had an unexpected break from the usual routine meaning that I could get up into the man cave to try out my idea for my latest acquisition - the aforementioned sheets of 1mm thick MDF.

If you recall my plan was to use a layer of this material, edged in white prior to assembly, to represent the ‘boot-topping’ or the narrow line of paint between the black of the hull and the red anti-fouling paint that was a feature of many ironclad era warships. 

The first thing I did was to draw around one of the hull templates I am using - in this case for H.M.S. Agincourt - and then cut it out. I used a scalpel for the straight lengths of the hull but to be honest, a good pair of scissors works just as well, as I later discovered. Some careful filing was then needed so that the newly cut template lined up with the hull. Given the thickness it is very easy to file and more importantly, does not seem to shed much in the way of fibres. Obviously the closer the cut the less filing would be needed. 

The picture above shows the two Minotaur class lower hull layers alongside the first 1mm MDF ‘boot-topping’ layer. Although they look different sizes that is an optical illusion caused by the fact that the two lower hulls are currently resting on a couple of Jenga blocks as I took the opportunity to give then another coat of paint.

In a matter of minutes the completed template was ready to paint except for the fact I had forgotten that my MDF primer had been used up and has yet to be replaced! It matters little as in any event I can get the remaining nine hull templates cut out and tackle the sealing, undercoating and painting in one fell swoop.

I am absolutely delighted to have sourced this material and fully expect to buying more in due course. The fact that it can be cut with scissors is a real bonus and this has given me plenty of ideas for other scratch-building projects. 

First order of business though, it to replace the MDF sealer!