John

If the boat or ship already exists then its fairly easy (cheating) by copying the shapes from hi res pictures into CAD and then tracing to produce the basic drawing. Adjusting the basic drawing to the correct scale takes about 2 minutes and then its the more laborious task of detailing (which does take some time)

But if creating something totally new I start by drawing the outline and core features of what I want and then adjusting the details as the drawing progresses. However having that first burst of inspiration often eludes me and I am somewhat jealous of the people who can create out of 'thin air'.

In fact a better person to answer your question would be Ashley

Paul

Gosh. Where to start? It helps to have imagination, an idea of what you want to make and what you want it to look like.

A drawing does not have to be detailed, but needs to show the basics, as a lot of things on a boat (or whatever) are generic, i.e bollards, winches, lifeboats, life rings, port holes etc and once the basic hull and deck have been made, it will be obvious what you need and roughly where to put it.

Get some paper, draw a waterline and then mark on this with vertical lines the overall length (once decided) and then some horizontal lines for hull height and superstructure, Use a big bit of paper and carry the lines up and across to use for front and top elevations,

Lets take an example. the LFM that I have just made (see album, and made after being interested in a thread on the forum about German landing craft). I printed off a few pictures as reference material, and stuck together a few sheets of paper to draw a plan on. I wanted it ot accomodate some 1/32 Tamiya tanks, and to put 54mm Airfix soldiers on. What can I say, it designed itself then. I needed to accomodate three tanks, as being a worthwhile number, and I had a maximum length of 4 feet to play with (being the width of the car boot) . I wanted an 88mm gun at the rear, an assault boat, and a superstructure able to fit the men on without them looking too cramped. I lined up three tanks on the sheet of papaer, a Dinky 88, a few soldiers and a bit of Lego simulating the boat. Given that the front of the LFM slopes downwards a bit and the tanks are all under cover, so the height of the sides were established; the widest tank was measured, and so the tank well was made to this plus a 1/4". At the rear, the superstructure deck was jiggled about to fit everything on and finally the overall width was kept to a minimum just allowing for a walkway along the side in case I fancied putting some men on there ( so, well width, two lots of 4mm for the well walls,plus the walkway width.I looked at the drawing from a distance and decided if it looked reasonably like the photos (given the restraints). By this time I could see the finished article in my minds eye. I had some 4mm ply….have bandsaw, will make ships!!

I may even have looked at the drawing once when I was busy cutting and glueing.

Ashley

John

I have been thinking about your question and I believe the basic answer is to keep things simple.

Many of the older chaps can recall our technical drawing lessons at school and perhaps draw on that experience to understand the basics of producing a design and I do know that it isn't necessary to have or understand computer aided drawing systems as I often abandon the screen in favour of a drawing board to work out isometric and proportional problems.

I don't know what schools do these days to teach drawing skills but I do know that the old style technical drawing lessons along with woodwork and metalwork have long gone and I do worry about the lack of practical lessons being taught these days, as a result I am unsure as to how a younger model maker would tackle producing a set of plans.

If Neil reads this he might be able to comment better on what schools teach these days.

Paul

All good replies I'll just add that after getting an idea the major need is CONFIDENCE that you can build to your satisfaction no one else's

It helps to know how to use the tools you need any questions can be asked here or a google search will give answers.

A technical education helps greatly in the 30+ years since I left school I've used all the knowledge and gained much more.

You'll never know if you donk give it a go.

Failures happen to all of us it's best to treat them as a lesson learned and try again.

And most important design and build for your own enjoyment if folks give praise lap it up and smile.

Been there !

Damien.