Building Playmobil ships from scratch

[Jimbo]

Hello all,

Thanks for the kind and encouraging replies.

Cachalote, you are correct in saying it is hard to sail replicas.  I made a Playmobil "scale" replica of a Brig.  (In the gallery section of this site.)
It did not sail well at first.  I had to add ballast, extend the bowsprit, and add larger jib sails to get Her to sail straight. 

Playmobil seafarers are able  sailors indeed!!

Happy sailing

Jimbo

[cachalote]

 
i just realized, reading your post jimbo, that maybe we could try and sail a playmobil boat in the ocean and see if someone catches it in the other side of the world.
 
more or less like a message in a bottle.
the difference would be that it would not depend only in drifts - it would actually sail.
a real rudder would be needed and an automatic wind rudder to command it.
this way, trimming the sails correctly for a specific angle of wind, the boat would alwyas stay sailing.
do you think this can be done?
 

[Jimbo]

Hello Cachalote,

Wow!  Sail across the ocean...I think a fair sized Playmobil ship, fully weatherproof
and as sturdy as the sea itself could possibly give it a go.

(I used to fly over the Pacific in my Navy days and the sea can get a bit nasty 
though!)

Maybe we should try to sail across a lake to start with .  
I actually wanted to do that with my square rigger, but I did  not have a
runabout to follow it.

One can always dream!

Best regards

Jimbo

[cachalote]

i think a square-rigged model would be the right one to use.
although the schooners have triangular sails - and should therefeore be capable to sail upwind - they also have a square sail - that makes this impossible.
with a 3750 model - a square-sail ship - we could use the same routes the first portuguese and spanish sailors used in the 15th and 16th centuries - always downwind.
i know the way form portugal - to madeira island, canaries islands, cape verde islands and then brazil.
things will start to be difficult then - crossing the cape horn to the pacific.
another possibility is to go from cape verde to south africa and then to india, timor and australia.
from there to california and then, by land, to arizona.
the other way around is maybe more difficult to find favourable winds.
we hust have to find some playmo-addicts that are willing to wait in the several spots the ship will land.
do you know anyone in all this places?
... maybe if we just put it to sea and expect that someone, in some beach, can find it and write to us - like a message in a bottle.
that would bo cool.
 

[Jimbo]

Great idea, Cachalote,  Square riggers would be the way to go.  (I like the
way they look under way!)

I know my wife would love to wait on the island of Madeira.  She loves the
place..her name is Madeira.

I would have to build a "prairie schooner" to get from California to Arizona.

I wounder how a couple of years of salt water sailing would affect the klicky
crew.

Jimbo

[Jimbo]

Hi all,

I finally got around to continuing making the superstructure for hull no. 1.

Actually I was going to toss it out, but a co-worker asked me if I could make a ship for his son, so I studied up on old Dreadnoughts, and this is what turned out.

The gun turrets are just hole saw cut-outs with dowel barrels.  The rest of the ship is just easily made shapes glued here and there to look kinda like a ship of the early 1900s.  The ship is 4 feet long, and is o.k. for the small  figures.  To use the full sized
figures, the ship would have to be at least 6 feet long.

Now it is ready for paint!

[arab warrior]

Again, great ship!!
BTW, is it The HMS Hood or the Bismarck

Rob

[playmofire]

Very impressive, Jimbo; great work. 

Will you give it the dramatic, zigzag paint job on the hull ship's of that type had in the Great War?

[macgayver]

Lol

I like the Idea of crossing an ocean with a playmoship 

seems your ship starts to get form

Thanks for sharing the pics

Looks likes she's gonna become a beauty

congrats

[Jimbo]

Hi all,

Thanks for the kind comments! 

Rob, actually the HMS Hood was part of the inspiration.  I thought I would name
the ship the HMS Wood.  I went to the flag store and got a  British flag just in case.

Playmofire,  yes I thought of the ziz zag camo, but it may be a bit of a challenge!  Hmmm.

I have two  cans  of primer on the ship now, so painting is in progress.

Best regards

Jimbo