[fishcake]

Has anyone any advice on how to reproduce the canvas covers which fit over ships lifeboats? The boats I'am trying to do are 1/70 scale. Tried paper and cling film without any success.

[treeve]

What about some handkerchiefs, with a coat of dope or light varnish?

[Santos]

Yes Treeve - I was going to suggest tissue papper with a couple of coats of dope just like we made our balsa wood planes out of when I was a kid.

Chris.

[john webster]

I used green "duct tape" to good effect.Try to find stuff with a natural cloth type grain.
jw

[Paul_Lee]

Try asking on www.titanic-model.com - they have many scratchbuilders there.

[fishcake]

Tried the duck tape,- works a treat. Thanks to all who replied.
Regards
Peter

[John Williams 56-65]

I know this is somewhat off thread but does anyone out there remember the lifeboats as used by tankers during the war. I have no idea if something similar is used on modern tankers,but during the war the life boats were covered by a canvas cover which was pulled into place once the boat was launched. Once in place you couldn`t see where you were going and the idea was to give some protection if the sea was ablaze after a torpedoing. There was pipe that ran the length of the lifeboat over the top of the canvas cover and the crew were supposed to pump water through it with semi rotary pumps to prevent the canvas catching fire. The lifeboat propulsion was by the use of Flemming gear.

[sydney heads]

Another suggestion for what it's worth, maybe to try used teabag bags.
I have used them successfully simulating canvas tarps covering model railway trucks and loads, the texture in the material works nicely for that at least.
Cheers John.
P.S. They were of course painted the required hues.

[stein]

Should anyone want some structure in the canvas, I can suggest making a form of plasticine and paint the cloth or paper onto this with slightly water-diluted PVA glue (the milky stuff they sell in large plastic bottles for glueing wood) using a semi-stiff brush. (Not as stiff as bristle, but stiffer than sable.) A professional model builder adviced me of this some years ago - he used the glue to shape hatch cover tarpaulins (no form) - and I've been making all sort of shapes with it since. Several layers of porous paper, a bit thicker than the Chinese woodprint stuff, will adapt amazingly to strange shapes. Regards, Stein.

[Whizzbang]

I have used plastruct products on similar projects.