In Progress » Fish Sub » Paddlewheel Part 2

I finished gluing the components of the paddlewheel together the other day using CA gel. It makes for a very interesting set-piece for the sub I think and was pretty fun to make. The difficult part was alignment which was made easier by taping everything onto my print-out and using it as a jig of sorts to glue it together.

For the base I used a cheap wooden unfinished jewelery box from Michaels. I cut the sides to make it have an uneven terrain then I used a wooden rasp file and really gouged the hell out of it to give it an old, cracked and beaten appearance. Then I used the same techniques I used for weathering the wood on the paddlewheel which was an india ink wash, gray acrylic drybrush then another ink wash. The end result is pretty nice and goes great with the overall feel of the scene.

To mount the paddlewheel and a few masts I first filled the base with large rocks for bulk the plenty of Plaster of Paris. The large mast will be the mount for the submarine. The rocks/coral so far on the base are just for bulk as later they’ll be covered with all sorts of ocean accretions. They’re made from celluclay mixed with sand, fine ballast, and tallus. Next I’ll use putty to form the rippled sand base before coating the ripples with some sort of grit.

The anchor is a white-metal piece from a model ship supplier. I added chain for effect. It was sprayed with primer, baking soda sprinkles, then flat black spraypaint so far. I also found really tiny shells at Michaels that will be part of the finished seascape.