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Creative Projects > Papercraft > 1:1887.2 Ships
This page is narrated by Suyukaz in first person.
"Paper-drawn Template" generation
"Paper-drawn Template" generation
Returning to school in August 2020 from COVID quarantine since March, I began building warship papercrafts. Little did I know, I would be taking this project more seriously a year later.
This wasn't entirely a new thing: In late 2019, I made papercraft of warplanes (templates from the internet) and also built 2 model destroyers (with ridiculous design) after jumping into naval history.
My first 2020 warship is the I-401 submarine, IIRC built on the first day of returning to school
After it was painted when returning home. Cute little orange plane ^^
The camouflage paint is inspired by Arpeggio of Blue Steel (which I haven't even watched that time lol)
Later, I built numerous other ships throughout the school days. These ships were built on templates drawn on graph paper and Photostatted (if I wanted to build more ships of the same design- which I never actually did, in reality). Their scale size is based on the I-401 submarine, whose scale I calculated to be 1:1887.2. I built other ships later just by guessing out how long they would be compared to each other. Surprisingly, almost all of them had very similar scale, so I continued the use of this scale onwards.
Extra notes:
*Admiral Graf Spee- Look closely and you can see some red stripe pattern under Graf Spee's grey hull. Before it was painted, there was a red pattern with a Nazi swastika. Didn't know where that idea came from. The striped turrets is inspired by a special camouflage for Admiral Graf Spee in World of Warships.
Miraikaze-class destroyer: Camouflage probably inspired by anime camouflages in World of Warships Blitz. For info on the ship itself, see Miraikaze-class destroyer
Sailing Ship: Yes, just a random Age of Sail-era sailing ship. No superstructure because I don't know what abomination was this at all. Built at a school morning
Extra notes:
The 2020 fleet: Wow I didn't even know that school time was long enough to actually get me to building all that stuff
British ships: HMS Reaper is a random fictional aircraft carrier. For many months it didn't even have a funnel. The transport ship is rather built as a ship for the Graf Spee(s) to raid like she did in her only mission in WW2. Didn't even look like an actually conceivable design
German ships: Here is an alternate universe where Germany had an even larger fleet than the British. There are 2 Graf Spee's. the second one (left) is the more accurate design as its template is made while referencing an actual blueprint. There's a Bismarck with a boxy superstructure at the middle left, and my Azur Lane waifu Z23 at the far right. Her shield gun is rather cube-like.
I eventually got home and went to work on painting the ships on 2nd November. Couldn't think of any good caption to write honestly :P
Many of these ships' camo would never turn out to be accurate anyway. All the hulls are simply too dark; most of the deck coloring isn't accurate either. Perhaps the strangest one is Z23. I had no ideas how I chose dark greyish-brown for her decks.
HMS Cromwell
HMS Cromwell
HMS Cromwell is a rather strange ship in my shipyard. Her template was made at school but the ship was built so late and into the Digital Template generation, I considered it obsolete. But still, I built it anyway- and finished it right before 2021.
The "Digital Template" generation
The "Digital Template" generation
So I actually got back to Blender 3d after leaving it so long. I searched up how to make digital papercraft templates- and it wasn't as hard as thought, but not the easiest way out there either.
Use Blender to make a 3d model of the ship, make sure components are separated so that the boxy parts are easy to fold and connect, then open Pepakura and finish the whole template straight on because Pepakura free does not have save feature.
My first digital template model was a multi-dock shipyard- Believe it or not, made in October, when there are still many ships made with drawn paper templates.
Also painted it, but in the end, never fitted any building components, and never used it. I built another shipyard(s) a year later, which actually came to good use.
JS Miraikaze, the first digital template ship
The ship's design modelling texture was also made in blender, and this proved extremely difficult and tedious.
Built on 7th January 2021.
I continued the use of the 1:1887.2 scale even for this generation of ships. Various model templates have been made, but only a select few were successfully built.
IJN Yamato
IJN Yamato
Just like she was historically, Yamato was a marvel of my papercraft project. With her 1944 configuration when she had blistering anti-aircraft guns at the side of the ship's centerline, she is the biggest and most complicated ship to build in my shipyard (although her size is a little smaller to Bismarck I, which had a rather ridiculous waterline height).
She began being built in February, and in the same month most of the ship is done. I added her mast and AA guns at school when returning at April, and painted her after getting home in May.
Painted both JS Miraikaze and IJN Yamato. 2nd and 3rd slide: Details, Miraikaze's hull number 127; Yamato's Imperial Japanese flower. 4th slide: Size comparison with my hand (haha)
U-556 and Bismarck II
U-556 and Bismarck II
Type VIIC submarine U-556 (March), because I only built 1 submarine before. This sub would never be painted.
The pride of the Kriegsmarine, Bismarck, built in June after returning home at May. The last stage of her construction only had her main guns finished, and only 2 secondary guns placed, because of how flawed the model is. The ship would never be finished, and is left to a glass display at the living room in that state.
There are other digital templates of 1:1887.2 ships, including King George V-class battleship, a Cleveland-class light cruiser, and a Kagerou-class destroyer, all for me to build at school. At the end, only the Kagerou was finished and named the Harekaze (after the same name ship in the anime High School Fleet) while a Cleveland was built until I realized I had printed all of these templates with a margin, making them the wrong scale. Additionally, the Cleveland's component arrangement was confusing.
The unfinished constructions of the Bismarck and Cleveland marked the end of using this unusual model scale, 1:1887.2. The next project ship, Admiral Graf Spee, began the era of the 1:1800 scale ships.
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