Dry dock keel blocks

[Benbow]

Having seen quite a few “simple” displays of ships/submarines resting on keel blocks I’d be interested in finding out out what people have used in respective scales - 1/700 and 1/350. Is it plastic stock painted to look like wood or small wood strips such as matchsticks varnished? Many thanks. 

[f111guru]

Benbow,

I have done a very ship displays over the past few years. However this picture is a drydock photo of the USNS PVT JOSE F VALDEZ I'm currently building from a Liberty ship kit. It's in 1/350th scale.

Hope you can make out that these folks use both rectangle and square blocks. The below photo is of kit build with 5/16th inch Basswood stained and super glued to the base. The boat is held to the base via a screw and blind nut. A wood block is epoxied to the hull.

The same goes with this last ship. It's a Lindberg LST kit from a great number of years ago.

I have used match stick that I've saved for both using on future ship kits and model railroading. The Valdez kit when I get it completed will be again in a drydock. I may not use as large a stick from before. I'll look and see what seems more accurate compared to some other pictures I take with me when purchasing. Or I may just cut my own.

 

Your on the right path and go with what feels right the most.

 

All The Best,

Ron VanDerwarker

[Dave Swindell]

On 29/06/2020 at 22:01, Benbow said:

Having seen quite a few “simple” displays of ships/submarines resting on keel blocks I’d be interested in finding out out what people have used in respective scales - 1/700 and 1/350. Is it plastic stock painted to look like wood or small wood strips such as matchsticks varnished? Many thanks. 

The models shown above illustrate a modelling fad that bears no resemblance to reality. If it's a look you like it can be achieved in a number of ways as you suggest. You're not tied to scale effect because it's fictional.

Personally I hate the look, a full hull model looks far more aesthetically pleasing mounted on a couple of finnials in my opinion, but each to his own.

 

If you want a proper drydock look, it will take a lot of small blocks arranged correctly on the base. I'd sand the tops once located to ensure a flat mounting for the ship, and dril through at least a couple of the blocks into the base and pin through into the hull to ensure a solid mount for the model. There's more on drydock blocks in one of my earlier posts here:-