canvas lifeboat covers

[djcf]

Hi all,

Does anyone have any suggestions about a suitable material for making canvas lifeboat covers? I will also use this for canvas dodgers around bridge railings.
In the past I have used the foil covering that came on top of Flora margarine, however they have changed this now!
I have some Egyptian cotton cloth that I may try but it seems a bit chunky and stiff. It would be good to get something that I can "mould" around the rails, as if the wind is blowing on it!
The scale of the model it's for is 1/4"  -  1 foot.
cheers
Clark

[Eddy Matthews]

I've always used paper kitchen roll soaked in PVA.... You can mould it to the exact shape you want, including the odd crease here and there to make it look more realistic, and once the PVA dries it's fairly stiff and easily painted to your desired colour.

Regards
Eddy

[djcf]

Hi Eddy
The pva sounds a good idea, did you thin it down with water? If I remember correctly from my model rail scenery days, a touch of washing up liquid should make the pva soak in better.
Clark

[Eddy Matthews]

I've never watered the PVA down Clark, the kitchen roll gets too soggy with water added and simply falls apart... Just neat PVA works for me.

Regards
Eddy

[mjt60a]

What I did was;
Covered the railings with cooking foil and pressed it gently against them so the rails and stanchions show through a bit... cut a piece from an old ( not too old) shirt and ironed it smooth then trimmed it to a little bigger than is needed.
hold it in place over the foil using clothes pegs to start with and apply sanding sealer until the cloth is soaked through and lays in the depressions in the foil. allow to dry (once it's had sealer applied to a fairly large area, clothes pegs can be removed and it stays in position)
when it's dry to the touch remove the foil from the railings and attempt to remove the cloth, allow the 'inside' to complete drying (this causes it to roll up but it won't matter!) the cloth can then be trimmed to the required size without fraying and should 'fit' onto the railings. I left some 'tabs' on the top edge which can be bent over and glued to the bottom of the rail capping later.
I then painted the cloth matt white, as the sealer turned it a bit yellow and when dry, stitched the ends to the end stanchions with white cotton.

[mjt60a]

...the end result doesn't look too bad - but I haaven't tried the kitchen paper-and-pva method, which may have worked better...

[djcf]

thank you both, some good ideas. I will try some experimentation as soon as I get the rails done.
Clark

[Eddy Matthews]

One thing I forgot to mention.... If you find the paper towel tears while brushing on the PVA, just use an old kitchen spray bottle, such as the thing Windowlene comes in, and spray the PVA on - A sheet of card or styrene placed behind the rails etc stops the spray from going everywhere!

Regards
Eddy

[captainbeaky]

I used part of a shopping bag that was made of a"non woven" material, fixed in place and painted it looks ok ( on a steam tug, but not a paddle boat)

[the bombus]

you can also use the method i came up with
cut the cover out of a old shirt if you want it coulered let it soak in a cup of thea overnight (or longer)
put it on(when dried ) and give it a spray of starch from a spraycan
simple cheap and very realistic
gr from The Bombus

[djcf]

Thanks guys, for all the suggestions, very helpful indeed.
I am just detailing the lifeboats at the moment; (one will be open, the other with a cover on) - will post the results soon.
Clark