Anyone is free to print off (preferably onto light gray cardstock paper) and assemble copies of this model ship for their own personal, non-commercial use. Otherwise, all copyright and publication rights are reserved to me, Louis R. Coatney.
This will be in a forthcoming book of World War 2 paper model warship plans that I hope to complete in the next couple of months, but I will keep Sleipner on here for free in gratitude for me being allowed ... and helped ... to stay here in Norway to be near my small Norwegian-American children.
Note: Also on CoatneyHistory is 9Apr40: Norge angrepet! Norway attacked!, a free print-and-play boardgame/bretspill about the Nazi invasion of Norway, which includes HMNoS Sleipner.
Also note: On CoatneyHistory is Murmansk Run, a free print and play boardgame/bretspill about our Allied Arctic convoys to Russia. The Norwegian destroyer HNoMS Stord, which helped torpedo Scharnhorst in the Battle of North Cape, Dec43, is within the S class destroyer division reinforcement unit.
On my other LCoat.tripod.com webpage is a Hunt Type 1 escort destroyer. I'm planning on doing the Type 2 and Type 3 subclasses, and there were some of those ships in the Royal Norwegian Navy during WW2.
A German Raubvogel klasse torpedoboot, of the type used in the 9 April 1940 invasion of Norway, is also there.
And you can use my Naval Action naval miniature combat rules to stage battles between the Sleipners and the German Moewes - what might have happened if Norway hadn't been so taken by surprise. The Norwegian ships are at the start of the Master Ship (status sheet) List, and the German ships are much farther down.
Here it is with the hull sides joined to the keel. If you use this plan, you must make pin holes for lining up the longitudinal and transverse bulkheads.
Here is the original plan with the hull sides separate from the keel.
Photos of my prototype at 1:300:
Here is the historical background of the Sleipner class Norwegian WW2 destroyers.
WARNING: READ! Copyright 1996 Louis R. Coatney
CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES FOR PAPER MODEL SHIPS: GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS
1. If you are a beginner at paper model construction, you must understand
that you need to work very slowly, patiently, neatly, and CAREFULLY.
This is especially true of constructing a hull. For example, when
cutting a piece to fit to another, you must pare it down cautiously--a
little at a time. (Trying to patch a piece back up to required size is
arduous and tacky work.)
With practice, your speed will improve. Once the first model is
constructed and understood, mass production--doing one function or part
at a time for many ships of the same class--can greatly reduce the per-
model production time.
2. Be sure that the parts are COMPLETELY formed--cut, drilled/punched,
folded, rolled, etc.--and will fit ... BEFORE gluing. (For example, hull
pieces FORCED into shape/position during gluing can badly warp the
assembled hull.)
Begin construction of a ship by LIGHTLY gluing the waterline keel down
to a perfectly flat, no-stick surface (like a kitchen counter cutout,
usually available at a hardware/construction store).
3. Recommended tools:
Flat, level, stable, and easily cleaned surface to work on.
Sharp-pointed ("Exacto"-type) hobby knife.
Don't even bother attempting to build a very small-scale model
without one, BUT BE CAREFUL: a slip of the blade could lose an eye.
Sharp, precision sewing-type scissors.
Ruler, or any other (truly) straight edge.
Toothpicks, round (and flat, if available).
Rolling tools/surfaces, such as round pens, wooden doweling, nails,
toothpicks, etc.
Sharp and thin needles, thicker pins, pushpins, etc.
"Elmer's" glue, "super glue," and plastic model cement.
Eyebrow-type tweezers, having a straight edge of comfortable angle.
Stylus of some kind, to make indented lines for folds.
Plastic rod or sprue and/or wire, for guns and masts.
Plastic sprue is created (under parental supervision) by holding a
straight long round piece of plastic model kit scrap over a heat
source--a flame, lightbulb, whatever--until it softens and can then be
stretched into a thin, plastic wire. Varying the speeds of stretching
can make the sprue's sides concave or convex.
Very thin plastic rod is available from Evergreen Models (206-823-
0458), 12808 NE 125th Way, Kirkland WA 98034 or from Plastruct (818-
912-7016), 1020-T S. Wallace Place, City of Industry CA 91748.
Interestingly, the two companies' rod sizes are complementary, so get
the pricelist from both.
The best wire is brass--available from Detail Associates at PO Box
5357, San Luis Obispo CA 93403. It is available in diameters from
.006" to .052"
4. Gluing:
You will be gluing edge-to-edge, occasionally. (Tabs and slots are
more trouble than they are worth, but you might want to create little L-
shaped pieces for more gluing surface and reinforcement at critical
points.) Squirt a drop out onto a nonabsorbent surface and apply very
small droplets from that with a toothpick. They will dry quickly. Apply
more droplets later. Too much glue at once takes forever to dry and
warps the paper card.
Super-glue key, high-stress locations such as the prow--the point of
the bow--the (plastic or wire) guns to the (cardstock paper) turrets,
etc.
5. When gluing the hullsides to the keel, start at their midpoints and work first toward the bow and then toward the stern, alternating back and forth between sides. Glue the decks similarly. Don't glue the stem--the bow edge of the hullsides--until you are ready to glue them together with the deck all at once.
6. Explanation of basic plan SYMBOLS:
Solid line: ___________ = Cut (with scissors or knife).
Dotted line: ........... = Reference lines, for positioning.
Long-dashed line: __ __ __ __ = Fold UP (usually 90 degrees).
Short-dashed line: _ _ _ _ _ = Fold DOWN " " " .
WARNING: I am an amateur at this. Especially in my early, hand-drawn
models, a solid line may mean cut OR JUST FOLD and a dashed line may mean
fold OR MAY JUST BE A REFERENCE INDICATOR for positioning parts. So be
careful and THINK about the part, BEFORE cutting/assembling it.
(Obviously, for example, depthcharge racks are not intended to be carved
into confetti. Their cross-hatching on top is just for indentation.
... and ABBREVIATIONS: CO = Cut Out, F= Fold, R = Roll, and G = Glue.
7. Shaping:
To roll/bend/curve a part crosswise, hold it against a curved surface
(such as a thick pen) with your thumb and pull it through. If you want
to curve something lengthwise, hold it against long, round surfaces--
working from larger round surfaces to as thin as necessary (like the
diameter of a length of large paperclip) to achieve the desired rate of
curve. After repeated rollings, even double curvatures--such as often
occur in the forward sides of a ship's hull, curving in toward the bow
while "sheering" up and outwards from the waterline to the deck edge/
gunwale--can be achieved.
Curvature must be increased very gradually; otherwise, a crease/fold
can occur, especially lengthwise. If that happens and you can't just
scrap the now-flawed part, hold the piece as tightly as possible against
the desired curved surface and run the back of your thumbnail down the
crease. This will at least break down the crease (into many little ones,
anyway). Remember also that the more you work a piece of initially
stiff, strong paper cardstock, the more you weaken it.
To make sharp folds, run a point--a stylus, like a cheap drawing
compass--along the line, using a straight-edge, before folding.
Always punch necessary holes and slits BEFORE cutting out a piece,
working up from a sharp/thin needle to pushpin thickness. When
attempting to bend down a thin piece, such as a railing, hold it with
straight-edged tweezers and bend down the bigger part, instead.
8. Filling: Use modeler's putty, more glue, or whatever works, to fill in the inevitable cracks before painting.
9. Painting: If you don't intend to paint your model, fold and curve its
pieces so that the lines and markings face inward/away, as much as
possible--unless you WANT the design lines to show, of course.
I do recommend you paint it, and SPRAY PAINT it, at that. Painting
strengthens and waterproofs the paper. Fill in any cracks that appear
after spraying, and then touch up with bottle paint of the same color. A
matte/nongloss waterproofing spraying of the bottom adds some insurance,
as well. (Still, I'm not sure I'd risk any cardstock paper model in a
damp environment, no matter how well it has been coated.
10. To make gun turrets and Axis
torpedo tube mounts rotate, _ _|_ _ Retainer
I suggest this design: ------- Deck
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Would you now like to return to my home page or the main drawings page?
12Nov10, rvsd 28Sep17