Building an A/B Waterbase for Your Ship Models

The origins of the idea

Since my early days as a ship modeler, I was thinking about a way to display underwater elements. Additional factors made me look for a different approach to displaying my models:

First, I have always disliked that mirror-like water surface flatness that is frequently seen in waterline ship displays. While this flatness seems correct for harbors, channels and calm-sea scenarios, it may not be satisfactory for open trouble waters, or for the hydrodynamic effects of the ship own movement through the water.

Second, flat bases are an invitation to make flat and strictly horizontal water surfaces without slopes or undulations of the surface of the water. To avoid this flatness or horizontality the modeler usually use large amounts of molding material (acrylic gels, silicones, resins, etc.) to make agitated waters on top of the horizontal flat base. Big waves, rough/sloping seas demand large amounts of gel or resin which require long periods to dry or cure, may crack or shrink, in addition to be expensive.

As far as these waves don't reach the edges of the water surface or when the height of the wave is relatively low in comparison with the dimensions of the model and is sitting base, the overall appearance is generally nice. However, for large waves extending to the edges of the base this approach leads necessarily to vertically cut-off the molding material on the perimeter of the base, creating a "wall effect" of material (see the first image below) that abruptly changes the contours the of the whole presentation. I prefer to avoid such an effect in my bases since in my opinion it degrades their balance and elegance.

To illustrate how an A/B base avoids this effect compare the appearances in the second and third images below. Photo # 2 is a picture of one of my earliest models on an A/B waterline base. The next photo is the same photo retouched to make it appear like it would on a classic waterline display on top of a wooden base. A relatively large amount of molding material would have been needed to make that kind of slopping water surface and large wave, producing an unbalancing “wall effect” on the side of the base (colored in blue).

Third, ships underway usually show parts of the hull below the waterline marks due to rolling, the ship’s own wake pattern as a consequence of speed, sea movements, wind effects, etc. By the same token, ships underway in open waters frequently are not upright laterally or longitudinally. Representing listing/rolling ships on waterline bases demands the additional effort to scratch build the missing parts of the hull exposed due to the list/roll.

Needless to say that I fully recognize the pros and virtues of traditional display formats for ship models (i.e., full hull and waterline). At the same time I realize that some of the limitations of these formats as described above may not be regarded as such by other modelers or not even important fact in some scales.

One day a scene from of WWII Battle of the Atlantic video captured my imagination; my mind envisaging a diorama presentation of a DD depth charging a U-Boat where the entire scenario can be seen: the destroyer and the u-boat, as well as the depth charges, the explosions and other special effects. My experience as a ship modeler was then in its infancy; but my first A/B waterline representation was born (see the third photo in the last sequence above).

After consulting with some fellow and experienced ship modelers, the idea was regarded innovative and the term to describe it was coined, "above /below waterline" display (1), abbreviated to A/B waterline (or simply, ABWL, A/B bases). Following the submission of photos of my ships to Modelwarships.com, several ship modelers that visit the site’s forum asked about an article describing how to build A/B waterline bases. The original article was submitted on May 2009 and this is a revised and extended version of it. I hope you’ll enjoy it and provide some feedback too.