WW1 Sinking Ships

In an earlier post I wrote that I intended to make some sinking ship markers - after all, would you sail your ship directly over the spot that another had just sunk?

I took my dremel to a duplicate of the Scharnhorst, cutting it in half at about a 45 degree angle. After filing a flat edge I glued each half onto a square of plasticard. I then followed the same procedure, as per a normal model, as described in a previous post, for making the sea effect on the base. I also glued another model at an angle on it's side to simulate a capsizing vessel. I'm quite pleased with the results:

World War One Naval miniatures (part 4)

The result of leaving the water effects to dry for 48 hours is a very shiney, slightly too blue, blue sea. I've never liked the effect so have to add a few more small steps...

Step three - dry brush the waves using Citadel skull white, ensuring that you only catch the top of the waves.

Even after the dry brushing the sea is still too shiney for my liking which, of course, means there is a...

Stage four - Paint the model all over (ship and base) with a coat of Vallejo Matt Varnish. I use a paint on varnish as I have found the quality of spray varnish has deteriated over the last few years - and there is nothing worse than a satisfying paint job being f**ked up by shonky spray varnish.

World War One Naval miniatures (part 3)

And so to basing...

Step one - Using plasticard, cut a base 30mm wide and 10-20mm longer than the model to be based. I always file down the edges and round off the corners using one of my wife's emery boards (sorry dear!). Next superglue the model centrally length wise, but one ship width to the right of centre width wise. I then paint the base with Vallejo 'Dark sea blue'. Step two - I use vallejo water effects to create the look of waves. Vallejo have a different water effect for different seas. To represent the Atlantic and the North Sea I use Atlantic blue. The product is a thick acrylic gel which I apply with an old brush. The colour is a little disconcerting at first as it is a bright, most un-sea like, blue - don't panic - it changes colour as it drys. Once applied you can create waves using a tooth pick or similar tool. Now the blurb on the bottle states that you should leave it 24 hours to dry - in my experience this should be extended to at least 48 hours, depending on how thick you apply it.

So what to do in the meantime? Well there are five more ships mounted on my painting block and i'm also going to take my Dremel to a couple of duplicate ships to make some sinking ship markers - pics to follow.

World War one Naval miniatures (part 2)

The next stage brings along the biggest dilema in my painting - do I go for historical accuracy or Hollywood representation. Like most gamers I seem to spend ages choosing and testing colours before finally applying them to a model - ask my mate Stuart - he'll tell you how long I prevaricated over my Florian Geyer SS Cavalry!! Anyway I digress! The wooden decks of ships tended to vary significantly from nation to nation; from ship to ship and from theatre to theatre (weather effects etc). The wood of the Royal Navy's decks were often almost scrubbed white. I tried this on a model - it was historically accurate, but just looked wrong - as a consequence I tend to favour Hollywood representation- if it looks like the thing it's supposed to be, then it is the thing it's supposed to be (whatever that thing may be!). So on to...

Stage Four - Paint the decks using Citadel Desert yellow, being careful to avoid turrets etc. Again it's back into the oven for 15 minutes at 150 degrees. For German ships I use vallejo desert yellow - it's slightly darker than citadel and differentiates them from the British.
Stage Five (above right) - Finally pick out the lifeboats in Citadel skull white and the tops of funnels in Citadel chaos black. Return to the oven (same time and same temperature) and the painting of the ship itself is complete. Tomorrow we start the basing...

A Very British Civil War.

We are running a VBCW campaign at the Evesham Wargames Club. I have just finished painting the first figures for my criminal gang. Next step is to apply a coat of varnish and then flock the bases.

World War One Naval miniatures

So I bought a box of old Davco 1/3000 ships from a buddy at the club - they were already painted so I intended to simply base them and leave it at that. However, having spent a good hour on the net identifying the ships I finally decided to repaint them to match with my existing fleets...

Step One - I superglued the ships to large screws that are mounted on my painting block. Next I applied a base coat of Citadel foundation 'Astronomical Grey'. (Is it me or are these paints the worst tasting on the market!!). Now for the odd bit - having applied the base coat I put the ships in the oven (150 degrees) for 15 minutes. This gives a real hard finish and gives the washes that follow a real good base to adhere to - my wife thinks i'm mad, but hey, it works!

Step two - Having first let the ships cool, I applied a generous wash using Citadel Washes 'Badham Black'. Once again the ships are then baked in the oven for 15 minutes.

(The photo shows the ships after step two. The figures in the background are my criminal gang for a 'very British Civil War' campaign).











Step three - Next dry brush the superstructure of each ship in a mix of astronomical grey with a little badham black. Paint the hull in the same mixture and pick out the top of each turret on the ship too.