Quite agree about the Leviathans, though the fact I see them for about 30% regularly mitigates immensely. For those of us paint aversive, better yet.
Those islands ARE fun, and not totally beyond my meager skills, just beyond my ability to stick to a project.
I will buy most of the smaller ships from Brigade Models as they are quite cheap (between 50p and £3.00) and for that price its not really worth building yourself unless you are a die hard scratchbuilder.
Agree completely, though, in my case, the smaller are doable in some real sense (see above), and cheap-and-cheerful is more easily forgiven en masse, which is appropriate for 30-50 hulls of gun-or-topedo boats.
Really looking forward to some dust ups from you and Mister Benbow!
Doug