Model ships for the age of swashbuckling

[Argonor]

I was just drooling over a model of a Spanish ship in scale 1/40 at the hobby shop of Svendborg today..... Very nice, but the price wasn't: well beyond 1600 Dkr.!! I can buy an army of metal men for that amount... And then I'd have to build the thing....

I think, there's been a thread on ships before, so please excuse me for doubling.....


But if anyone has recommendations for model kits to use (thats not going to ruin me), please keep me posted  :wink:

[Operator5]

Here is what I plan on picking up at Cold Wars in March.

http://www.oldgloryminiatures.com/proddetail.asp?prod=OGP%2D32&cat=385

I have a 40% discount, so about $90 to get it.

[Auton]

For the cheap option check out the plans on Foundry http://www.wargamesfoundry.com/library/pirateship/index.asp

I started building one ages ago but haven't got around to finish it yet (same old story...)

[NetTerrain]

how about this one?



http://worldworksgames.com

15,- US$ and quite some work

[Argonor]

I've seen the WorldWorks stuff, and yes, cheap option for as many ships as you like... the downside is the building time...

If you want interior, that's the way to go, though...

[NetTerrain]

how about these from GeBoom (just met him at the Tactica):

http://www.shiftinglands.com/resin%20boats.htm

[Geudens]

I buy (often from Ebay Germany) wooden deco ships, waterline them and repaint'm.  They are ideal 28mm tabletop vessels if you take care to observe that their length should be between 50-60cm:

http://www.tsoa.be/html/titelblad_scum_high_seas.html

http://www.tsoa.be/html/navy_days04.htm

http://www.tsoa.be/html/navy_days04B.htm

I bought those at between 5 & 30 Euros, depending on how lucky I was...

Rudi

[Prof.Witchheimer]

wow, Geudens, this one is great!



do you know the manufacturer?

[warrenpeace]

I have plastic Playmobil and Mega Bloks ships for use with Pirates.  Unfortunately, the Mega Bloks ships require a lot of modification because of all the Lego like bumps on them.  There should be a really large Mega Bloks ship called "Blue Beard's Avenger coming out at some point, and that one looks large enough and ornate enough to make a good swashbuckler ship.  The largest Playmobil pirate ship is great, and has plenty of room on deck for swashbucling fights.  These plastic ships are very cheap, so make an inexpensive base for modification.

I used to have some of the Old Glory resin ships.  Although the hulls looked really great, there wasn't a lot of room on deck for based figures, so I sold or traded or gave away the three that I had (2 of the 10 gun, and one of the 26 gun).  But the largest one, the 40 gun ship, looks as if it might have a lot of room on deck.

Village Green has one really nice looking design.

Warren

[Geudens]

wow, Geudens, this one is great!
do you know the manufacturer?

Unfortunately not, but all this stuff is appearantly made in China and marketed through import firms.  It is my experience from watching Ebay (daily!) on this for 5 years now that each season a number of new/different models appear.  This one goes back 4 years.  As I stated before: look for ships with a lenght of 50-60cm and the correct number of massts/sails.  Any (incorrect) deckhouses, anchors and other clutter glued to the deck can be easily chipped of, since the wood is (gloss) varnished prior to the ships being assembled.  Good hunting!

Rudi

BTW: apart from having repainted the vessel, I replaced the cannon with brass ones (a minor cost) and if the deck is not to my liking, I add some (balsa) deck planking as sold in model shops.  Since this is a mantlepice deco, the masts and sails are really strongly made and make the ship very sturdy for handling.

[Argonor]

All very nice and interesting!

I already have a deco fishing boat/trawler and some deco sailing boats/yachts for pulp, and a single deco 'Santa Maria' for swashbuckling/conquistadors to 'waterline', and I'm always vigilant about keeping an eye out for them in the prospects form local supermarkets an hardware shops.They're the best value for money - apart for the WorldWorks stuff - you can get at the moment...

It seems that only price sets limits for the ships and boats available to me out there - really nice to know that I can get as many different ships as I like, just by ordering them  

But - as I've written before - first things first; I have to paint up 5 groups and some civilians for .45A (and maybe some AT - 2nd Ed. is out with typos and errors corrected  :wink: ) - and waitn for Gloire: Under the Black Flag - before I get my hands bloody.. er... dirty with pirate business. I just like to research the possibilities in advance.

Thank you very much, all of you, this has been most educational so far! And just keep piling up good ideas, if you get some (which I'm sure you do - gamers are a most innovative breed).

[warrenpeace]

Here's a link to a picture of the Mega Bloks plastic "Blue Beard's Avenger" which is not yet released:

http://www.action-figure.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=ImageBank&file=index&id=58462

[warrenpeace]

Here's a link to the larger Playmobil pirate ship:

http://store.playmobilusa.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-US-Site/en_US/ViewProductDetail-Detail?ProductRef=3286%40Sites-US

[PeteMurray]

A real-size pirate ship is too big for my current needs and space right now, so I'm building one I can use to represent a ship on the game table.

I made a rough template of the elevation of galleon, then cut three such pieces from 1" thick pink insulation foam. Then I glued the three pieces together and did a rough shaping of the hull. The next step will be to glue decks on and then "plank" the sides using cardboard strips. Masts are cheap bamboo chopsticks from the takeout Chinese restaurant, and I'll do furled sails from scrap silk fabric.

Pics of the hull when I can get them up on the web.

[darquebus]

Pirates of the Caribean

I bought the Black Pearl and the Flying Dutchman from Mega Blocks and just used pliers to cut of the "lego" knobs (not too many actually), put some balsa wood on the deck, black paint...and tada! Finished! Great Ship, can really recommend it, especially as the Pirates of the C. craze is over and you can pick them up for a very reduced prize...

Just used some Glue to make the model hold together.


D.