A nautic miscellany: 2011-07-10 - More junks and another ironclad

[Westfalia Chris]

Hi all,

I'm currently reading a book on naval warfare 1815-1914, and this prompted me to finally tackle some ironclad wargaming, which I wanted to do for some years now (15, to be precise).

I decided to start out with a relatively compact setting first, the Sino-French war of 1884-1885, specifically the battle of Foochow. However, as I'll probably resort to scratchbuilding most of the ships, expect some leeway with regard to accuracy - I'll focus more on getting the style and feel right and have fun gaming, so apologies to the purists.

For starters, a 1/1200-ish, "French-ish" battery ironclad. Made from balsa wood, plasticard, and some steel and brass wire. I've also built a spar torpedo boat, but it is so tiny that the photos didn't really come out well (unpainted, that is). More pics as I finish them.



Furthermore, this thread will collate my other naval ventures (most quite abortive due to my flypaper mind and hummingbird attention span, but then again, I often come back to hiatic projects), notably some 1/2400 Age of Sail and 1/6000 Cold War stuff.

[Malamute]

1/1200 ann all that is not really my scene, but I must say I am quite taken with your efforts, she's delightful

[Haarken]

Amazing scratchbuild, looks better than most of the stuff that's available to buy. Any chance of a tutorial?

[Westfalia Chris]

Amazing scratchbuild, looks better than most of the stuff that's available to buy. Any chance of a tutorial?

Thanks for that! I'll try to shoot some hopefully decent pics of the next one. It is actually quite straightforward, and the one above took about an hour to build (drying time for the sails not included). The most important thing is getting the basic hull shape nice and tidy.

[Westfalia Chris]

Finished painting the ironclad and spar torpedo boat:











Two coins for size - left, a 2 Eurocent coin, right, a UK penny:



Next, to answer the request for a tutorial, here's a step-by-step documentation of the next ship, supposed to depict the "Volta", a 3rd-class cruiser used as a flagship at the battle of Foochow due to her shallow draft.

First, get a piece of balsa wood for the hull. This one is ca. 4mm thick. It may be easier to cut it from a larger piece, but this was the rest I had of that thickness.



Hull outline applied:



Cut and roughly sanded:



Hullside strip, using a tracing wheel for the portholes:





Applied with some overshoot at the bow to allow for sanding down:



After some sanding at bow and stern:



Added masts from paperclips and a smokestack from plastic rod:



Added details using plasticard, basswood, plastic rod:





I'll add the remaining "rigging" tomorrow once it has properly set.

[OSHIROmodels]

Great stuff Chris 

They've turned out very well indeed 

A bit of advice for the thread rigging, get some very thin superglue and sparingly run it over the thread and when it is dry give it a light sand and you shouldn't have a fluffy problem anymore 

Failing that, some nylon thread could work if you can find it thin enough (Hobbystores might do it)

cheers

James

[Westfalia Chris]

Great stuff Chris 

They've turned out very well indeed 

A bit of advice for the thread rigging, get some very thin superglue and sparingly run it over the thread and when it is dry give it a light sand and you shouldn't have a fluffy problem anymore 

Failing that, some nylon thread could work if you can find it thin enough (Hobbystores might do it)

cheers

James

Yeah, the fluffing rigging... we meet again, old adversary! I think I'll try the nylon thread option, thanks for that.

[Westfalia Chris]

Finished painting the third-class cruiser - a light paint scheme for East Asia Station. This one will represent the "Volta" (best likeness I could get with my available references).







I also built three gunboats to represent the Vipère, Aspic and Lynx.

[6milPhil]

Ship shape and Bristol fashion! Always like the very small scale modelling, great stuff.

[OSHIROmodels]

Yeah, the fluffing rigging... we meet again, old adversary! I think I'll try the nylon thread option, thanks for that.

 

Yup, I've been there before as well  Try the nylon on something else first as a tester just in case it doesn't work out how you want it to.

I like the East Asia station colour scheme 

cheers

James

[Westfalia Chris]

Yup, I've been there before as well  Try the nylon on something else first as a tester just in case it doesn't work out how you want it to.

The "Volta" already uses the nylon thread - I got a roll to see how it works out, but stupidly, stupidly picked the "invisible" variety, albeit "smoked". The effect is much, much better than regular thread, as can be seen, but applying it is a PITA.

[Malamute]

I am liking these alot Chris.

[Admiral Benbow]

Chris, that's marvelous scratch-building again!
 

[Drachenklinge]

jolly good and very impressive! Even without the penny as a comparison!

best wishes
Drachenklinge

[Westfalia Chris]

Spent the afternoon painting up three gunboats ("Aspic", "Lynx", and "Vipère") as well as a Chinese war junk prototype.











Also, I took a pic of the French flotilla so far:



The project's going really nice, and I'm quite enthusiastic about it. I hope I can keep it up.