Small fleet step by step: painting the bow

Before I can comfortably glue the ships to their base, I need to paint the bow and quarters with a total freedom of movement. I started with the bow of the ships. The work is not really complicated since there is not much detail to be seen. I just painted the whole area Chaos Black and then painted over the delicate woodwork with the same colour used on the hull.

Small fleet step by step: the sides of the hull

Time has come to paint the main colour theme of the ships. I chose a traditional Nelson checkered pattern for the English, even though the moulding of the hulls does not show any gun port lid. There should then be an ochre stripe at the gun deck level. For the French, I chose a red theme, a bit like the Acheron as seen in Master and Commander: the Far Side of the World.












The steps are straightforward: a base coat of ochre is followed by a dark wash (Chaos Black diluted in water). When the wash has dried, I highlight the stripe with the same ochre. The black stripes are Chaos Black highlighted with a dark mix of Chaos Black and Skull White brushed on the whales and channels. This highlight adds some depth to the models, as the black stripes would just look flat otherwise. It is just a pity that the effect is not more visible on the pictures.












The same process is repeated on the French hulls. The ochre is replaced by Terracota.

Small fleet step by step: painting the deck

Since all seems ready to be painted, there is not a moment to lose. Of the different stages of making a 1/1200 ship, painting it is probably the easiest but also something that requires some research and organisation in order to be well done. For example, it could be useful to find out what differences there are between the paint schemes of various nationalities and how to reflect them on such small models. However there is no point in trying to stick to details that are not moulded. The main goal of those ships is for them to be different enough on a table to add some flavour to the game in progress.

The following pictures show the two different models, with the English ship at the top and the French ship at the bottom.

The first and foremost step is to spray some primer on the ships. I am using the same Tamiya primer as for the plastic models. I always fear to find one day that acrylic paint fall from the pewter models, so some binding agent can do no harm. As always with primer, the target is to cover the part without clogging the details.

















I will then apply the colours by starting by the inner surfaces, meaning that I will paint the outer side of the hull at the end only. That allows me to manipulate the models between my fingers at will. I am starting with the deck, painted in Bleached Bone (left pic.), then washed with diluted black paint (middle pic.). Once the wash is dry, I highlight the planking with Bleached Bone again (right pic.).


























The next step is to paint the details on the deck, such as guns, gun carriages, bits, gratings and stairs. I do not apply a darker wash and just highlight with a lighter shade of the colour. All the wooden parts are painted Scorched Brown (left pic.) and highlighted with Vermin Brown or Snakebite Leather (right pic.). The right picture also shows the guns and carriages. I opted for a traditional ochre (Andrea Color 15) for the English ship and Terracota for the French ships. Terracota will also be the color of the hull, and I chose to have it on the inside planking of the hull on the quarter deck.

Langton HMS Victory part 3

I would say that I am finished with her! I glued the sails onto the masts and started the rigging operations. The standing rigging is a bit stressful: in order to get straight pieces of string between the masts, they must be stretched a bit, but the material allows for such a load. After that, the running rigging looks like a walk in the park! All those small ropes help a lot to stiffen the model, and I even think that they should be enough to make the cyano glue redundant.

The instruction leaflet made by Langton is very helpful but there is a gap between the sketches explaining the rigging and the figurine. I had to rely on side information from Longridge to make some things easier or more logical. I voluntarily omitted the shrouds and ratlines because I think there is no easy way to build some that would not look too heavy on the model. The usual screen cut to size and glued into place looks bogus anyway. However, it would be difficult to try to rig the shrouds as in real life since the masts would just disappear under layers or string! I also omitted flags and standards because I predict a short life time on a gaming table.








































See also HMS Victory part 1 and HMS Victory part 2

Small fleet step by step: preparing the models

With new Langton miniatures, there is a little work to be done before they are ready for painting. Right out of the box, the models show very little flash left to remove (with a sharp edge, by scratching the flash rather than cutting it out). However, the pewter used is a soft metal alloy and can bend very easily. It is therefore very important to check the straightness of the parts, the way they fit together, and to correct anything that looks out of shape. For that kind of work, a sharp blade and small files are your best friend.

The second thing is worth being done before any paint job is started: dril the models so as to accomodate some passages for the rigging through the hull. On the HMS Victory miniature, the location of each hole is obvious thanks to printings made by moulding. In the present case, I suspect that either the printings were not there or the moulds are worn, because I could not find any. I had to rely on the locations mentioned in Langton's rigging handbook (end of the channels for the side holes), but that is not really an issue. What could have been, however, is that a 40 gun class ship is way smaller that a three decker like the HMS Victory. Question is: is it possible to use the same bit diameter, is there enough room for holes? Answer is yes. I am using 3 sizes: 1/32", 1/64" and 3/64". The largest one is useful for the bowsprit. It is almost the same size as the bowsprit and helps to provide a socket for attaching it to the hull. It is not necessary to drill deep as you just need to make sure that the bowsprit has a un-movable and strong base of attachment. The smallest bit is used for the main mast as a way to attach the main stay and the preventer stay. On the HMS Victory I knotted them around the mast but the off scale strings make a bulky aggregate.
















With the holes at the right places, the miniatures look like the pictures on the left. On the French ship I saw that the sails on the bowsprit were in the way of the masts. Since the sails are one piece with two atach points to the bowsprit, I could not bend them to point towards the right location, so I bended the bowsprit instead. Not the best solution but one that should work eventually...

Finally, I made one painting jig for each model with bottle caps. That will allow me to spray the primer and paint every part with no difficulty.

Small fleet step by step: basing the ships

I was satisfied enough with how things went with the Langton HMS Victory (even though it is not quite finished as I am typing this), and I thought that it was worth trying to make small fleets for Close Action. I decided to walk this road carefuly and my final choice was on a 2 vs 2 scenario for Close Action: French ships Sultane and Etoile engaging British ships HMS Creole and HMS Astraea. All four are 40-gun class ships (ref NF7 and NB49 from Langton), meaning smaller ships than the HMS Victory.
After the mandatory step of getting rid of all the flash around the various moulded parts, the first job is to prepare the base for the ships. The way I do it makes it necessary to have unpainted ships since each base will be made to the "exact" shape of each figurine.
I am using 40x60mm masonite pieces as bases. The length of the bases depends on the size of the ship. Since I cut the pieces with a wood saw, a bit of cleaning is needed at each sharp end, which I chose to chamfer.






I use the same method as described here and there, and the hulls of the figurines become templates for the shape of the waves around the water line. I am convinced that there is no difference between the British and French hull models but then, whatever the figurine, the base is individually tailored.













I paint each base with a base coat of Regal Blue, making sure I do not miss any crevice. Once dry, I dry brush some Shadow Grey, heavy handed as this colour should reflect the colour of a grey sky on the sea. Consequently, only the deepest recesses should keep their dark blue colour afterwards. Finaly I dry brush some Skull White over the tip of the waves to simulate froth. I try to accentuate the visual effect at the back of the hull to simulate the wake of the ship.







This final picture shows the four bases after they underwent the same painting stages.

Langton HMS Victory part 2

All the parts were coated with Tamyia grey primer. Trying to stay as close to the real thing as I can, I tried to find the proper colours. I thought that the yellow ochre paint from Caldercraft (which I will be using with the Heller kit) would not fit the smaller scale of this ship. I opted for a lighter ochre from Andrea Color (#15).

I started with the masts, plugged into a Pepsi Cola bottle cap. This paint requires a wet brush so as not to clog on the parts. After two coats, I washed the masts with diluted Scorched Brown and finally dry brushed them with the initial ochre.




























Here are some view of the naked hull. The choice of colours is (base - shading - lighting):
deck: Bleached Bone - Chaos Black - Bleached Bone
wooden parts (gangways, bits, wheel): Scorched Brown - n/a - Snakebite Leather or Vermin Brown
hull: ochre 15 - Scorched Brown - ochre 15 (same as the masts)
sails: Bleached Bone - Bubonic Brown - Bleached Bone
hamocks: Codex Grey - n/a - Skull White

The base of the ship was made with a piece of masonite (85x40mm). I made the seascape from kleenex bits following the method described here. The waves were shaped by pushing the wet kleenex back with a brush, so it is possible to enhance the wake effects. I penciled the shape of the hull first to make sure I left enough space to put it in place, but not too much so as not to leave a gap between the "sea" and the ship. Chosing the colours was a bit of a gamble but a lucky one this time. The base coat is Regal Blue. Then I dry-brushed Shadow grey very liberaly, because I wanted to leave only the recesses in the darker blue tone. Finally, dry-brushing some Skull White on the top of the waves helps to give the frothing look. I used it more in the wake of the ship that at the front of it. The hull was then glued to the base with a two-part epoxy liquid glue.

See also Langton HMS Victory part 1.