With my attention now firmly focused on completing the naval elements for the Op Nostalgia campaign, several more ships have been completed:
The last (for now anyway) 1/1200 ship. My namesake HMS Bleasdale, a Type 3 Hunt class destroyer. She actually spent most of her time in the channel and was involved in a number of minor actions in addition to supporting the Dieppe and D'Day landings.
Continued -
The Kormoran in it's merchantman and Armed Merchant Cruiser guise.
6 German vessels. In the lead are 3 x F-Class escort vessels followed by 3 x M-35 class minesweepers.
The Armed Merchant Cruisers Atlantis (left) and Stier. Both vessels in their merchantman guise will play the role of transports in the campaign.
All 1/3000 scale vessels are by Navwar.
All 1/3000 scale vessels are by Navwar.
Hi Jon,
ReplyDeleteLovely job - I am rather taken with your basing technique as it looks nicely in scale with the models. Could you share the secret please?
All the best,
DC
Thanks David.
DeleteI went for artist card bases (a little over 1mm thick) rather than the 2mm mdf for two reasons. One being that I was not too keen on the 2mm depth of base for such small scale models. The other being it gave me the flexibility to cut bases to the size appropriate for the ship. Depending on the vessels size it is generally 3mm - 7mm wide beyond each beam with approx 2 - 3mm in front of bow and 3 - 7mm behind the stern.
To reduce risk of warping I spray a gloss or satin varnish on the underside and for larger bases I will also spray either varnish or paint on the topside also. I paint the vessel before gluing to the base and then add filler to the surface to create an uneven base for the sea. As you can see from the photos I mould the bow wave and stipple the area around the stern to create the wake.
I paint a line of black around the 'sea' where it meets the hull. First coat of blue is Vallejo 965 Prussian blue. I then heavily drybrush Vallejo 962 Flat blue followed by a lighter drybrush of Coat d'Arms 206 Light Blue. White is then drybrushed onto the bow wave, down each side of the ship, and finally heavily around the stern to produce the wake. A very light drybrush of white is added to wave crests. The whole model is given a couple of spray coats of matt varnish (I use Army Painter) and once dry, I paint on gloss varnish onto the sea base.
It sounds quite a lot of work but it is actually quick quick to complete at this scale.
Thanks Jim
ReplyDeleteHi Jon
ReplyDeleteAgree with David about how well your sea effect works thanks for the explanation.
Regards
Peter
No problem. Pleased you found it of use Peter.
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