I will be using the Greek and Turkish fleets of 1913/14 for the Jane's Naval War Game session that I will be running at Cruiser 2009.
The model ships are all home-made 1:3000th scale models. They are built from balsa wood, thin plywood, wooden cocktail sticks, and bamboo cane. Like the originals Jane used, the models are not 100% accurate in every detail; they are more cartoonish in style, with the main recognition features over emphasised to make the ships easy to recognise.
The Greek Fleet:
The model ships are all home-made 1:3000th scale models. They are built from balsa wood, thin plywood, wooden cocktail sticks, and bamboo cane. Like the originals Jane used, the models are not 100% accurate in every detail; they are more cartoonish in style, with the main recognition features over emphasised to make the ships easy to recognise.
The Greek Fleet:
I like these a lot. You've really captured the look of these ships. Great work.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your kind comments.
ReplyDeleteAs I said in my blog entry, I try to make the models look a bit cartoonish. In other words they have all the main features of the original but exaggerated to make them easier to identify.
I start by making the hull. This should be the correct scale length, but the beam and hull depth are about twice what they should be if the model was a scale model. I then cut out the superstructure (including the gun turrets and funnels) from an appropriate material (usually thin balsa or plywood for the superstructure and turrets and wooden cocktail sticks or bamboo cane for the funnels). The various parts of the superstructure are then placed into position on the hull, and trimmed until they look ‘right’. They are then glued into place.
Once the glue is set, the gun barrels are added. These are usually made from thin slivers of wood. Once these have been glued in place and the glue has set, the model is given a coat of PVA. When this is dry, the model is painted.