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Monday, 19 March 2012

Not seeing the wood because of the trees

Sometimes I am very, very stupid.

(No comments about this statement are required, thank you!)

Some time ago – the back end of 2010 to be more accurate – I built some ironclads (including two central battery ships) for a possible wargame based on the war fought from 1879 to 1883 between Chile on one side and Peru and Bolivia on the other ... The War of the Pacific. I even tried building a torpedo boat to go with the ironclads … and then I got distracted by the possibility of a visit from Ofsted and the development of my PORTABLE WARGAME. The wooden model ships were put into storage … and forgotten about … until this afternoon.

I was actually looking for something else (I now cannot remember what it was!) when I re-discovered these models … and then realised that I need not worry about starting a project to build some ironclads/pre-dreadnoughts as I already had!

The new and the old: The recently built 'cartoon' model of a German pre-dreadnought and four of the model ships built in 2010 for a possible War of the Pacific campaign. Whilst the central battery ironclads look undersized alongside the pre-dreadnought, the torpedo boat does not.
Having found these models it is now my intention to seal them with PVA and to paint them as soon as I can. That way I can justify to myself that the project is underway and that building some inter-war warships as well (whilst the coats of paint are drying) is not diverting me from my nineteenth century naval project.

Problem solved … I think!

14 comments:

  1. My thoughts:
    A wargamer does not "waste" anything he merely invests his time and effort into the piggy-bank of his imagination for the fture at a time yet unknown to him

    My wife's thoughts:
    If only this drive and effort could be put into something akin to saving the world or better still making us rich or mortgage free

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tim Gow,

    But what are you thinking? As Francis Urquart would say ...

    'You might think that, but I couldn't possible comment.'

    All the best,

    Bob

    ReplyDelete
  3. Geordie an Exiled FoG,

    I am with you on this ... but I suspect that my wife would think that your wife had got it right!

    All the best,

    Bob

    ReplyDelete
  4. I prefer the term forward thinking to forgetful

    Looks like you have the makings of quite the fleet.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Pat G,

    That is a much nicer way to put it!

    The fleet is developing very nicely indeed, and the smaller models have reminded me that I can build small and identifiable model ships that will fit into a Hexon II hex.

    All the best,

    Bob

    ReplyDelete
  6. Conrad Kinch,

    You got me bang to rights!

    All the best,

    Bob

    ReplyDelete
  7. Bob,

    Didn't you do some (approx 5-6"?)Great Pacific War ironclads for a game at COW a few years ago? Do you still have the models?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Nigel Drury,

    I don't want to make you feel old, but I made some many, many years ago (it was in the early 1980s and I used them for a game at a Games Day held in the Royal Agrucultural Halls!) and Tom Mouat and I used them again at COW with a version of the SWAB rules.

    All the best,

    Bob

    ReplyDelete
  9. I remember the 1898 game with the spud guns which I think was on the centenary, I thought the earlier ironclads were not long before that.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Nigel Drury,

    You are really making me feel old!

    That must mean that the ironclad game took place at least fifteen years ago!

    All the best,

    Bob

    ReplyDelete
  11. They all look good, even if the big ship is a suspicious shade of salmon.
    I like them all.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Mad Padre,

    Many thanks for your kind comment.

    I suspect that the pre-dreadnought looks pinkish due to the lighting (the photograph was taken under artificial lighting that uses halogen spotlight bulbs).

    All the best,

    Bob

    ReplyDelete

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