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Friday 12 December 2008

Plasticard Ships

Having seen the recent model ships featured on the JUST ROLL SIXES website I have decided to share some images of ships that I have built over the years for use with 15mm figures. Most - those for use with my colonial figures - are still unpainted or unfinished but the last - a Japanese aircraft carrier - has been finished in medium grey.

The following image shows a couple of pre-dreadnought battleships. The design is based on the ADMIRAL class.

The figure is a 15mm Essex officer and the squares are 10cm x 10cm. They gives some idea how big the models are.

The following image is of an as yet unfinished World War I light cruiser. It needs another main gun to be added at the stern as well as needing a few extra details (e.g. secondary armament, masts etc.).

The following image is of an as yet unfinished World War I gunboat. It originally had two guns, but one was damaged when the model was knocked onto the floor. It also needs a mast.

The final model is a generic Japanese aircraft carrier. The aircraft is a Corgi 1:100th scale Sopwith Camel, and this shows how big the model is - just over 60cm.

7 comments:

  1. Wow - these are great. Very inspirational. Makes me want to build more ships!

    I really like the aircraft carrier.

    --Chris

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  2. I construct my ships by building the hull sides first from thick plasticard (80 thou or 60 thou). Internal bulkheads of the same thickness platsicard are then used to pull the sides together. These are clamped and glued in place.

    The deck and bottom are added from thinner plasticard (usually 40 thou) when the glue holding the bulheads in place has set (usually at least 12 hours).

    The superstructure (which is basically just a series of different sized and shaped boxes) is then added.

    Perhaps I ought to do a step-by-step explanation of how I construct a ship. I might well do so if it does not interfere to much with my other current projects.

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  3. Thank you, Bob - this is very inspiring!

    One question - where did you get the naval gun that appears on the WW I gunboat? I have been looking for one for a long time, with no success!

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  4. The gun on the gunboat is from an Airfix Stug III. On the model Stug the gun comes in two parts; the inside part (which is a short barrel and breech, and which is fixed to a simple shield) and the outside part, which is the mantlet and long barrel.
    All I did was to fix the short barrel and breech into the shield upside down. I then stuck it on a old tank sprocket I had in the spare box and voila! A suitable gun for a gunboat!

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  5. I have been recently modeled similar ships using AutoCad. Don´t have a picture of any of them but I´m viling to share if any of You guys have interest.I modeled battleship,heavy cruiser,light cruiser,two gunboats and monitor. All dimensions of the ships ranging between 30-50 cm.Allso have a cruiser 2m long

    Sultan

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  6. Goran,

    I would be very interested to see your designs.

    All the best,

    Bob

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