Yet another progress report

I have managed to do some work on my latest model ship during the course of the day. I have begun building the sub-assemblies that will used construct the superstructure, and the turrets are almost complete (they are just missing their gun barrels and rangefinders).

I have made extensive use of thin dowel (actually lengths of cocktail stick) to act as 'pins' between the various pieces of the superstructure. These have two functions:

1. To hold and strength the joints and
2. To help ensure that the parts are positioned correctly.

I picked up and adapted this idea as a result of watching Norm Abram's woodworking programmes on cable TV.

With luck I might begin the assembly process this evening; if not, I will start it tomorrow.

I have been to ... Skirmish in Sidcup

Going to the 'Skirmish' Toy Soldier Show in Sidcup has become part of my wargaming routine. This local twice-yearly show is held at Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School in March and September, and it always provides me with an opportunity to meet and talk to people I know, spend time looking at the wide range of toy soldiers, models, and wargames stuff that is on sale, and to see some interesting wargames.

Amongst the people I saw this time were:

• Kenny Smith (a member of the 'Old Guard Wargames Club')
• Alan Abbey (one of my ex-pupils from a long time ago and now a leading member of the 'Milton Hundred Wargames Club')
• Professor Phil Sabin (who is a senior member of staff in the War Studies Department at King's College, London, and who has recently had an excellent wargames book, SIMULATING WAR, published)

I also had a chance to meet my old friend David Crook (who writes the 'A Wargaming Odyssey' blog and with whom I exchanged various wargaming items) ...

... as well as two other regular wargaming bloggers The Angry Lurker and Big Lee, and the leader of the 'gang', the famous Postie. It was nice to put faces and voices to these gentlemen ... and I hope to see them again soon.

There were a number of different wargames on view at the show. There were one or two participation games but most were demonstration games.

'Crush the Kaiser': A demonstration game of these new rules
The game used a very impressive trench system, as can be seen from the following photographs:

Skirmish Wargames: 'The Battle On Snowshoes (14th March 1758') using 54mm-scale figures
I don't know what they used to simulate the snow, but whatever method they used, it was very effective. The figures were exquisite and were yet another reason why wargaming in 54mm is so attractive.

The Privateers of London: 'The Battle of the Java Sea'

The Old Guard: 'Let the Dominoes Decide' Gladiatorial combat participation game
The game used area movement (on some very nicely modified Heroscape™ terrain tiles) and simple rules to simulate gladiatorial combat.

South East London Wargames Group (SELWG): A 'Very British Civil War' battle using 28mm-scale figures

As I have come to expect, this was an excellent show. There were lots of traders, and from what I saw they seemed to be quite a good trade. I really enjoyed my visit to 'Skirmish' and I am already looking forward to the next show, which will be held in September.

A short progress report

I glued the two halves of the hull together last night and this morning a shaped the bow and stern sections.

Other than having the barrels of the secondary guns glued into the pre-drilled holes in the casemates, the hull is now complete and I can concentrate of building the turrets and superstructure.

4,000 'hits' ... in a week!

This blog passed an interesting milestone yesterday. For the first time since I started writing it in 2008 it received over 4,000 'hits' in a week. (The actual number was 4,099 ... which averages out at 585.6 'hits' per day).

I find this amazing ... and I would like to thank every person who has bothered to read my blog at some time during the last four and a half years, and especially to those who regularly follow it and make comments.

Here's to the next milestone!

Work on the first battleship ends!

I finally finished painting my 'cartoon' model of a German pre-dreadnought battleship.

I have stuck to a very simple colour scheme (light grey all over) and I think that it looks quite effective.

Work on the next battleship begins!

Whilst I was waiting for the final coat of paint to dry on my model of a pre-dreadnought battleship, I decided to cut the wood for the hull of my next project ... a Soviet opponent for my pre-dreadnought!

This model will also be made with an upper and lower hull to facilitate the addition of the distinctive secondary armament casemates fitted to the Soviet dreadnoughts. The main structure of both the upper and lower hull has been cut from lengths of 0.5"/12.5mm x 0.5"/12.5mm basswood/linden, and these will be glued together to form hollow boxes.

Unlike my previous model, I have pre-cut the pieces of basswood so that this will reduce the amount of wastage when I come to the stage where I will shape the hull. A by-product of doing this was that I was actually able to build a slightly longer hull (9.5"/23cm as opposed to a 8"/20cm-long hull for the pre-dreadnought) without using any more basswood than I used to construct the hull of my earlier model.

My next task is to glue the basswood together.

Work on my next battleship has begun!

A possible opponent?

Whilst I have been painting my recently built 'cartoon' model of German-style pre-dreadnought, I have been pondering about the design of a possible opponent. Until the early 1930s Soviet Russia was seen as the most likely opponent for the German pre-dreadnoughts and I have based my outline design on a cut-down, 'cartoon' version of one of the Soviet dreadnoughts that served in with the Baltic Fleet.

As can be seen from this very rough outline, I have reduced the number of turrets and secondary guns by 50%, shortened the hull, and simplified the superstructure. I took great pains to retain the distinctive funnel arrangement of the original design, and I think that this helps to keep the model looking vaguely like one of the Soviet dreadnoughts.

This is very much a 'work in progress', and I suspect that the design will change and develop as I build the model ... but it is my intention to try to ensure that the basic outline of the final model retains the essence of this design.

Nugget 251

I intend to post the latest issue of THE NUGGET (N251) to members of Wargame Developments this afternoon, and with luck it should be delivered to them by the beginning of next week at the latest.

I have uploaded the PDF versions of THE NUGGET and THE NUGGET COLOUR SUPPLEMENT to the Wargame Developments website, and they are now available for members of Wargame Developments to read online or to download and print.

This is the fifth THE NUGGET of the subscription year (there are now only four more THE NUGGETs to come in this subscription year) and if you have not already resubscribed, you can do so by post (please make cheques payable to WARGAME DEVELOPMENTS) or via the PayPal button on the Wargame Developments website.

Minor adjustments, major improvements

Before giving my model pre-dreadnought battleship a couple of coats of PVA to seal the wood before I paint it, I decided to make some minor adjustments and alterations to the model.

The most important of these was the shortening of the length of the turrets from 1.25"/31mm to 1"/25mm. This allowed the turrets to be mounted slightly farther back from the bow and stern of the model. I also increased the height of the turrets by 0.125"/3mm. Both these alterations improved the whole look of the model and seemed to make the silhouette more balanced.

I also added a few small details, including a front to the fore bridge (which now has two windows), a single hatch on either side of the aft section of the superstructure, and a hatch on the poop deck. It is surprising how much better the model looked after these details were added.

Some more eBay bargains!

I spotted a couple more Matchbox Skybuster die cast aircraft for sale on eBay recently and decided to bid for them ... and won!

Whilst they were not as cheap as my other recent eBay 'bargain', they were not expensive (the total cost was £3.75 for the pair) and they give me – once they have been suitably repainted – the opportunity to field a small inter-war/early World War II air force in any forthcoming wargames.