So here, as promised, is the first of the "family photos" of my fleets. The Spanish start the process, simply because their storage box was out on the table because I've been building up this fleet for a few months.
First is the obligatory "family photo" of all the ships together:
The frigates are on the left of the photo, and the ships increase in size as you move to the right. As of now, there are only two frigates in the fleet, a 34 and a 40 gunner. All of my fleets are short on frigates, so that at least is very realistic. One quick confession before we continue: When I was starting out again, I bought a fairly large collection of ships from a fellow who was getting out of the hobby. So, when I post a picture of those, I will note in the caption that this was a purchased ship.
The Frigates:
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| 34 gun frigate (bought) |
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| 40 gun frigate |
The Third Rates:
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| 64 gun |
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| 64 gun stern |
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| 74 gun #1 "at quarters" |
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| 74 gun #1 stern |
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| 74 gun #2 (bought) |
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| 74 gun #2 stern |
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| 74 gun #3 "at quarters" (bought) |
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| 74 gun #3 stern |
I almost didn't include the next two ships, because they are the ones in the "new construction" post earlier this month. However, it isn't a family portrait if all the members aren't there.
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| 74/80 gun #1 |
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| 74/80 gun #1 stern |
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| 74/80 gun #2 "at quarters" |
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| 74/80 gun #2 stern |
First Rates:
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| 112 #1 "at quarters." This model is specifically the Santa Ana |
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| Santa Ana stern |
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| 112 gun #2 |
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| 112 gun #2 stern |
And of course, everyone's Spanish fleet has to have a model of the 136 gun
Santisima Trinidad
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| St. Trinidad. 4 decks, 136 guns. |
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| Santisima Trinidad stern |
Very nice.. looks like you have been busy..
ReplyDeleteThe Spanish are actually the smallest of the main battleleets. My French and British number 21 each (right now). The Dutch, Russians, and US only have a few ships each. There's 19 unrated warships (brigs, sloops, cutters, etc) and then 15 merchants of varying sizes. I haven't counted terrain, forts, troops and that sort of stuff yet.
DeleteOh, and I forgot to say that all of those will be pictured eventually. Watch this space, as they say.
DeleteGorgeous stuff Brian, great collection
ReplyDeleteThanks Ken. I actually wanted to publish that to the Naval Wargames community, but wasn't sure how. So, it got inflicted on you instead.
ReplyDeleteVery nice Brian. I would let the person you are buying these models from know that Spanish ships were not rigged like British and American ships of the period. The mizzen is rigged wrong. Yours are all correct. I just think if someone is going to sell these ships, they should make the effort to get the details right. You have an impressive fleet.
ReplyDeleteRegards,
Vol
Vol,
DeleteI actually bought the ships 12-15 years ago when I was just getting back into naval gaming, and couldn't build as fast as I do now. He wanted to get into an even more expensive hobby (auto racing, I think), so I bought all of his ships based on photographs he sent me. Honestly, I don't even remember his name now. At the time, I looked at the paint jobs and overall rigging in the photos, without focusing on the smaller details like that.
I know that they're not rigged correctly, and have told myself more than once that I should correct them. Generally, I do that when I have to do some maintenance/repair work on them. As the Spanish ships don't get brought out very much, they haven't had the wear and tear of other fleets. I guess that would fall under the "Someday..." tag.
Didn't mean to rag Brian. I thought they might have been from someone who builds for profit like Julian (ModelJShips). Rory and I got on his case a few years back for rigging all of his ships like the British and then charging rediculous prices. Now he posts photos of his stuff on all the blogs and Facebook group pages to get free advertizing. He doesn't game at all. Just strikes some of us wrong. But he is definitely talented.
ReplyDeleteI understand what you mean. Around 30 of my first ships are not rigged correctly. Rory (devsdoc) pointed it out to me and that's how we became friends. I keep meaning to rerig them but....there are so many new ships to build! 😕
Keep it up. Looking forward to San Nicolas.
Vol
Oh, I didn't consider it as ragging, I assure you! No, they were from a fellow gamer. I'll be the first to admit, when I'm trying to fish a line around and under the ratlines from the mizzenmast I think to myself, "So, who'll ever notice if I rig it like a British ship?" The answer is always, "Me. I will, and I'll know it's wrong. If I'm doing all this work I might as well do it right." I am glad to know that there are other people out there besides me who notice it too.
DeleteI've looked at Julian's stuff, and he does really good brush work. Honestly, it's better than mine because I've never learned to work with washes and such. I've looked at his website, and some of the prices for finished prodcts can seem to be a bit much. I guess it is a question of how much our time is worth, really. I was looking at a website one time that listed 1st Rates for about 195 Euros (at the time, say $225). When my wife looked at it, her response was, "That's not a bad price given all the work you put into one." Knowing how frugal she is, I was flabbergasted.
Coming back to Julian though, I have thought about buying some buildings and forts from him, but never have. He used to have a line of disabled ships, but I haven't seen those in a while.
He will still do them on order. And his prices have dropped a bit over the last two years. As I said he is very talented. But he does search the blogs and pages for new ideas. He got the towing ships boats from me, and I'm expecting to see my split dolphin spike rig on the American fleet he says he will build. It's ok, I don't mind, except when someone comments that I copied him. That hurts. I love his terrain and now he collaborates with a friend with a commercial 3D printer so he can reproduce the terrain he makes. I have been tempted as well.
ReplyDeleteBe well Brian and take more pictures. I want to see the rest of your stuff.
Vol
I promise to take some more pictures when I get back home. I took about 250 photos while at the Mariner's Museum today (3/27/17), but will have to cull out the shaky ones before I can publish them. That might be a separate page for the blog though.
Delete