While the ships are finished, the bases are not. There will be some waves, and wakes around the ships. The ships are finished though, and that's what I'm showing off here. I've tried to paint these based on ships that were involved in the Cod Wars, and not just generic examples. For the side trawlers, that's been pretty easy and there are lots of photos of them. For stern trawlers, it's been a little more difficult. I haven't painted any stern trawlers yet, so for right now it's not really an issue.
First up is the trawler Westella. Her registration number was H194, which I'm pretty sure means she was based in Hull. Here's a picture of the original:
And here is my version of her:
The hardest thing has been matching the color of the cabin, and I still didn't get it completely right. In real life, the cabins are steel but are painted to look like woodgrain. I can't do that in this scale, so went with the darker yellow (which is clearly still not dark enough). I also might still put some black dashes along the deck area to simulate the drain holes to let water flow away. All these trawlers come with the mast, but you have to add the supports that run forward. Those are made of brush bristles.
Next is the Arctic Corsair. She is another Hull trawler (H320), and is preserved as a museum ship in Hull. She definitely participated in the last Cod War, as she rammed the Icelandic Coast Guard vessel (ICGV) Odin after that ship tried three times to cut the Arctic Corsair's lines to her nets. As with Westella above, here is the real thing:
And here is my version of her:
I know the rust looks a little overdone. However, in looking at photos taken of the trawlers at sea, some ships look like the rust is what's holding them together! I concentrated the rust amidships, since that is where the vessels took the worst beatings, due to hauling in nets. Also, yes the red band on this funnel should have a white band inside it, but my hands aren't steady enough for that anymore.
One problem that I did run into painting these was that there weren't a lot of color photos at deck level taken of these ships. Fortunately though, there are a lot of photos on the Trip Adviser.com site for Arctic Corsair, and that's what I used to choose things like deck colors and the like.
So there you have it. In my opinion, they don't paint up too badly at all. One piece of advice though; be sure you use a primer on the models after you wash them, and not just any dark colored paint for your basecoat. Trust me when I tell you that it will make a HUGE difference; in fact, it may well be the difference between painting your models and making the same order again. That, however, is a story for another post. 😀
EDIT AND QUICK UPDATE: I want to take a moment and give a big "thank you" to user Grelber over on TMP, who got me to think differently about putting stripes on the funnel. Instead of painting a red streak and trying to put a white stripe inside it, he suggested painting everything white and using some Sakura Micron pens to put on the red stripes. It worked extremely well. My Arctic Corsair model went from this:
To this:
Yes, still a little shaky, but that comes from cleaning up the white area. I think she now looks a LOT better.
That’s an interesting last paragraph, I wonder what happened.
ReplyDeleteThose painted up sweetly and definitely look the part, well done! I like the rusted look. 😀
I did the rust by mixing a terracotta color and an earth brown. Then I thinned them way down.
DeleteThe last paragraph is not as good a story as it might sound. I didn't read the can and picked up satin black instead of black primer. It left the ship very slick, and paint just wouldn't adhere to it. Soooo, I tried to use a can of flat clear on the black and give the paint something to stick to. Instead, the black paint crackled like an old piece of furniture. I tried to scrub it all off, but was afraid of using something that would melt the model. That meant the paint and clearcoat wouldn't come off. Soooo, off to Shapeways for another copy of that ship. 😢 Fortunately they aren't all that expensive.
Lol. The mishaps of wargaming miniatures.
DeleteBut as you say below: a relatively cheap learning experience. 😀
Looking good Brian :)
ReplyDeleteThere's something in that shapeways clear material that stops enamel based paints from drying unless it is extremely clean.
Never had a problem with Acrylics.
There are 4 parts of a BBC documentary on YouTube about the whole saga...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkZqi1wigEk
Paul (aka Decapod)
Paul,
DeleteWell thank you. When the designer of the minis says you're doing good, that really can make your head swell!
What's interesting about the paint issue is that there was not a problem when I used a can clearly marked as primer. Do you know what the difference would be between primer and regular enamel spray paint? I had someone ask me that over on The Wargames Website and I had no idea about the differences. I was a Political Science major, not a Chemistry one.😕
I've watched three parts of that documentary. It provides some excellent background, but not all of the color film is of the best. Some of it looks pretty degraded, but that could just be the ugly weather.
Haha! - I was a chemistry major (but then moved on to nuclear physics and computers)
DeleteIt's all down to the solvent used to make the paints.
Some enamel paints have solvents that react with the plastic (or something used during the manufacturing)
The result is effectively a solvent that doesn't evaporate as normal.
The solvent used in acrylics doesn't react and evaporates leaving dry paint pigment behind.
Thanks for explaining it in small enough words that a Liberal Arts major can understand! 😂 And geez man, from chemistry to nuclear physics and computers? You're gonna make us normal folk feel inferior. 😁
DeleteOn a related note, what's next for you? I've really enjoyed your ships.
I've been very slowly putting together a Leander frigate (for well over a years now), just not enough time IRL these days.
DeleteI'd really like to do more cold war soviets after that.
just a comment on shapeways pricing - they're all going to go up lots in Jan when they change their pricing structure.
It's still based on material volume but other changes mean some models will be priced out of reach as they add a per-part minimum charge.
Paul
I purchased a Leander from another Shapeways store, but it doesn't have the radar antenna on the after mast. If you bring out one, I'll replace the one I bought in a heartbeat. You, sir, are a design master.
DeleteThe ship turned out verty nice indeed Brian! Sorry you had a do-over, but thanks for the warning.
ReplyDeleteIt was a do-over, but having never painted this type of Shapeways plastic before, I'm just marking it up as a learning experience. Given that 5 of these are about as much as one Langton hull, it's a pretty inexpensive learning experience.😁
DeleteSounds pretty economical. I have never looked into Shapeways. I remember when they first got started and one of the guys over on the SOG Anchorage purchase a couple of 1:1000 ships. O didn't think they had a lot of detail then. Looks like they've improved alot.
ReplyDeleteHey thanks for the comment on TMP Brian. I saw Tango put my last post on. I appreciate the plug. 🖖
I think the economics depends on the size of the model and the material used. These ships are really pretty small (I'll make sure and take a shot with the Quarter of Comparison later), so the better quality plastic doesn't really drive up the price that much.
DeleteFor comparison, I ordered a 1/100 scale Skyraider from a Shapeways store for some of my Vietnam stuff. In the base plastic, the model in 1/100 was $35.00. The base plastic is very rough though and it took several coats of paint to get everything smoothed out. If I got that same model using the plastic the ships are made in, the cost goes up to $103.20. Ouch! So, yeah, that wasn't going to happen. The same Skyraider in 1/200 scale was $8.21 for the base plastic and $16.57 for the better quality material.
You're welcome for the TMP comment; it's nothing more than the absolute truth. You make those Navwar hulls look really good, and I honestly wasn't sure that was possible. I had them back in the day, and it looks like they're still using the same molds.
A small note on shapeways pricing - it's normally based on the volume of material used - the complexity of the model is almost irrelevant.
DeleteThere are other factors in the calculation such as extra handling charges but if you double the size (e.g. from 1/200 to 1/100) then the volume goes up by a factor of 8
Paul
Going up by a factor of 8 makes perfectly good sense. I had forgotten that by doubling in length and width it doubles in volume/height as well.
DeleteGreat looking trawlers! Nice finish.
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Thanks Iain! As odd as it may sound, I've enjoyed painting them. Something a little different than the norm, I guess.
Delete