There's a protest singer singing a protest song , , , ,

Well it's taken a while, but I'm finally making some progress on the "Save the Whale!" game.  You might recall that I mentioned this one in my post entitled "A Long Spell in Drydock." If you want to refresh your memory, here's the link: https://mymodelsailingships.blogspot.com/2019/06/back-in-saddle-again.html .

I had to find some decal paper, as none of the craft stores in our area carry it any more.  So, after finding some, I printed up  my decals for the Greenpeace ships.  The one for Solo came out looking really well, and it's amazing how much of a difference it made.

The original

My model, before decals. . . 

and after.

Even I'm surprised at how much of a difference the decal made.  Now, the ship really looks finished.  Encouraged by this, I went to put the white logo on the side of Rainbow Warrior.  At this point I realized my mistake; I had bought clear decal paper, not white.  While that worked just fine on Solo, it obviously was not going to work on the other ship.  Rather than make the same mistake twice, I ordered some white paper online, and waited for it to arrive.

While Decapod's model of Rainbow Warrior on Shapeways is pretty good, I decided to modify it to more closely match the photos of the real ship.  Specifically, this photo:

After looking at this and some other pictures of the ship, I started modifying the model.  I took everything off the ship behind the superstructure.  Then, I installed a foremast and mainmast made out of .020 music wire.  This should make them resistant to breakage, and encourage gamers to be careful with them.  I made some changes to the forward deck area based on other photos not shown here, and put boats on her by using some of my GHQ small boats from sailing ships that I cut to the right length.  Finally, I used some small plastic rod to put the two square green items on the top of the wheelhouse.  Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures during the modification, but the ship went from this:

to this:

Not too bad, but she will look even better once the lettering is on the side.  It turns out that I didn't get the green of the logo to be an exact match for the hull color, but I realized at the beginning it wouldn't be perfect.

The white line below the letters is where I was not quite able to reach in with a brush and touch the edge of the decal up with green paint.  I think, though, that when I put the wake effects onto the base that will be covered.  Honestly, I'm not quite as happy about these as I was with ones for Solo.  It's still better than not having it, and it doesn't look quite as bad to the naked eye as it does here.

Of course, you can't have Greenpeace ships without the rubber boats to go with them.  As I mentioned in the earlier post, I had found some Zodiac boats on Shapeways that looked like this:

Well, they paint up pretty quickly.  The 4 I did took maybe 45 minutes tops. 

In looking at pictures of Greenpeace rubber boats (technically Rigid Inflatable Boats, or RIBs) there doesn't seem to be a standardized color scheme.  These four represent what seem to be the most common colors.  Although the black boat seems to look smaller than the others, they are all the same model.  I thought that was an interesting optical illusion.

And with that, the protest forces for my "Save the Whale!" game are done.  I guess the only question left is, "What's up with the title for this post?"  When I started the blog, I was stuck for a name, and my wife came up with what I'm using now.  Since I'm old enough to remember when "Come Sail Away" was a huge hit for the band Styx, I thought it would be funny if the post titles used lines from songs, or were a play on the lyrics.  So, I'm starting to do that with this one.  No prize for guessing who the artist and song are, because Google makes it too easy to find anything nowadays. 

Cod Wars? Yes, Because . . .

I'm of the opinion that anything which floats can be made into a good game.  For that reason, if you put on a game that has ships of some sort then chances are I'm going to enjoy it.  Due to this, I've played with everything from sailing ships to World War II battleships.  I haven't played any ancient naval (but want to try it), and I've even played Greenpeace protesters in a "Save the Whale" game.  So, I don't mind trying out an oddball game.  Keep that in mind as you read this.

One of the regular members of our gaming group likes to ram things when we play naval games.  He's at his happiest when he can bang into other ships on the table.  Preferably, the rammed ships are his opponents but I'm not sure that's completely necessary.  This has actually become a bit of a running joke among the group.  Unfortunately for him, ramming things with a sailing ship is really bad for the ship where rigging and the bowsprit are concerned.  Because of this, I've been on the lookout for rules other than ancients where ramming is actually a viable tactic, and that wouldn't require a lot of ships.  After all, this is a side project and not anything major.  Well, I finally found something that I think will fit the bill:

I know what you're probably thinking: "Cod Wars?  Huh?"  These were a series of disputes between the UK and Iceland over fishing rights in Icelandic waters.  They weren't really a war in the sense that wargamers think of one: there was only one fatality and the naval forces of the two nations never actually shot at each other.  The actions of this set of "wars" consisted of the Icelandic Coast Guard cutting the lines of trawlers in Iceland's territorial waters, and vessels from both sides ramming each other.  Not necessarily ramming to sink another vessel, but more like the traditional 'bumper boats' that the US and USSR played with each other during the Cold War.  Well then, sounds perfect for my needs.

After buying the rules, I was pleasantly surprised (and somewhat relieved) to find that all the miniatures you would need to play a game were available on Shapeways.  I bought what I would need to run the game, and was again pleasantly surprised when they arrived.

L to R: ICGV Baldur, ICGV Tyr, 3 side trawlers, British tug Lloydsman

L to R:  ICGV Odnin, ICGV Aegir, 3 stern trawlers

L to R:  Star Polaris, Star Aquarius, HMS Exmouth, ICGV Ver

Those  three sets provide more than enough ships to run any scenario, and most of the ships needed for a campaign (which is included in the rule book).  This is my first experience with 1/1200 ships printed by Shapeways, and I have to say that I am very impressed with them.  The detail is fantastic, as I hope the closeup below will show:

I will also try and get some extreme closeups before I start painting any of the models.  The fact that the ships are printed in a translucent plastic doesn't help much in seeing the details from a photograph.  To give you an idea of the detailing, the two ships at the top of the photograph (Star Polaris and Star Aquarius) are actually different from each other.  One has slightly larger funnels than the other, AND it also has an extra crane and rubber boat on board. 

You don't even need to label their bases.

As you might guess, I'm very impressed with these.  I'm looking forward to getting them painted and out for a game, just to see what everyone thinks.

Some Real Ship Photos

My family and I went on a cruise from Saturday March 31 to Saturday April 7, and I took some very nice photos.  BEFORE YOU HIT THE BACK ARROW, HEAR ME OUT!  

Please be reassured that the photos below are not of me, or the family, or of any other "typical cruise" stuff.  Instead, they are pictures of sailing ships.  When we arrived back in Galveston, TX on April 7, the city was hosting the Tall Ships Challenge 2018 Race.  This meant that there were 4 tall ships moored in the harbor.  I got up early, and made sure that I got some pictures to post here on the blog (and also for myself, to be sure).  So, without any further ado, let's look at some pictures of real sailing ships for a change.

A bit nicer view than what we normally have coming into Galveston

In the interest of full disclosure, none of the pictures I took as we came into the port came out, so this picture of all the ships together were taken after we passed by.  The ship in the far left of this photo is the Oliver Hazard Perry.  She's actually a modern ship built to be a sail training vessel, and is 200 feet long and 13 1/2 stories tall.  There's 14,000 square feet of sail, a crew of 17 along with 32 overnight student berths and her home port is in Rhode Island.  A better photo of her is below.

Modern, but still pretty.  My wife's comment was, "She looks like one of your models."

Next up is the Picton Castle.  She was originally built as  a motorized fishing trawler in 1928, and served in WWII as a minesweeper.  In 1996 she was taken to Canada and converted into a three-masted barque.  She's 179 feet long, about 10 stories tall and has 12,500 square feet of sail.  She is also a sail training vessel, based out of Nova Scotia but registered in the Cook Islands.

Look close, and you can see traces of her past.

Next up is the Elissa.  Built in 1877, she is an iron-hulled barque.  Unlike the previous two ships, she is a survivor from the Age of Sail.  In 1975, she was sitting in a Greek scrapyard when she was rescued by the Galveston Historical Foundation.  They wanted a sailing ship to memorialize Galveston's days as the major port on the Texas coast.  She was brought to Galveston in 1979, and her restoration was finished by 1982.  Since then she has served as a museum ship that sails regularly.  According to her website, that makes her one of only three ships of her type in the world.  She's 205 feet long, 99 feet 9 inches tall, and carries 12,000 square feet of sail.  I can't find an online photo of her as she looked pre-restoration, so there's more than one photo here.  As she's my favorite, I make no apologies for giving her a bit more space.

This beauty is ported an hour or less from my front door.

Amazing how the nautical equivalent of a cardboard box
 can be such a thing of beauty.

Last up on the list is the Dutch schooner Oosterschelde.  Built in 1918 as a freight carrier, her rigging was cut back after diesel engines were installed in 1930.  She survived the Second World War, and was converted to a modern coastal trading vessel in 1950.  In 1988 she was returned to the Netherlands and from 1988-1992 restored to her sailing appearance.  She is 160 feet long, and carries 9,950 square feet of sail.

No way to take a photo of her without a little of Elissa in the picture.

According to the Galveston Historical Foundation website, there were two other ships there, but they weren't in the harbor at the time.  They were the Lynx: http://tallshiplynx.com/  a replica built in 2001 of an American privateer from the War of 1812, and the When and If.  Built in 1939, the When and If  https://sailwhenandif.com/ was commissioned by George S. Patton so that he could sail around the world with his wife after the war was over.

Anyway, there you have it.  A nice little break from my usual contents, but still well within the theme of the blog, I think.  The ships pictured above also have websites.  They are:

Oliver Hazard Perry:  https://www.ohpri.org/ship/

Picton Castle: http://www.picton-castle.com/

Elissa:  http://www.galvestonhistory.org/attractions/maritime-heritage/1877-tall-ship-elissa-3

Oosterschelde: https://www.oosterschelde.nl/?lang=en

The Hundredth Ship . . .

. . . is, by an interesting coincidence, a 100-gunner. This is HMS Britannia, flagship of the Earl of Northesk, who was third in command of the British fleet at Trafalgar.

Britannia was one of the seven three deck ships in Nelson's fleet, and one of three 100 gun ships.  The other 100 gunners were the Victory and the Royal Sovereign.  Overall, there's not really a lot to distinguish Britannia other than her size and age.  Built in 1762, she was forty-three years old  in 1805, which made her the oldest ship on either side.  After the battle, she was laid up from1806-1813, and then made into a prison ship.  So, not famous like Victory or Royal Sovereign, but forty-four years of service that spans the American Revolution, French Revolution and Trafalgar is still something to be proud of.

My Britannia has been finished since early/mid August, but I have been very remiss in taking photos.  Right now, I'm frantically playing catch-up, and there should be several posts for this month.  Anyway, on to the photos.

Just your average, everyday 18th Century equivalent of the Space Shuttle

As weapons of mass destruction go, they are quite beautiful.

US, Russian and Dutch fleet photos

Here we have the smaller fleets in my collection: the Americans, the Russians, and the Dutch.  Since two of those three navies used white stripes for decoration, we have the above title.  Most people think that the white stripe along the gunports was a uniquely American paint scheme, but this isn't true.  In fact, the Russian Navy adopted the scheme first, during the period 1796-1801.

First up is the United States Navy.  The first pictures below are the Constitution.  Although I purchased this one, it is modified and somewhat repainted.  I added the gunports but as my latest book shows, even in 1812 she used the split gunports.  So, I need to change these at some point in the future.  Might be time to do a little bit of re-rigging as well.

Next up is the sister ship of the Constitution, the United States.  Also known as "The Old Waggon" due to her lackluster sailing qualities, I built this ship from another Constitution model.  I added the roundhouse on the upper deck and the additional galleries needed.  I based the stern on the old Revell model of the ship.

OK, so not all the US ships are painted with white stripes

Kinda proud of the stern, since I did it a good while back.
Now, I would probably add more detail.

 Next up is what Langton refers to as the USS Congress.  One of the original six frigates, Congress never had a very distinguished career.  She can however be used as her sister ship Constellation and I would even use her as Chesapeake, although she might not be completely correct.

Last up for the Americans is the USS Essex.  This mini was one I purchased.

The next act in our White Stripes get-together are the originators of the scheme, the Russian Navy.  Of course, not all of them are painted that way either, as you will see below.  First up is a 32 gun frigate:

This next ship is the oddball of the bunch.  Langton calls it a 46 gun heavy frigate, but the gunport arrangement doesn't match anything in Tredrea and Sozaev book, Russian Warships in the Age of Sail.  So, I'm considering it to be one of the 46 gun Pyotr Apostol class of frigates.  Since most, but not all of these, were out of service by 1800, I decided not to go with the black/white scheme.

The next unfinished ship is a 50 gun heavy frigate.  I haven't gone through the book trying to figure out which class this one is, but decided to give it the black/white treatment since there were large frigates around during the 1806 Russian-Ottoman war (which is my interest).

Next up is a 66 gun ship, which was the standard small SOL of the Russian navy.  These serve throughout the Age of Sail.

Like all other navies, the Russians built large numbers of 74 gun ships, and they see extensive service in both the Baltic and Black Sea theaters, along with the other areas the Russian navy ventured into.  For example, in 1798-1800 they actually cooperated with their long-time Ottoman enemies against the French!

A very no-nonsense looking ship.

The last ship for the Czar is the 100 gun three-deck SOL.  Even in confined waters like the Black Sea the Russians kept several of these.  This particular miniature probably represents a ship of the Ches'ma class, which may or may not be based on the design of HMS Victory.

Last in this post are my Dutch ships.  "Fleet" is a bit much, since I only have two ships.  There is not much information available in English on the painting and decoration of Dutch ships during this time, unlike the earlier 17th Century.  Before I build any more of this navy, I want to find more information.  These are painted based on information from the Langton website.

A 54/56 gun SOL. This one is riding a bit low in the water; might need to
redo this base.

A 64/68 gun SOL.  Dutch ships tended to be smaller than those of other nations.