Wednesday, July 02, 2014

The Temptress

Its been a long, on and off slog, as different games and genres have distracted me from getting this finished but I've got there in the end, I have finally finished my Brig and present to you; The Temptress.

She's been in a partially completed state for a couple of years now, so its been good to get motivated and finish her off... I checked back through my blog post history to try and see when I actually started her and found her origins here:
http://scottswargaming.blogspot.co.nz/2011/05/pirate-port-takes-shape.html
Approx 15th May 2011... OK, so its taken me a little over three years to complete! At least I got there in the end!

She was built from the downloaded and printed out plans by Gary Chalk, using primarily foamcard, card and balsa. These plans have come into criticism for making a somewhat 'slab-sided' ship. But I think they work fine and produce what is after all, a gaming piece, and not a true scale model...

I have also gone back through subsequent posts and labelled them all 'sloop', 'ship and 'brig' accordingly so if you wish you can check back through the various posts and see them developed over time... Go to Labels at bottom of Blog page... not now, not now... you might as well read the rest of this first! ;-)


The Temptress

Recent detailing work was to add the Catheads and Anchors to either side of the bow. I used some of the new GW rust effect technical paint for these... and must thank mate Roly Hermans also, for his help with info on details, from his fine collection of pirate books, that helped me figure out just how to rig up the anchors, in at least a roughly historic manner...

Mermaid figurehead, Cathead and Anchor
Also swivel guns to the rear deck sides...

Rear Deck Swivel Guns
And of course a final paint job...

I wanted to keep the Brig dark and menacing, as befits a pirate ship, didn't want a lot of coloured effects. So main dark brown base paint job, drybrushed with a dark brown/grey mix, and then a final very light drybrush with a cream colour...

The sails I washed with a cream colour wash of thinned paint... White sails just look to clean to me, especially for a pirate ship, so I like the 'worn weathered' look the cream wash gives... My son wanted me to paint the sails black as per a certain notorious pirate ship, but I thought that would be a little too copy-cat-ish!


I considered adding rear lanterns, and briefly pondered using mini LED's to light them... but the amount of work she has been so far, I decided enough is enough! I might come back to it later and see if they can be retro-fitted, but its not a high priority task, I've got heaps of other stuff I am busy with, as if you hadn't guessed! ;-)


The rear name plate was done use Woodland Scenics rub on dry decals. My free hand is not that good! ;-)


In the Legends of the High Seas game, she would be classed as a medium ship and is equipped with 10 small cannons, 5 to each side.


She makes a fine vessel for my Foundry Pirates to crew. I have also got a handful of Old Glory sailors in a climbing-the-rigging pose, (thanks to mate Brian Smaller), which I may get round to painting, now that they have some rigging to climb!


I am pleased I got my Liquitex sea surface done recently, it certainly sets her off nicely for her maiden appearance...


Just need to see if we can arrange some games to try her out in now!


The Crows nest, a perfect musket firing platform.

Crows nest

And the Fighting tops too...

Fighting top
And here she is alongside my first pirate ship I completed, a sloop named the Becky Boo, after my daughter. As ships are always referred to a 'She or Her', I guess that means the Brig must be named after my wife!? ;-) She certainly tempted me, all those years ago now!


So I have the makings of a fleet and may have to promote myself from Captain to Commodore, and get a suitably ostentatious and flamboyant hat! ;-)

Looking forward to trying out her sea legs....

48 comments:

  1. Excellent stuff Scott. Look forward to reading about her in action!

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    1. Cheers Dave, I hope she acquits herself well... ;-)

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  2. Pretty cool ships, love the addition of a rusty anchor!

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  3. Splendid vessel, sir. Absolutely outstanding . . . and the water looks wonderful.

    My only quibble is a very very minor one (and you might not wish to correct it because of figure positioning) . . . the flags should stream forward toward the bow, not the stern, because the wind is from the rear. We are so used to power boats where the speed of the boat makes the flags stream to the rear . . . but with sailing vessels it is the opposite (just look at all of the old paintings of windjammers).

    Very minor . . . and who but a pedant like me would notice? And, as I said, you might not wish to change it because of resulting difficulties with figure placement.

    But the Temptress is a very tempting-looking vessel indeed . . . very lovely.


    -- Jeff

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    1. Many thanks Jeff. An excellent point, I had never thought of it that way, but when you think about it, its obvious! Thankfully the flags and posts are not glued in but can be rotated and swapped between ships so I can have them as Privateers as well (need to make a few more varying flags) etc... I'll just have to remember which way to have them facing when photographing in the future!

      Thanks again :-)

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  4. Beautiful stuff! From Moria to the watcher in the water to this! WoW!
    A thing of beauty she is indeed and I love the mix of detail and playability you have achieved - difficult to do.

    And the background dock and seaport village is nothing to be sneezed at either! You're sure you have a family and usual domestic requirements? Because your productivity shames me deeply!

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    1. Many thanks Paul, glad you like it and that means a lot coming from a master of the sea such as yourself!
      Yes indeed, 'normal' family here too ;-) But an understanding wife who lets me have a lot of time pottering on..., and a painting/craft area adjacent the family room, so I am always around unless, working in the garage... but yep... normal duties too; chief pot scrubber, clothes washer, lawns mower, bush trimmer, kids weekend sports etc etc ... I guess you just have to try and shoe horn the time in when you can!

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  5. OK I need to comment again because my first one just didn't convey my full impression.
    This is an outstanding bit of work Scott. I know a thing or two about ships but haven't had the chops to tackle something like this. For years I have wanted to make one of those Space 1889 Sky Galleons in 28mm but never knew where to start. Hoots for you mate!

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    1. Thank you again Paul! You are too kind.

      A sky galleon would be breath taking indeed. I think if I were attempt one on those I'd probably have to try and carve a block of dense foam to the hull shape, then then clad with balsa strips as trying to bend card two ways at once doesnt work so well!

      Sourcing a suitable size flying base would be the next challenge...

      Best of luck if you ever attempt it!

      Thanks again mate!
      Scott

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  6. Really well done. Being an amateur "Gary Chalk" ship builder myself, I can understand the challenges and triumphs involved in such a build. I have made 3 little ships for the LotHS rules and have a brig similar to yours that has languished in drydocks for years. You have done a marvelous job Sir!

    Frank
    http://adventuresinlead.blogspot.com.au/

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    1. Thanks Frank, much appreciated... :-)
      Hope you manage to get back to and finish your own Brig.
      Kind regards
      Scott

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  7. She's a fine ship and I'm sure will be the scourge of any tabletop shipping lane she sails upon. She could do with a ships wheel, which always makes a nice focal point in a game when somebody is trying to gain control of the ship in a boarding action!

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    1. Thanks Mate :-) She has one, and a ships bell, alongside the rear mast!
      Cheers
      Scott

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  8. She's an absolute beauty mate!

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  9. Very nice looking ship you've got there! And I'd reckon 4 years isn't even that long in hobby standards for a single project :P

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    1. Thank you Samuli. It probably would have got done sooner had we stayed focused on playing 'pirates' but since we jump from genre and game to game, my painting/modelling focus jumps about too!

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  10. Excellent ship, Captain Scot!
    Well done.

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  11. Best version of the Gary Chalk ship I've seen! You've inspired me to get my Gary Chalk paddle boat down and see if I can complete it. It's been sitting around twice as long as your ship!

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    1. Thanks you Sir! You have done fine work on your Roman galley, so am sure your paddle ship will turn out equally well!

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  12. Wow, that looks great. The water looks brilliant.

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  13. Please, please, please stop tempting with new genre's to game. Could you at least do something badly so I don't want to immediately go out and buy stuff to paint.

    When are you going to make a British ship for cool looking sea battles?

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    1. LOL, Sorry! ;-)
      I must admit I originally had grandiose plans to make all manner of pirate ships, merchant vessels for them to attack and Man-o-Wars for them to fight!... but this one has taken so long to do, I may reign in those plans a bit ;-)

      As always what I paint or make depends on what I am playing... I guess if I played more pirate games I may get back to making those extra ships...

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  14. Beautiful work Scott. 'Slab-sided'- if some one's good enough to share their ideas, why do others think its okay to criticize! If you have nothing good to say, don't say it. I for one could not draw up plans for a ship in any scale. It's a wargames model it looks great.

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    1. Thanks Mark, I know what you mean. I think they turn out pretty well for gaming purposes :-)

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  15. Great work Scott,

    A ship should always be a female!

    Cheers
    Matt

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  16. Fantastic work there Scott! Very impressive she is!

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  17. It may have taken you awhile to do it by the results are undeniably good!

    Christopher

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  18. Fabulous work Scott! I'm becoming sorely tempted with all this pirate stuff coming out of North Star... This may tip me over the edge!

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    1. Cheers Curt, I know what you mean... I've got a load of Foundry pirates already, and still have their c18th civilian set to paint... so dont really need more pirates... but their range is certainly tempting... Plus I'll be interested to see what those new Pirate rules from Osprey might be like...

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  19. The ship is a beauty. Thinking about building a larger ship myself (I have a couple of dhow, but nothing that large), I must ask what did you do for the rigging?

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    1. Thank you :-)

      The rigging was made from thick 'string', about 1mm dia, bought from model boat building section of local hobby store. I strung the vertical lengths first, superglued round dress making pins glued to ship. Then more superglue, via a narrow tip applicator (ZapGap), to glue each horizontal strand. Each time I weighted the loose end of the string with a paper clip, to help hold it in position, while I dabbed a spot of glue to each cross point. Then trimmed back the excess. It took a whole afternoon to do... an exercise in patience certainly!

      Best of luck with your ship building plans!

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  20. Excellent work Scott. 'Slab-sided'- if some one's good enough to share their ideas, why do others think its okay to criticize! If you have nothing good to say, don't say it. I for one could not draw up plans for a ship in any scale. It's a model it looks great.. I appreciate your posted wonderful photos. Thanks for sharing such an interesting post.
    Gaming

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  21. Good to see your post! Nice work on the rigging, I'm a sucker for Ratlines.

    Scott "Wingnut" Christian

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