Ship yards of York (11): DIY ship's boats

A recreation of the Battle of Tellicherry calls for some ship's boats, so I thought that I'd have a go at making them myself.

Two little jolly-boats.

While making these I have been chuckling away to myself thinking about 'Asterix in Britain'.

I downloaded lots of photos of models of ships boats, and got excited about how I'd represent the oars with fine electrical wire, have some crew and maybe even a forward gun. Then I thought about the scale.

At 1/3000 a man is around 0.5–0.6 mm, the boat should be 3 or 4 mm long at and around a millimetre or so high. I soon threw out the idea of making oars with wire and settled for tiny balls (more bits) of putty for the crew. The gun wasn't gonna feature.

I was happy enough with these jolly little boats, so decided to try something more adventurous.

Before Keith knocked some sense into me by pointing out, no doubt in his best Churchillian voice, that I could "get so many for so few (pounds)" if I purchased one of the 'Forged in Battle' fleet packs (advice for which I am forever grateful), I was considering making some ships of my own. I still have a nagging desire to have a go so decided to try making a frigate, using one of the Navwar French frigates as a guide.

I 'laid down' a keel using a scrap piece of metal from the sprues to which the masts with sails are attached in the packs of Navwar ships. It provided some weight and also a guide/scale.

Ship's keel.

I applied putty* around the keel and began shaping it using my 'proprietary' modelling tool (a micro screwdriver from a $5 set). Staples cut to size formed the masts, with glue applied to provide extra strength in addition to the putty.

Frigate with staples as masts. A Navwar version behind.

I elected to use the same pragmatic approach as the Navwar ships regarding sails, so made them as single pieces cut from some thin cardboard.

Frigate with sails attached and a bit more undercoating applied. Beginning to hide the imperfections!

Paint brings out glorious detail in figures that are well sculpted, or can hide imperfections in a less-well made model! Ship's boats for comparison. They are a little bit large, but will do.

Disguised with some paint, it's not looking too bad—worked for the jolly boats, after all.

It'll do, especially from a distance on the table top.

I was happy enough with this as a first go so will try making another one later. I need to work more on the bow section to make it look less like a sabot shoe! This ship can join the others receiving some final highlights of paint and added rigging.

Here I have highlighted the blue on the Navwar frigate that is nominally "Hermione" and my un-named, scratch-built one.

*I used Milliput a bit in the past, but more recently (past ten years or so) have adopted DAS Air Dry Modelling Clay, which I like for its flexibility, ease of handling and ability to re-soften with water (I use deionised so that it keeps longer). 'Everyone else' seems to use 'green stuff' for such things. Perhaps I should try it some day, but I am happy with DAS and I have plenty of it. Applying a thin layer of PVA glue, or now I use 'BondCrete', once the clay has been shaped, adds greatly to its strength and durability.

These ship's boats and frigate were the most adventurous that I have been. I'll make at least one more frigate and then will have a go at at second rate! It will be interesting to see how I go with a larger model. Cue more Asterix: