Galleys & Galleons, part 3

Now that I have some ships together (see previous post), my thoughts have turned to getting them painted.  First, primer.  I have found that my usual primer, Reaper Master Series Brush-On Primer, has seen better days and has mostly settled out in the dropper, even after much shaking:

The two on the right were 'primed' with my remaining Reaper primer - you almost can not tell that there was anything there.  The pair in the middle were coated with Vallejo Surface Primer.  While the coverage is good, this stuff has a bit of a stench to it, and I do not think that I will try it again.  On the left pair, I used a 1:1 mix of white gesso and grey gesso.

The gesso seems to be working OK.  I have used gesso before, but mostly on 28mm figures and I am concerned about covering in details on these small ships.  The gesso is not fully cured, though, so we will see...

New blog, with a painting tutorial

A new blog (not mine  :) ) has sprouted up - The Great War at Sea by Grant.  He has posted a two-part painting tutorial, with Part 1 here and Part 2 there.

He has some beautifully painted 1/2400 GHQ miniatures - take a look!

Galleys & Galleons, part 2

After a multitude of delays, from holidays to a pronounced avoidance of the painting table, a small measure of progress has been made.  Here is a pic:

This is the assembled Figurehead small English squadron for the Armada period, in 1/2400 scale.  These vessels are not very large - those bases are 40mm long and 20mm wide!  But, for small miniatures they are very nice.

Here are some close-ups:

The largest ships are these:  FR30 Race built galleons, based on Ark Royal.  One can see that there is a good amount of detail, including flags from each mast.  These miniatures are three-piece kits, with the fore and main masts being separate from the hull.

The other two large galleons are:  FR31, based on Revenge.  These are also three piece miniatures.

Here are three of the six small galleons (FR32).  This pic only shows three, as I had misplaced the other pack until just before the squadron pic was taken.  In contrast to the larger galleons, these smaller galleons are one piece castings, making assembly just a matter of removing a small amount of flash and making sure the bottom of the hull is flat.



Last but not least:

This is pack FR34, showing a large pinnace (left) and a galleass (right).  One piece castings, these small ships still have a lot of detail.


Unfortunately, my slow pace of assembly/painting means that the next game of Galleys & Galleons will use the counters again...