Building the Ships
The most frequent question I hear is, where did you get the ships??
Well, I built them. I ended up with a quite efficient process where I
would do hull shaping, painting etc. in batches, and would spend about
20-30 minutes total per ship. Which compares favorably with the time
needed to paint a 1:1200 miniature, but the real advantage is cost. I
built a total of 120 ships, enough of each type and nationality to
play all the scenarios from the AH edition of Wooden Ships & Iron Men
(and therefore easily enough to play all Close Action scenarios). The
total cost (over all ships) was about $15-20.
Hulls
The hulls were cut from balsa wood strips (the sort you get from
modeller's stores). 74 hulls had a 3x5mm cross section, 3-deckers
were higher, frigates lower (2mm high), larger classes were
correspondingly larger (I think 98/100/110 were 6mm wide, the 120s and
the Santissima Trinidad were custom jobs). I did exaggerate
the size difference a bit for easy recognition.
After cutting, the bow and stern were sanded into shape. I glued a
1mm thick poop into place on the stern.
Next step, painting the top in the national color (I simply followed
the WSIM scheme). I also printed ID numbers (again using the WSIM
pattern, 8pt font I believe) on colored paper, cut the numbers out,
and glued to the poop. So each ship has a unique ID without having a
base.
Last, affixing the sides. The gunports are not drawn individually.
Instead I drew them large scale for each class (a 74's gunport pattern
would fit in a 3x20cm rectangle - don't remember the proportions
exactly) and then photocopied them, reducing in size, and doubling at
each stage. So for the price of 10 copied sheets I had 16 copies.
British patterns simply were copied onto yellow paper. The Spanish
ships were colored dark brown with a felt tip pen. The ship-sized gun
patterns were then simply cut out and glued to the sides of the ship
with paper glue. I never got around to doing any elaborate stern
embellishments, so the sterns just stayed natural wood.
I applied some transparent (matt) varnish to keep fingerprints from
dirtying the model over time.
Rigging
The masts are brass wire (the sort you get in modeller's stores),
thickness somewhere in the 0.5-1mm range (I forget what exactly it
was). They are quite sturdy (if you step on a ship the thing most
endangered is your foot).
Sails are simple trapeze-shaped, cut from paper. Draw the pattern on
a sheet, and cut out 20 sails in a few minutes. I drew the yardarms
in with a ball pen, and added a bit of shading with pencil.
Masts and sails came in five sizes, with the mainmast of each vessel
typically one size larger than the others.
So, if the largest mast is an A and the smallest an E, a 100/110/120
rated ship would have mast pattern BAB. (For easy visual recognition,
the 80s got a two-decker hull with the dimensions of a 100, and ABA
rigging.) 'F' are frigates.
Ship class - rigging
Santissima Trinidad - AAA
100/110/120/80,98 - BAB
74,90 - CBC
64,50,50F,44F - DCD
44,38F,32F - EDE
To assemble, the sails were glued to the masts with your generic glue
(I used Uhu); they don't have to take much strain. Gluesticks are too
weak however. Bore the holes into the ship, and stick the masts in
(typically by exerting a bit of pressure on the top of the mast with a
piece of board so the mast doesn't stick in your hand; no hammering
should be necessary).
The bowsprits are quartered toothpicks (lengthwise - it's easy to do
with a sharp knife).
Markers
Full sail markers are sails one size larger, with a strip added at the
top (for folding). Put on scotchtape to stiffen and make
durable. Fold the top, clip a hole into it with a belt hole clipper or
similar tool. The "fire" markers got a flame pattern, the "struck"
markers I simply covered in black, and the "captured" markers are in
paper of the color of the other side.
Last modified 29.5.2003