Still in the grip of my coastal forces (perhaps costly forces would be a better term) enthusiasm and I've just finished a scruffy little ship to act as an escort to some merchants and maybe give the E-boats pause for thought.
This 1/300 scale kit from the Skytrex/Warlord Cruel Seas kit comes as a resin hull with about half a dozen metal bits.
I might have overdone it with the rust effects. I used AK rust paint, simply painting on a small dot or blob and then smearing it with an old brush or finger. The effect makes her look like a proper tramp, though I would think if I was an admiral, I'd want my sweepers out doing the work and not lying around chipping paint.
The penant number, J260, is from a Bangor class minesweeper operated by the Royal Canadian Navy, the HMCS Goderich. She spent her career mostly based out of Halifax, NS, as part of the Western Escort Force, so unlikely that she would have come close to an S Boat, but Goderich is a pleasant Ontario town and why not use the name. I could have painted her in the grey and blue Western Approaches pattern used in the Atlantic, but liked a scruffy grey.
As far as I could see, there are no stats for the Bangor class ships in Torpedoes and Tides, but shouldn't be too hard to invent something.
Next in the dockyards is another Skytrex kit, a German minelayer, so wouldn't it be something if these two were to run into one another some dark night?
Cheers and blessings to your brushes,
MP+
Great job, I like the lived-in look, it certainly has seen action! The stats for the Bangor class are hidden under the Flower class, as TnT uses the same stats - at that level of abstraction, many ships classes share the same stats. They are always noted in bold letters under the more common class (I admit that's not the best way to do it, I should have made an index).
ReplyDeleteThank you Thomas, I shall have a look at the Flower class entry in the T&T rules. A friend of mine got intrigued by your rules and I sent him to the Skytrex website so of course he bought a Flower Class corvette and wants to name it Compass Rose. :)
DeleteI like this very much Mike, though I am not so sure the captain or indeed his superiors would allow a vessel of His Majesty's Royal Navy to fall to such a shoddy appearance. LOL
ReplyDeleteSignal on arrival in dockyard:
Delete"HMCS Goderich captain report to admiral at once."
The admiral is tired of these slovenly Canadians swanning about and has a proper lecture prepared. :)
In whatever battle or campaign that 'scruffy little ship' gets itself involved in, it has just GOT to be the hero of the story! I like it already.
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Ion
Thank you Ion, it is an adorable little ship and I am sure will do wonders.
DeleteA nice little ships , she has certainly seen some service 👍
ReplyDeleteThank you Matt, there was a Douglas Reeman WW2 novel about sweepers which made it sound like a harrowing occupation, dangerous and unglamorous work and that's the effect I was going for. Glad you like it.
DeleteGreat looking minesweeper, love the weathering!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Thank you kindly, Iain, the weathering was a bit of an experiment, I scaled up what I've done for 1/2400 ships and added some rust and it all worked out well. Experiments are usually how I learn new tricks, I guess that's true of all of us painters.
DeleteShe's obviously just at the end of a long deployment
ReplyDeleteDown to the last of the rum in the ratings' mess and the last of the gin the wardroom!
DeleteGreat looking ships Michael, they certainly look like they have seen some glorious work in some arduous conditions. With best wishes, Jason
ReplyDeleteVery kind of you, Jason, Skytrex does nice kits in this scale and they reward some work.
DeleteA simply fantastic bit of modelling and 'weathering' of the ship. Loverly.
ReplyDeleteBest wishes, James
Thank you James, as I said above, the weathering was a bit of an experiment, but from yours and others' kind comments, I think it paid off.
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