After a busy and distracting February, I've finally finished up my 1/300 coastal freighters. I would still like to do some weathering and touch-ups on the ships, but they are basically done and in good enough shape for a game.
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| Coastal freighter ready for convoy duty |
If you read my previous post, you may recall that I decided to scratchbuild some target ships to go with my Cruel Seas models. I didn't really want to invest much money in this project, so I decided I only wanted to use materials I had on hand for the ships. So the ships are made from basswood, balsa wood, and plastic sheets and rods. I would have liked to add some more details, however my other ship building is done in 1/700 and all the spare parts I had looked to small on the freighters. This is one reason there are no lifeboats, which I'm sure those of you that are sharp-eyed have already noticed.
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| A 3/4 bow shot for a slightly different view |
The ships all have the same basic hull size and shape. Two ships have aft bridges (these are essentially the same ship with only the mast positions changed) and the third has a center bridge.
So how do they compare to the Warlord Games models? Here is a shot of them with some German Schnellboots.
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| Hunters and targets |
And with the merchant counter that comes in the Cruel Seas starter kit (I assume this is about the size of the tanker sold by Warlord Games).
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| Flat and 3D targets |
Overall, the ships turned out okay. While not very detailed, they do give a decent representation of coastal freighters and will make decent targets for 1/300 scale attackers. Plus the price was right.
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| One more comparison photo |
On a mostly unrelated subject, I don't have a Facebook account and for the most part I haven't seen the need for one. I can usually look at open groups (like the
Naval Wargaming group) and various manufacturers/vendors, even though I can't post to them. Lately though I seem to be missing out on some of the local gaming notices because the local group is closed. I was wondering if I should just bite the bullet and join. But I really don't need something else to take time away from already limited free time, so I think I'll stay in the dark for a while longer. That said, if any readers feel like posting any of my blog posts or photos to the appropriate Facebook groups, I'm sure I would enjoy the cross-traffic.
