Gunboats A Go Go

Now that I've upscaled and upcycled my old ACW river terrain modules for 1/600th wargaming, I have no real need for my scratch built and converted 1/2400th scale ironclad, tinclad and cottonclad gunboat models. Rather than bung then on to eBay, I thought I'd send them off to Nick Jones, author of the Bloody Betancourt blog, who has limited space to set up his naval wargames. 

I think he might find a use for them and, as I put it to him the other day, I'd rather they went to a good home rather than ending up being resold. If he finds a use for them that would be brilliant but if not I'm just pleased that they will be looked after by a fellow small scale enthusiast. Anyway, at least they're not gathering dust on a shelf any more!

ACW River Terrain Chop Shop

I dug out the jigsaw today and chopped off the river bank pieces from my old scratch built modular terrain. These need to be refurbished but, as it stands, there are nine 12" straight pieces, two 12" by 12" river bends, three end pieces and a small promontory, together with a small island made from a skirmish movement tray. I'll give these a tidy up and repaint then, eventually, use them for 1/600th scale ACW and WW1 riverine actions.

Indonesian Confrontation Brush Up

I've realised I only have a week or so left of holiday time to try and get something sorted, so instead of starting on the WW1 Ottoman fleet, I'm going to focus on the sea base refurbishment that I originally planned to do. Also, rather than starting with the War of the Pacific collection, I'm going to tackle the less fiddly and more straightforward 1/3000th scale  Indonesian Confrontation RN and IN warships instead. These were painted a few years ago with a dark blue mix using Foundry Union Blue, which I'm going to replace with Vallejo Dark Prussian Blue, which is a much better match for my sea cloth. I'll have to do this without removing the models from the bases but will replace the labels afterwards. I might even add a couple of models to the RN fleet, or some more aircraft, if I have the time.

The Spanish Civil War at Sea

I grabbed this today at 80% off the cover price in the Helion Publishing Summer Sale. I've thought about it as a naval project in 1/3000th scale and even filled out a Navwar order from for the required warships, but then Navwar went out of business and I shelves the planned project. Navwar are now back up and running, so this is now a feasible project for next year, making another book for the library a worthwhile use of my pocket money. Excellent!

ACW River Terrain Module Upcycling

I tried out my idea to recycle some redundant 1/2400th scale modular river terrain boards into river bank sections for 1/600th scale ACW and WW1 wargaming today. This involved cutting off a river bank length, filing it down, filling and texturing the edge, repainting it and adding some more clump foliage to upscale the vegetation. It's not quite right yet, but as a prototype it's not bad and was quite straightforward to do. I now have about ten more boards to convert, which is going to take me quite a lot of time!

WW1 Naval Project Pick Up

It's been absolutely nuts since coming back from Brittany, with a funeral in Bath, a day trip down to Plymouth to pick up stuff from the boy's flat and even a missing person man hunt for a friend's elderly relative, who wandered off from his sheltered housing and got lost overnight.

This means I've not had time for anything remotely wargaming related, so instead I've set out what I'm going to do for the rest of the month, prior to starting a new project in September.  

http://jimswargamesworkbench.blogspot.com/2025/06/summer-naval-project-ww1.html

I have been focusing on the First World War this year including the naval campaign in the Black Sea and the hint for the Goeben, with a Turkish fleet ready for painting, so this will be my focus for the rest of the month. 

I may also tinker with a few other things of a naval persuasion, such as rebasing the 1/600th War of the Pacific stuff and perhaps even refurbishing the 1/1200th scale models I was given, but nothing too much as I just won't get it done otherwise!

Jasta 18 Scenarios Sorted

 

I spent an hour or so today editing and formatting the scenarios for the Jasta 18, project, after play testing them over the last few months. There were only a handful of corrections or amendments to make so it didn't take long, but it was good to finally wrap them up, ready for the introductory article to be written. There's only one final scenario to play test before I can include it in the submission, which I'm hoping to try out sometime before the end of the month 

Lights, Camera, Action

I've been working on  photographing my 1/600th models for the Jasta 18 project, taking on board some advice I've been given by a couple of professional photographers, so have invested in some Peco model railway back scene sky sheets and some acrylic flight stands, in order to up my game. The idea is to set up and photograph some "action' scenes featuring the Jasta 18 aircraft and RAF opposition, after I've tarted up the models with some decent insignia. It's all a bit experimental but should be good fun, once I've mastered the digital camera instead of my crappy phone?

Messing about on the Mississippi

I'm planning ahead for my autumn projects, which will kick off at the start of next month, including a 1/600th American Civil War riverine or coastal naval project. I am going to have to pick one or the other, so a bit of background brushing up on the options is a good idea. At the moment, it's looking like the riverine option is the contender, as I have some really nice 3D printed models from Long Face Games, some fantastic Thoroughbred Miniatures metal models and lots of Peter Pig tinclad gunboats, rams and river monitors, albeit a bit more chunky and crude.

Big Red Bat Battlemat

I'm back from Brittany and have been unpacking, tidying up, mowing the lawn and generally sorting stuff out today, so no wargaming just yet. One nice thing was unpacking my new 6' x 4' terrain cloth from the Big Red Bat shop, complete with a very subtle 15cm square grid. This is destined for AK47 People's Edition, but I'm also going to use it for Strength and Honour, as my units have very similar base shades. 

I'm even considering using it for the Sandbox Skirmish 15mm solo project, which has been stalked for ages as I just couldn't decide how to go about the terrain. It only needs a 3' or 4' square area, so the cloth would be more than adequate and I can ignore the grid for aesthetic purposes. The figures and vehicles I've test painted also match quite well with the Iberian Plains design, with perhaps a little bit of a dry brush to get the shade just right. It was an expensive purchase but it's looking like good value for money.