War of the Pacific Base Bosh - Chileans

I finished repainting and relabelling the bases on my 1/2400th scale Chilean fleet for the War of the Pacific at the weekend, so that's another thing on the 'to do' list ticked off. I have a few slots left empty in the storage box which I'm planning to fill with transports and armed merchant ships but I'm having trouble locating suitable models, either to convert or to use as proxies. I can also add more torpedo boats for both sides and perhaps even a submarine, the Toro, but for the moment it's job done and dusted! 

War of the Pacific Base Bosh - Peru

I'm now focused on some old projects that either need finishing off or just tweaking a bit to give them a refresh. First up are my Chilean and Peruvian fleets for the War of the Pacific, which I've always wanted to bring into line with my other naval projects by repainting the bases. The Peruvian fleet has now been refurbished and the slightly larger Chilean fleet with follow tomorrow, given a bit of free time to sort them out. 

War of the Pacific Base Repainting

I've been meaning to repaint the bases of my 1/2400th scale War of the Pacific models for a while, as they don't match my other ironclad ships and are too dark compared to the blue sea terrain cloth that I use for games. This is a relatively simple task but does require some precision to avoid getting paint all over the models. The base labels will be replaced with new ones printed on more durable thin card, so I don't need to worry about splashing blue paint all over them. It'll be a good job once done as I'd like to run some more games with the Chilean and Peruvian fleets, having really enjoyed the scenarios I devised for Dahlgren and Columbiad a few years ago, although I might dust off Iron and Fire instead? 

Tying Up More Loose Ends

Too dark 

I'm getting there slowly but surely with my Chilean and Peruvian pre-dreadnoughts and have been thinking about the next one of loose ends to tidy up. I've been meaning to repaint the bases on my War of the Pacific ships for months, if not years, so that job is a strong contender for a weekend in the not too distant future. I've repainted bases before and it's a relatively simple, if slightly fiddly job, but it does make them match the sea cloth I use to a far better effect. I'll make a start as soon as the current Chilean pre-dreadnoughts are finished and while I paint up the Argentinian models.

Battle of Pacocha Ships Finished

I'm calling these finished, give or take a flag or two, so will start working on a scenario draft for Dahlgren and Columbiad over the next few days. I also need to devise the ship record sheets for HMS Shah and HMS Amethyst, for which I've already done some preliminary scribbling. I'm looking forward to a game at some point fairly soon.

Battle of Pacocha Painting Finished

I was looking forward to a game of Armoured Storm at the club this evening but unfortunately I've had to postpone it due to a family upset, as my son was taken ill today at work. It's nothing serious but it knocked him for six and meant that we had to tie up some loose ends, making club night a non starter. 

To make up for this in part, I finished painting HMS Shah, HMS Amethyst and the Huascar for the Battle of Pacocha in 1979. I will add base labels and magnetic strip later but they are now ready for action to all intents and purposes. I'm going to work out some ship data for the Royal Navy warships and write up a scenario for Dahlgren and Columbiad.

Blocking and Washing

The blocking in is now complete and a wash applied, so I just have to wait for it to fully dry then start on the highlights and details. I had to mix up a new batch of what I call my ironclad wash and I'm not sure if it's quite right, but will have to wait and see what happens. Hopefully any screw ups will be sorted out when I apply the highlights on top.

Blocking In Bang On!

Slow progress today on the Battle of Pacocha ships but they are well underway, with the white blocking in and tan earth decking basecoat applied to all three models. The fun bit is next, adding a base layer of shades for the masts, funnels, ratlines and sails, which should take too long now that the white layer has been done. It's worth it to make the colours pop and to make it easier to cover over the black undercoat.

Battle of Pacocha Blocking In

Now that I've completed the German and Soviet tank company painting for Armoured Storm, which appeared out of nowhere a couple of weeks ago, I can return to what I was supposed to be doing, namely painting the 1/2400th scale ships for the Battle of Pacocha. These have been base coated so I'm now on to the blocking in stage, which mainly involves lots of white paint for the upper works. It's a bit fiddly but I actually quite enjoy this bit, as it makes the highlights really pop later on. 

Battle of Pacocha Painting Progress

I've now undercoated the three 1/2400th scale ships for the Battle of Pacocha, then base coated the sea bases in Vallejo Dark Prussian Blue. In the photo this looks rubbish but it will be fine once I dry brush and varnish the bases at the end of the painting process. Next, I'll add all of the white base coat and lining out, then block in the decks, masts and funnels ready for an ink wash. I think I'll be able to get at least some of that done tomorrow as, apart from trimming the back garden hedge, all of my jobs have been done today...?

Tumbling Dice 1/2400th HMS Amethyst

This is the last of the ships for the battle of Pacocha, the Royal Navy corvette HMS Amethyst, using the more recent Tumbling Dice ASV11 Screw Sloop model as a basis for adaptation. I cut away the sails from the bowsprit, foremast and mizzenmast, then replaced them with masts and spars from cut down staples. This was easier than I thought it would be but there was quite a lot of trimming, filing and sanding involved. It's not a perfect match for HMS Amethyst but it's not bad, especially as there's nothing else that would do the job.

Tumbling Dice 1/2400th Huascar

This is today's output, a slightly modified Tumbling Dice model of the Huascar for the Battle of Pacocha in 1877. I added a new tripod foremast with cut down staples for the arms, a boom from the main mast and spare on both masts, to replicate the original rig of the Huascar in Peruvian service. This changed several times over the years she was in service with both Peru and Chile, my other models being later versions from the War of the Pacific. 

Tumbling Dice 1/2400th HMS Shah

Not a lot achieved today due to family stuff, apart from assembling a Tumbling Dice model of HMS Shah for the Battle of Pacocha. As my War of the Pacific ships are all modelled without sails, I followed the same approach with this one, removing the cast on spanker, replacing the spanker gaff with a furled sail, then adding cut down staples for all of the spars. I did think of replacing all of the booms with staples but that seemed a bit too much trouble. It's a bit rough around the edges but will look fine when it's painted up. 

War of the Pacific Revisited

The next thing I'm going to tackle, having successfully refurbished the sea bases on my Indonesian Confrontation models, is a similar repainting job on my 1/2400th scale War of the Pacific fleets. I had a lot of fun devising scenarios and playing games with these a few years ago, but they've been gathering dust since. The plan is to give them a refresh by repainting the bases in my default shades, while also adding a few additional models. These include a third model of the Huascar in Peruvian rebel colours, together with HMS Shah and HMS Amethyst, the latter using the Tumbling Dice model of the Chilean corvette O'Higgins. These will allow me to replay the battle of Pacocha in May 1877, which I've been wanting to do for ages. 

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!

War of the Pacific Refurbishment

I have a couple of weeks of holiday time left and will be back home, so I am going to refurbish my 1/2400th scale Chilean and Peruvian ships by repainting the bases to match my sea cloth. When I painted these a few years ago I made them too dark and I've never been happy with the end result. It's something I've done before with other fleets and although a bit fiddly, I'll be able to make greater use of them afterwards. If I have time, I'm also going to refurbish my Cold War Indonesian Confrontation 1/3000th scale warships to use with the recently published supplement for Find, Fix and Strike. 

INWarD25

Unfortunately I'm on holiday in France, so no naval wargaming for me today, with an ironclads bash scheduled for next week when I'm back in Blighty. Not sure what yet but I haven't played any War of the Pacific scenarios for ages, so might dig out an old one for a bit of Chilean and Peruvian ironclad action?

1/1200 War of the Pacific Extras

Now that I have some 1/1200 scale warships for the War of the Pacific, I thought I'd add a few more using those new fangled 3D printed models. These are from David Manley's Long Face Games range via Big Jim Prints, and include HMS Shah, HMS Amethyst, the Peruvian monitor Victoria (which didn't see any action) and the Peruvian monitor Atahualpa, which actually did. I'd really like to get a second model of the Huascar, to represent it under the  Chilean flag, but it doesn't seem to be available in this range just yet....

1/1200 War of the Pacific

I had a really nice surprise yesterday at the club, when one of the veteran players who I've known for years but haven't seen for ages, gifted me this box of lovely 1/1200th scale ironclads. These belonged originally to a founder member of the club and true gentleman, David Spender, who tragically died from cancer a few years ago. He was a great naval wargaming enthusiast and was fascinated by obscure conflicts, so very inspirational for me as I returned to wargaming twenty years or more ago. I'm dead chuffed to have inherited these models, a mix of Northhead Miniatures and Red Eagle / Skytrex, so will now be able to play some scenarios on a larger scale, possibly using Iron and Fire for al but more depth and detail. I'll probably revise them and touch up the paint work a bit, but otherwise they're ready for action!

The Battle of Pacocha 1877

I've been inspired by my newly thumbed Osprey book on the War of the Pacific to add the Tumbling Dice warships for the Battle of Pacocha to my existing fleets. The aforementioned ASV61 Huascar will be joined by the ASV127 HMS Shah and ASV11 Screw Sloop models, the latter being a pretty good match for HMS Amethyst. I already have the models so it's just a case of assembling and painting them as a mini-project over September. This will fit in nicely with my ongoing Chilean and Argentinian pre-dreadnought painting project.