"Basing 1/3000 Scale Ships" Topic

Hello Friends,

Just got my first lot of 1/3000 Davco from WarWeb. (Great service…)

I'm curious the best way to base these. The largest ships are just short of 4 inches. Cruisers would fit onto a 3" base and destroyers and subs on 2" bases. Someone suggested basing everything on 4x1 bases for scale perspective. An interesting idea, but a lot of open space for smaller ships. I am tempted to go with 4x1 for BB / Carriers 3x1 for Cruisers and 2" for Destroyers and smaller ships with a flag and ship id label possibly running the length of the base in 1/4" width. Would prefer accross the base of 1" but not sure I could fit things properly into such a small space.

Would appreciate hearing from the long time naval war gamers.

Thanks,

Aku

Here's how I do all my naval:

link

Im not familiar with a lot of the naval rules out there but here are bases sizes recommended in the rules I do use. All three sets are predreadnought. I bought Battlestations, Battlestation for WWII but have not played them because they got put away when the house was spiffed up for Christmas and I havent seen them since :>D.

"Battlefleet 1900" and its fastplay brother "Qucikfire" by Wartimes Journal – For 1/3000 scale miniature bases a standard size range of ¾" x 2" (20mm x 50mm) for most capital ships. The lengths may be adjusted upward or downward for other ships sizes. Since I based my ships for Damn Battleships Again I just use those for all three games.

"Damn Battleships Again" – 1/3000 100mm or 4 inches long. Base widths are half the length.I know these are large but they force the appropriate spacing between ships in the battleline.

By the way, both sets are free. (Yeah, Im cheap and like simple rules.)

Al

My labels are not as nifty as Extra Crispy's. Most are just a typed name glued to the base. I saw an interesting basing which I may try. The bases were clear plastic with the ships wakes painted on the base. The bases were thick enough that a label with the ships name was glued to the side of the base. When looking top down or from the opposite side you were hardly aware of the label. Might do this with a magnetic system inspired by EC's to allways have the bases side with the name pointing towards my side of the table.

Al

I was the person who suggested the consisted scale size. If you don't want to use that approach, then what you suggest would probably be fine.

Here's a pic of a few Davco WWII ships on 4" bases. The color is off (the ocean is blue!). . . but you get the idea.

picture

Soulmage,

What is the width of your 4" bases?

Maybe I can use 4" for the largest ships and 3" for everything else.

Curious as to your labeling methods and width of the labels there. 1/4" wide?

The litko bases can really be ordered in any size you want. Personally, I use 1x3, 1x4, and I think 1.25x5.

The labels you see in those pictures come from mywifepaintsbattleships.com and run about .3" wide.

Great Gallery there…

Are you printing them on Avery labels? If so which ones and what font size? Any help here appreciated.

Thanks for mentioning the base sizes.

I have my first ships but held off on basing till I studied it.

OLD DOMINION GAME WORKS will soon be releasing clear plastic bases with a ship wake already printed on.

It ummmm….might be MY fault they are not already released, because I sort of pointed out the originals had errr…..kind of 'funny wakes'. By I then supplied them with some aerial information, so they have altered them to look more real. But they should be available soon!

As for labels…I like to keep mine as simple and unintrusive as possible. Printed name, small flag for nationality.

I print my labels on normal printer paper. Make sure to let them try before trying to apply them or the ink will run.

I cut them out (the correct height but a bit long on one end). Then I paint a strip of white glue along the base where the label will go. Apply the label and smooth it flat. Clip the end even with the base with scissors.

Here's the tricky part… then I wait about 30 seconds, and stretch the label (it will have started to wrinkle again) and trim it again.

Once the glue dries overnight, I apply clear flat lacquer over the top to keep it from disintigrating or smearing.

Same process works for wood bases:
link

Or clear:
link

I use some plastic card cut to fit the length of the ship. I then use the Vallejo water effect stuff and make waves with a cocktail stick.

You see some examples on my blog

combatlane.blogspot.com

I would double check sizing if you want all the same size base idea. Your pics look like they are good. The largest 1/3000 I have seen is a Midway Carrier by Navwar 1945.

Where do you get the clear bases? If you cut your own, what clear material do you use and what do you use to cut them?
Thanks,
Mike