"Triremes in Plastic or Resin" Topic

I tried submitting an idea to Wargames Factory, but I have been essentially ignored. I have tried looking around at other manufacturers that could cast triremes in plastic. Many will if I come up with two things:

1. A 3D model such as one created with autocad.

2. Enough money to make it worth their while to do an initial run.

Coming up with #2 is not a problem, but I probably would have to sell 80% as I don't need a thousand ships. Coming up with #1 is a little more difficult.

I would have to understand the dynamics of creating masters and molds so that the ship survives being ejected from the mold. Scale is also an issue.

If I choose 1/300, I can get marines in 6mm. Any other scale results in blobs.

I don't want to reinvent the wheel, so does anyone know any companies that produce triremes in plastic or resin? Any scale would do for now, but 1/300 would be great.

Thanks,
Condor

Steve Barber does a couple of Roman gallies in 10mm with marines. Big enough to use individual figures on deck if you so wish. I like the look of them, but I'm not into naval warfare.

link
>10mm
>Roman Naval

I seem to recall that Zvezda do a Romand and a Greek galley in plastic in 20mm scale.

Rod Langton does several 1:300 triremes in resin, with white metal and etched fittings. Well illustrated on his site:

link

His service is excellent, and he is a very helpful as well.

Steve

They are not resin or plastic, so they may very well not be remotely what you are looking for, but….

Eric Hotz does some very nice Roman and Cartheginian ships in 1/300 as paper, or card, models for assembly. The price from Wargames Vault, particularly during a sale, is very reasonable, so you might give them a look:

romanseas.com

Dennis

So far, so good. Each of these choices have their pros and cons.

Steve Barber's models are gorgeous. Would love to use them, but the price and shipping is totally prohibitive for large scale encounters.

Rod Langton's models, while smaller, are almost as good looking on the table. Like Steve Barber's models, the price and shipping put them out of my ball park.

I have the Roman Seas books. Of course the prices are well within my pocket, and they do have a wonderful table presence. However, I am not sure I have the patience to build the number of ships that I want in paper.

link

I think the link is not too far off from my abilities with an exacto blade.

I hope that the discussion will start put an idea into someone's head that can make this happen.

Thanks for the feedback,
-Condor

If you are looking to do large scale encounters then 1:300 might be too big. Have you seen these by Xyston. They are 1:600. You can buy marines, towers, throwing engines, etc. from them too. Also, the price is good.

For scale, and from memory, the square beads are 1cm (ish)

link

Depending on the manufacturer, you may only need to provide a CAD file of the 'reme itself. After all, they're the experts in plastic molding, they should be able to make the proper spruing decisions.

Still not easy, but less complicated. Unless John Bear Ross wants to play around with some ancients?

Pendraken do a couple of 1/200th 10mm galleys.

AAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhh!

Everytime I follow the links I see exactly what I want, but not exactly what I can afford. The Xyston models are awesome as well, especially the way they are presented in Olicana's link/blog.

Maybe I am thinking in terms of too many ships (75 to be exact). Looking at the Xyston site, I see 450 pounds for the ships and 50 pounds for the shipping = 500 pounds = $810 USD + $24 USD for the currency exchange. Those Roman Seas ships are looking reallllly good right about now.

There's always Valiant Enterprises. Their ships are 1/900 (about 37mm) and they have a fleet pack system; no packaging, but the ships only cost $1.88 USD and free shipping on orders over $75.50.

I know those plastic ships are out there, or will be…

Thanks,
-Condor

Make your own masters and cast them yourself. Not that difficult to do and affordable.

Dan

Skytrex for 1/600 (2mm)? I'm guessing cheaper than Xyston

Xyston and Langton are both sold at Brookhurst Hobby and Langton is sold by another distributor in VA, though I can't remember the name. That saves quite a bit on the exchange rate and shipping…

regards, Bill

Dude ,balsa wood and sandpaper make for some fine hulls.Oar banks are an ez sheet styrene insert etched with black art pen.I knocked out 20 in an afternoon.

Dude, no. It's a good idea, maybe even better if someone posted a safe way on the net. But given my skills with an exacto, and my diabetes, I have to be really careful.

The Valiant ships are actually very nice and in some respects, superior in detail to the Xyston ships. However, they are smaller and in a number of examples that I have, there are quite a few where it appears that although the mold was starting to disintegrate, they kept casting anyway. This resulted in certain areas being filled with metal blobs which would have to be milled out with a Dremel and a delicate bit.

I have an example of every Xyston ship and for the scale, I feel that they really fell short on detail – but I also think that they are an ideal size. Choices, choices…

Old Glory Shipyards call themselves 15mm. but they are pretty close to the 1/300 scale used by Eric Hotz. I have both, and them mix pretty well. I use 1/300 scale marines and catapults from Irregular with the ships.