"Langton 1/1200 Brig" Topic

Hello folks. I've been working on some Langton 1/1200 Napoleonic naval pieces recently, and just wanted to share photos. The latest one I've finished is a 20 gun brig. You can see more photos on my blog at

jwhitegallery.blogspot.com

Wow – those are really nicely done! I put together and painted on Langton ship, and promised myself Id never do it again (the rigging ugh!)….so, I KNOW how much work you put into this!

Those look great!

Doug

Very kind guys, thanks!

WOW! How many hours to paint one of these guys?

Magnificent! Those bases compliment your ships like a great frame for a nautical painting.

Very nice!

Simply awesome!

Thanks guys, I appreciate it. As for how long they take to paint, it's actually hard for me to say. I've never timed it carefully. It's definitely the rigging that takes the longest amount of time though. I'd say they usually take me about a week and a half, just working on them a bit in the evenings. Helps me stay patient with those tiny threads if I don't try to get it all done at once!

Very pretty.

I always ask, because everyone has a favorite –

What did you use for the standing and running rigging?

That is awesome work, I have tried my hand at this several times, but with no success (that I'm willing to share anyway). Will be checking your sight when I get home tonight for sure.

Doc

The rigging is all 'invisible' thread, a synthetic mono-filament that is sold for quilters who don't want certain stitches to show up. It's strong and thin and relatively easy to work with. Then I paint it with thinned down paint of the appropriate color, black for standing rigging and a sort of concrete for the running rigging. I like this approach because it gives me the option of not painting where the thread is tied around certain points, so the knots are then hard to see.

I am currently working on a few ships from Langton. Your work is really nice ! What about this anchor I can see on the brig ? Did you make it yourself ? I bought 20 or 30 ships from Langton but never saw any…

He got them from GHQ kits – most of theirs have more than enough anchors for the kit being built (i.e. SPARES!),

craft store bead jewlery stringing wire. stainless steel, black nylon coated. try it.

Beautifully painted, based, and photographed!

BTW, why do you prefer the brass sails over the 3D-effect cast sails? True the brass ones are thinner, but they look too regular in shape from the side, IMHO.

MH

Ditto – the paint was all acrylic, mostly Floquil and Citadel. I've never really given oils a try, I think I am too impatient to deal with the drying times.
For the invisible thread, it can definitely be a bit fussy and difficult to see, but I find it helps to use a dark colored work surface, and angle a light at it just right so the thread catches the light. Other than that its a lot of slouching and squinting.

Hinds – personally I like the brass sails just because they are so thin, it feels more to scale to me. Although I have a couple GHQ kits with masts and sails that are all one piece, all cast metal, and I was surprised to find them as satisfactory as I did.

Thanks for the kind words guys!

Really beautiful job! I especially like the rigging and water. What did you use for the base?

I'm going to look into the invisible thread. I started out using black and tan cotton thread, then I discovered horse hair. I like it because it is pliable enough to tie knots and yet stiff enough not to sag unless I model it that way.

I am low on spare GHQ anchors and the last 5 GHQ ships I bought didn't come with any. Have to figure out a way to make them for the Langtons.

Volunteer – the bases are ready made resin pieces from Langton. I like to use larger ones than they recommend for particular classes of ships, both for the appearance and for the safety of the model. Has to be at lest long enough to extend beyond the bowsprit, and leave a margin behind.
I'd never heard of the horsehair option. Where have you found it? Sagging lines are definitely one of the biggest challenges for these models, I have to be very careful balancing the tensions in all directions to get good tautness.
I'm running out of anchors myself sadly! I too will have to start fashioning them from scratch.

Whitejamest – My wife has 3 horses so when I need some I just grab a curry comb and within a few strokes of the mane or tail, I have all I need for several ships. I'm sure anyone with horses would let you clean a curry brush. Contact a local 4-H group and ask for some horse hair. They will probably ask you what color you want. A little goes a long way.

I can't figure out how to get one of my jpg photos in this post. If you have suggestions how I can, or an e-mail, I will send you a photo of a horse hair rigged ship.

I'd sure like to see the pictures. To get the above pictures in to the post what I did was just copy the web location of the pictures from my blog site, pasting it in to the body of the post here. So if you have your images up on the web somewhere you can do that. You could also send them to me at whitejamest@gmail.com and it would be much appreciated!

I don't have a website or blog site, just on my computer. I sent you the e-mail.