"GHQ 1:1200 HMS Victory" Topic

If you guys will indulge me in another photo post, I'd like to share some pictures of GHQ's HMS Victory at full sail. This is actually the first GHQ ship kit I purchased, several years ago, and I really have no idea why I've only finished it now. I guess the time was ripe enough….

Incidentally, I've now started attaching black acrylic Litko bases to the models, and magnetic sheeting underneath that. I've got a large cigar box lined with flex-steel (both of those also from Litko) and now have a convenient and relatively safe way to transport these models. I got that idea from someone on this board, but I can't recall who. Whoever you are, thanks!

Lots of pictures and a plagiarized history of the ship itself here: link

- James

Very crisp lines and sense of "action" about her. Bases add so much to the eye candy as well. Glad you decided to finish it.

Beautiful

Wow, I'm so jealous.

Mark

As lovely as always. I really enjoy seeing the precision with which you work. So often you see these ship models made up and they end up looking a bit 'fluffy around the edges' but yours are pin sharp. Fantastic modelling and wonderful painting – two quite different skills.

Thanks guys, glad you like the models. Although my OCD is not making it easy to finish a fleet any time soon…. – James

Yes lovely!

Wow James, way better than mine! Your boats are pure perfection. I just finished l'Ocean but I'm ashamed to post it.

Thanks Vol, I appreciate the kind words, but definitely don't feel ashamed of your own work! I've seen the great rigging jobs you do. – James

very pretty ships…

But do they fight?

Thanks Lion in the Stars – actually at present they don't get to do much fighting. My work schedule and a lack of interest in the genre at the local club mean they spend most of their time siting around. Maybe I need to start worrying about dry rot….

- James

James, that's OK. No one around here will play with me either. All of the local clubs around here are into Warhammer fantasy gaming. Nobody does historical. I had the same situation in Alaska.

This post inspired me to go back and finish the running rigging on my Victory.

On another note James, do you ever attache flags, ensigns, pennants to your ships?

Oops, nevermind. I just read your answer to this question on your Santissima Trinidad post in the general gallery. Again I am so impressed with your work. Where did you get the color scheme for the Trinidad? Red and black I was familiar with, but the white is a beautiful touch.

Vol

Vol, I'm lucky that around here there is at least some interest in historical war gaming, although the fantasy subjects definitely have a bigger following. I'm (very slowly) trying to finish enough ships to provide two sides worth, since so far nobody else has any to contribute. I sure wish the subject matter had more fans…. I'm hoping that over time my own interest will infect others at the club.

Glad to hear you found the post inspiring!

As for the Santissima Trinidad's coloring, I forget now where I first read that British sailors present at Trafalgar described her as having red hull, black strakes and white stripes along the black. I tried to keep the white stripes as thin as possible – they are certainly out of scale, but that is as thin as I could make them, and anyway I was happy with the appearance.

I've read some debates about the coloring of the ship at the battle, with some arguing that the Spanish regulations of the time were very clear, and that the ship could not have had the red coloring that is often depicted in later artwork. My own choice was based partly on respect for the eye witness accounts, but much more on my liking the look and liking that it would make the model stand out on the table.

For the sake of eye candy, here are a couple shots of other people's depiction of ST at Trafalgar. The first is from the incredible diorama by Mr. Curro, of Spain, pictures of whose work have been posted on this board before. Obviously he's working at a much larger scale, and with much greater attention to detail and proportion. Really blows my mind! His blog is here:

dioramadetrafalgar.blogspot.com

And here is a closeup of ST where you can see the details of his color scheme:

And here is another really neat Trafalgar diorama I just came across recently, this one in 1/700 scale. Located here:

link

And here's a neat shot of his 1/700 Santissima Trinidad:

A neater effect than my stripes, but I just wasn't up to it in the 1/1200 scale.

Anyone have any thoughts on the historicity of the coloring?

- James

That 1/700 scale diorama by Pedro Ramos is awesome! Thanks for finding it for us James. So cool to actually see sailors and marines on the models.

Yeah, I agree, the crew really add a lot of life to the models, and put everything in scale. Every now and then I toy around with the idea of adding crew "figures" to a 1/1200 scale ship, in the form of 1mm pieces of colored rod, just to give the impression of a busy populated deck. But I always recover my sanity in time…..