"Shapeways 1/1250 ships of the Cod War" Topic

I've been busy constructing a set of models for use with Dave Manleys Cod War rules.
Set 1 is here – 6 models
shpws.me/ngzy

The first version of this model got rejected by shapeways after they had trouble producing the model but we have just had our first successful print of the second version.
Apologies to a couple of you who have (or are about to) receive a rejection e-mail – please just re-order, the new version should print.

Set 2 is underway with the Sister ship of Tyr, Aegir being slightly different, Odinn now completed, just need to add some stern trawlers.

Thats excellent, I need some stern trawlers :)

I do rather like the looks of those – might tack a set on next time I can afford a Shapeways order…. :-)

Nice work, I can see a shapeways order coming on.

Can I ask a technical question? I'm interested in doing some ship modelling myself and geting them printed by shapeways and I was just wondering what sort of tolerances you work to when modelling things like masts, pipes and suffice detail /texture. For example how small a diameter can you go to for a mast so that it isn't going to be too fragile to use? Or how much to you abstract suffice detail? Sorry bit of a off topic question.

These ships are pushing the boundaries a bit – no other 3d printing company will touch them.

Here are their guidelines for the materials.

link

You can get away with some "wires" of 0.3 to 0.6mm thick if they're under 5mm long.

It can take several attempts before they actually print.
Shapeways usually do a manual check before printing and send you a picture if they find things wrong.

In this case they didn't find anything the first time round and the first print run failed so I corrected that and David now has the first copy – hopefully he'll post a pic of them shortly :)

Yes yes, but when are we going to see ships and rules for the Spanish-Canadian Turbot War? :-)

Anyone else just Googled that and gone "oh, there really *was* a Spanish-Canadian turbot war"…?

I wouldn't make something that serious up Dom!

I tried to play it out as a "hot" war with computer Harpoon once, but my computer's processor wasn't up to the challenge. I think if I'd left it running for the last 17 years, the two forces might finally be within airstrike range now.

To at least stay somewhat on topic, I think some of these ships would work for it, you'd just need the actual warships added.

If anyone wants rules for the Spanish-Canadian Turbot War just give me a shout. The cod war rules will work just fine, I'll only need to sort out some ship stat cards and some variant rules. I have already developed a variant set covering Japanese whalers vs. Greenpeace ships (Decapod, do you fancy giving them a try??)

I'm pleased to say I'm the first person to see this for real, my order arrived yesterday.

I really can't fault them, I think anyone who buys these are not going to be disappointed.

I'm really looking forward to Cod Wars Batch 2.

Hi David – I better step up, I'd be interested, as long as it's not too much work for you. The really "hot" version (Hornets vs. Harriers) is probably outside the scope of Cod Wars, but I have the C21 air rules for that.

Edit – it would give me an interesting Canadian military history game to run at a future Hotlead convention.

Just noticed the reference to the Spanish-Canadian Turbot War, and remember the British and Irish supported the Canadians during this one.

I happened to visit Bangor in Northern Ireland during this dispute and was amazed at everything that was capable of floating, from fishing boats to cabin cruisers and rowing boats, had Canadian flags proudly flying from their masts, staffs, or temporarily tied on flag poles! :-)

OK, I'll see what I can do :)

DM's pursuit of the weird and wonderful of naval warfare continues!

We could use some Japanese and Chinese Coast Guard vessels, amongst others, which I imagine might be useful in other areas too, e.g. King Crab or Lobster wars between the US, Canada, Russia, etc. as well.

Possibly North and South Korea too, but am not sure what sized vessels they've used there for skirmishes.

Decapod, thanks for the advice it's very helpful! Ill post some renders before I send them off to shapeways to get some more advice :)

David, the green peace vs Japanese whalers sounds like a fun game to me

One of my teacher chums used the Greenpeace vs whalers game as an educational aid at his school a few years back. It seemed to go down a storm. I recall getting emails from a marine biologist regarding the behaviour and speed of various types of whales as I'd got them slightly wrong in the rules:D

Delighted to hear these have been sorted!

Now, next question: anybody know any sources for deck/upper surface colours for the ICGVs and colour scheme generally for the tug?

Colkitto, the best I can tell you is light grey for hull and superstructure, all decks a slightly darker grey.

I don't really know what exact colours that were used, so unless someone else knows this, I'm just going to pick a couple of colours that "look right".

I'll be reaching for the paint brush on Monday…

ICGVs were light grey hulls, dark grey decks.

the tug was (IIRC) black hull, white superstructure, yellow funnels

Model of the Lloydsman that was made by the bosun on her, so it ought to be the right colours…. ;-)

I second the request for Japanese/Chinese/Taiwanese fishing boats (and coast guard types)!

A couple of pics from the cod war period I found show Odinn had brown foredeck and darker brown helipad but the rest as above:

This may be useful to get some real background on the story – parts 1 to 5

YouTube link

It seems there are a lot of mini wars at sea – it could take me a while to make all the models.

All excellent stuff – thanks gentlemen. The YouTube material looks fascinating.

So, Cuchulainn: pictures in due course, I trust?

Yes Colkitto, I just started on Tyr today. Don't be expecting a masterpiece as I'm not a very good painter, but as soon as she's finished I'll let you see her.

@decapod: have you seen the Form1 stereolithography 3d printer? A bit pricey for a hobbyist, but pretty awesome for fine detail!

The Form 1 is the only one that comes close to the quality needed for high detail models. I thought they were having patent problems?

Give it a couple of years – remember colour inkjets?

Need a trawler type in 1/2400 for use as a Russian AGI.

Hmmm… I'm not having much luck getting the paint to dry. I started painting on Monday, and just before I left for work this morning my Humbrol enamel is stil coming off when it's touched.

Any suggestions lads?

After washing I usually apply a thin coat of varnish.

Is it not drying or is it flaking off? I've only ever used acrylics with this material.
Even with Acrylics you need to be gentle with touching until a final coat of matt varnish is applied.

Hi Paul,

It's not drying. I might try stripping the enamel off and using acrylics instead. I'll give it another day or so to see what happens first though.

The Form 1 is the only one that comes close to the quality needed for high detail models. I thought they were having patent problems?

Give it a couple of years – remember colour inkjets?

Well, Form1 just ran a Kickstarter, and they're offering pre-orders that are supposed to ship in May. It's still something like $3,200 USD, but that's a whole lot less than any other stereolithography printer.

I do expect the prices to drop, just not as much as color inkjets. More like color lasers. If I end up with a job that lets me afford the Form1 to play with in the next year, I will pick one up just for fun. Model and print off a couple of those Jovian Chronicles Macleod program modular ships, and maybe some other stuff as grabs my fancy.

I ordered my set a day after Cuchulainn – they've finally sent me a note to say it's on the way. It took a week longer!

Looking forward to getting hold of these at last.

You could try putting the painted mini under a small desklamp, to bake it, if it isn't resin, or plastic.

A low to mid-range wattage incandescent bulb would be best for "baking", assuming your government still permits the sale of those, or you've been able to keep one from prehistoric times.

Yesrday Japanese whalers hit Greepeace ships with grenades and ramming in Australian Antactric waters. All a bit serious really. Luckily no hint of the Australian Navy getting involved, but the Japanese have beat a retreat anyway.

@Mako: You can also use halogen desk lamps, I can still find those bulbs at the stores in the US.

I strongly suggest more distance, halogens run much hotter than old-school tungsten incandescent.

My Cod War set part one arrived Friday too… A few trawlers, a couple of icelandic gun boats and a british tug (lloydsman)
Been too busy painting (a room) to do anything on them yet…

Shapeways link here : shpws.me/ngzy

Stealth ships! Looks like the Navy's Philadelphia Experiment worked!

My models painting is coming along nicely now.

Just a small warning – it took me two attempts to get them clean after they arrived.
The second time I actually brushed on "Flash" liquid detergent with a modeling paint brush before dunking them into hot water. That seemed to do the trick of getting rid of the last of the oily substance.

I'll post a few pics soon but Tyr almost finished, the rest have base colours.
Looking at the youtube links again, the lloydsman decking was mostly red.

The second set is still coming, just got hit by lots of work recently.
I should have it ready to test on shapeways next week.
I'll also do a few mix and match sets for anyone who wants just trawlers or just gunboats etc.

Several requests for Star Aquarius to be included. Probably not in this set but I'll probably do a 3rd set now.

Got mine today! Very impressive models, and I am looking forward to painting them. The detail is remarkably fine – so fine in fact that what I assume is the mainmast on the tug (above the funnels/exhausts) was broken off in the packet. I think that's almost inevitable with such a fine model when put in a bag and there may not be any way to avoid it. The only other odd thing was that they were wet! But very nice indeed.

The "wet" is oil – make sure you wash them very, very well!

Must get some photos of mine partly painted.

A bit fo a disaster yesterday when I lost the file of the stern trawler just as I completed it :(
(Must remember to backup more frequently)

Starting again now so could be a bit of a delay on the next set.

Slowly rebuilding the trawler – more info here:

decapod99.wordpress.com

Give it a day ot two till they put it into production, then I'll make it publicly available.

I'll also do some mixed sets of trawlers and gunboats.

Time to move onto set 3

Apologies to those that ordered set 2 and got it rejected yesterday.
The file has now been fixed and it should print this time.

shpws.me/nufL

I have also produced a set containing just the trawlers if anyone is interested in those.

shpws.me/nt7e

Set 3 is now available… ICGV Ver (same as Baldur), HMS Exmouth, Star Aquarius and Star Polaris

shpws.me/nGpl