"My first attempt at a Langton Miniatures Frigate." Topic

Very much inspired by the work and pictures of 'Volunteer' here at TMP I could not resist having a crack at building a few Napoleonic ships. This is still 'work in progress' but the hull is painted and I'm now working on the brass sails.

I'm sketchy on detail to be honest, but guided by Rod Langtons book I'm pleased with the results so far. I'll add a couple more images once shes completed. Any comments or suggestions most welcome….. I'm very much a novice!

She is a Frigate and will be modelled at Easy Sail with courses furled. I intend her to as fully rigged as I can achieve!

Cheers,
Lee.

So far:

Looks really good

The rigging is not as hard as it sounds either, and is well worth doing

cant wait to see the final results

Al

Your painting looks impressive. A nicely painted fleet of these is one of the fine sights of miniature wargaming.

Very nice paint job indeed!

Thank you for the supportive comments, much appreciated. I have done a bit more work on her, still need to tidy up the paint job and check references on mast and sail colours etc. Added the ratlines, she almost went flying across the room at one point but patience prevailed! I need to add the sails to the bowsprit, not sure how they fit yet.

All in all, I'm happy so far.The 'sea base' requires more blending work yet.

Any hints and tips welcome.

Here she is so far now:

It's looking great Lee, excellent work! – james

The base looks great too.

Beautiful, simply beautiful.

Wow. That's fantastic. I can't give you an tips because that's way better than I could do.

Very impressive wourk sir, beautiful painted.

As for your question about blending on the base ive got nice results from a wash and then a gloss varnish over the dry brushing.

Cant wait to see her finished :)

Wow that's incredible!

Brilliant!

Excellent work. Keep it up.

OMG Lee! If you are a novice with that paint job I may as well give up. She is absolutely beautiful!

Thanks again for the comments, very much appreciated.

Ben walton – I'll give the base a coat of gloss varnish as you suggest, I think I may need to darken the overall look slightly though first?

Volunteer – it was browsing your web site that led to me ordering a couple to try! I did attempt a couple about 15 years ago or so but lacked the patience to finish them back then. I should say that I do paint a LOT of figures and work a lot in 6mm scale so I'm used to fiddly stuff and brushwork. You can browse some of my work on my blog if you would care to take a look?

link

These ships were things of great beauty considering they were built as weapons of destruction, I love the detail that went into them. I have realised that I should have started the rigging before glueing the ratlines on? I wonder if I can get away without removing it again, what do you think?

I hope to get her rigged and flagged over the weekend so will post a few pics of her once finished.

Thanks all,

Lee.

Try a black or a dark blue wash over the base before you put the gloss varnish on should blend it all a bit as well.

Looks absolutely brilliant though wish I could get resalts like that at 1:1200

Actually Lee, setting the ratlines first is OK. The lower and upper loop for the mast standing rigging gets in the way if you wait. I have tried it both ways and each way has its difficulties.

Hmmm, maybe I should send you my 2MM troops & wagons to paint.

Regards,
Vol

Thanks Ben walton, I'll try that.

Vol, I spent an hour yesterday attempting the first rigging lines ….. certainly tested my patience, I can tell you! But I'm determined to do it. For me painting is the easy part, I may as well have been wearing a pair of boxing gloves!!

Thanks for the comment on the blog, hopefully by Monday I'll have this done, I have a British 74 gun to do next.

Appreciate your support and input,

Cheers,
Lee.

How are you doing the rigging. Don't try to tie anything. I would coat long pieces of thread with white glue to stiffen it. Then cut out lengths of desired size ands glue. Can do easier with shrouds already up.

Hi Lee,
Sorry for not seeing this sooner. You will not know me, but Vol is a friend. Your painting is Oh! so good. I hate you!
O.K. Standing rigging, rat lines then running riging.
I use bent fine tweezers and dip the thread in super-glue to make the end hard. It helps alot with the rigging. As Vol said I think you can still do the standing rigging under the rat-lines, you have space this time, looking at the photo. Your lucky.
Be safe
Rory

Lee, the WH Trafalgar book has a great section on rigging the ships. Very easy to follow – relatively speaking. Like Rory, I dip the end of the thread in thn CA glue to harden it. Makes for easier threading. The guide calls for holes drilled in the masts and hull at certain points, which I pre-drill before assembly and paint. I happen to rig the ships then add ratlines.

Very nice work!

She's just about finished (at last!). Been a steep learning curve but I do feel really proud of her. Just need to gloss the sea base and add pennants.

Cheers for all the advice and tips along the way.I can see a few errors but next time I hope to improve.

Thanks again chaps :-)

Lee.

Excellent job Lee. She is gorgeous! Obviously not British from the rigging (Rory taught me that) and I like the boat towing behind. You are the only other person I have seen do that. I think it adds to the realism. I have been toying with the idea of doing one with boats towing a ship with slack sails (when I figure a way to make slack sails) or kedging the ship. There won't be anything more from me for at least 3 or 4 months though.

Anxiously waiting to see your 74 take shape (and this one with colours….Spanish maybe? Or is she a Frenchy?)

Regards,
Vol

Thanks again Vol. Could you please explain the differences in the rigging? I had no idea it differed between nations. Damn…..I wanted her to be British! Oh well. live and learn as they say.

Cheers,
Lee.

Btw, I think I copied the towed ship idea from your blog!

Lee,
If you have Rod Langtons book on Rigging and painting,
page 41 if not the running rigging of the mizzen mast go back to the top boom of the spanker on Britishs ships. On all other nations the rigging goes forward to the main mast
Be safe
Rory

She looks brilliant sir, you've inspired me to finish my one off….. at last… also like the touch of adding the boat

Wow…absolutely beautiful model! The way you did the deck work really makes the tiny detail pop out. Very impressive!!