"Stone Mountain Shore Batteries on the Blog" Topic

In the latest post, I take a look at some of the shore battery offerings from Stone Mountain Miniatures. Please check it out at:
mymodelsailingships.blogspot.com

BWW

I agree that the Stone Mountain 1/1000 guns look icky, and it bothered me enough that I replaced them with the Fort guns from the Brigade Models range of Small Scale Scenery, and with extras from the Thoroughbred 1/1200 scale ACW ships I built as unarmed targets (transports, merchants, etc.). The Brigade Models guns are a bit oversized and have the wrong type of carriage for the Age of Sail, but at this size it doesn't matter much.

On the bright side, it is nice that the Stone Mountain guns have crew cast on; fortresses and deck guns without crew look creepy and abandoned. If you decide to keep them, maybe you'll be able to make them look okay with paint and perhaps some dressing up.

You can also scratch-build decent-looking AoS guns by gluing together a staggered stack of .010 plastic strips and a piece of wire on the top. If you use brass or black wire, the gun barrel is already the right color and doesn't need painting. :-)

- Ix

You could also use some of the Eduard naval figures repainted as French, Spanish, etc.

Ix,
Oh, I'm going to keep them and I think they will paint up OK. They're actually about the same as Irregular's 2mm minis that I use for infantry and landing parties. I also have some Brigade Models guns along with some from Langton (I think). The carriages are not Age of Sail, like you said, but if someone is going to criticize THAT, then they're welcome to bring out their own minis. :-/

I agree with you that at 1/1200 carriage style doesn't matter much and that abandoned guns just look odd. I made some crew for my other guns by using very thin plastic rod and layering super glue gel over it to get a roughly human shape. If in a pinch, I could see using the plastic hair roller spikes painted up to look human for shore-based guns. I haven't tried scratch-building my own guns, but I do like your idea.

Vol,
What size are those Eduard figures? I found some in 1/800, which means a 6 foot man should be about 2.2mm tall.
BWW

BrianW, I cannot see your model? Only your last ship model?
Be safe
Rory

Rory,
I don't know why that would be. I went to the blog as a visitor, and everything showed up fine. I did change the name of the post about the US and Russian fleets (I thought the original was funny, but no one else did), and that moved it above the one about the shore batteries. All I can say is try scrolling down.
BWW

Yep, that's what I have Brian, the 1/800 naval figures. Julian uses them a lot in his towns and forts. See his post "Progress in Havana" ModelJShip, the last photo links second comment from the bottom "Finalizing the finishing touches:" TMP link

Julian makes them look a lot better than me.

Thanks Vol, I will have to try them out.
EDIT: Just went and looked at the photo link you provided. I have now gone from "will have to try them out" to "WHOA, got to get some of these!"
BWW

My contribution. As I said, I don't make them look near as nice as Julian.

Vol,
Actually, I think they look just fine. I have a fret of them on the way that I found on eBay.
BWW

I think you can do a lot better than the Stone Mountain shore batteries.

Your ship models look nice & deserve better.

GB,
Thanks for the compliment. I might try making my own with Eduard figures and guns from other manufacturers.
BWW