"Only one tiny little ship...." Topic

Sometimes we start projects because they are important to us. But too often we start projects because ….. Here is a rediscovery of a project from eight years ago.

This was one of my weaker moments. As readers of this blog know I have a long held interest in the ill fated U.S.S. Maine. So years ago when I found the 1:1000 scale models of the Spanish American war period ships by Richard Houston I was besides myself. I just need one ship, that's all just one ship. With similar words we start down the path of madness…..
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Spanish ships;
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American ships;
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Not really related but hunting the USS Maine in Key West:
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Literally all of my pre-dreadnoughts qualify as an errant distraction from "real" gaming. Which only makes their teeming numbers even less excusable.

- Ix

Musicians have a saying:

How many guitars is enough?

Just one…more.

Thanks for posting this. They look good.
I toured the USS Olympia in Philadelphia many years ago. Every once in a while I think it might be interesting to paint up ships in that naval era. I normally collect armies for land battles, but that particular era has an attraction for me……..No…I will not….absolutely not….?

I understand the attraction to this period. Pre-dreadnoughts are the only naval miniatures that I collect.

Yup, I caught the Houston's 1:1000 bug a while ago.

You know, the transitional ironclad / pre-dreadnought era is my favourite naval period--and that's saying a lot, considering the $$thousands I've spent on miniatures, models and books dealing with various naval eras.

I'm probably the only person who ever read the copy of Arthur Marder's British Naval Policy 1880-1905 at the local library, as well as even more obscure books on the French jeune école, imperial Russian naval administration, and colonialism in Micronesia. Heck, I went all the way to Japan, just to see the Mikasa.

And yet, I don't have a single pre-dreadnought model in my collection. Not one.

Shocks the heck out of me!

Trying to finish a few more of these for a friend. I love the ships and the period but I have to say these are some of the most fidgety things I have ever put together (without pictures or instructions and without clearly defined areas for placement of some of the parts – I think I had to hand drill 20+ holes for the Olympia below deck guns alone). The are bigger than other scales, but you don't need many and they look greater on the table. Thanks.