"2 new 74's and a milestone up on the blog" Topic

Last night, I put 2 new Spanish 74's that I just finished up on the blog. It's a bit of a milestone, for reasons that I explain. . . on the blog! Please drop by and check them out at:
link

As always, comments are welcome.

Very nice looking targets for your British ships. You've been doing a great job modeling all these ships.

Jim

Wow!

ColCampbell,
Thank you sir! This has always been my favorite era of history, and some of the first miniatures I bought back in the late '70s-early '80s were sailing ships from Navwar and Skytrex. I will say that the Spanish are not always just targets. A Spanish fleet can win, but they have to be handled very carefully against the British. It doesn't hurt if some lucky breaks fall their way, either. 😁

Big Red,
Thanks! I will say though, that I don't consider these two to be my best work. Take a look around the blog, and you'll see ships that I think are done better than these.

BWW

Great looking ships Brian, well done. And I am very impressed to read of the size of your fleets. You should post some photos of them all lined up – if you can find a table big enough.

Great job BW! 😀

really wonderful rigging and painting.

whitejamest,
Thanks, but I should probably clarify about fleet sizes. When I started building ships again, it was about 2000-2001. I didn't start organizing around Trafalgar until about 2014 or so. Consequently, a lot of what was built previously could just be rolled right into the project. As for pictures, I have posted pics of the various fleets on the blog, but never thought about a picture of all the ships together. I have a 5x10 foot table in the garage for a game table, so that should be big enough, I think.

Stew,
Thanks, and I promise to answer the comments on the blog very soon!

stecal,
Thanks. My sailing ships are the miniatures I am the most proud of.

Brian
Your work is fantastic and an inspiration to others. Please keep the posts coming.
Your post about the accuracy of the Langton Montanes model is fascinating, but I want to defend GHQ on one point. You say that "GHQ ships are truly generic". Not so. The GHQ 1/1200 ships are precisely specific. For example, I have GHQ's Boyne, 90. So far as I can see it exactly matches every detail of the model of the ship in the Science Museum in London (pictured in various books, such as Lavery's The Ship Of The Line), even down to the figurehead, which is an unusual and most distinctive figurehead of King William III on horseback.
Take a look at Vol's review of GHQ's Montanes, which he helpfully pictures from directly above: link
So far as I can see, the GHQ Montanes exactly matches the plan you posted from Todo a Babor.
I know the Langton Miniatures are very popular, and rightly so. I also agree that the GHQ range is fairly small and the models have relatively flimsy masts. But I think the truth is that the GHQ models have the most accurate hulls. (I'm British, so there's no national pride in play here.)
We are lucky to have such a great choice. :-)
I greatly enjoy your posts. Please keep them coming. Stay safe.

AdmiralHawke,
You are right about the GHQ ships, of course. I should have remembered it from Vol's review of not just the Montanes, but the other ships he's built too. I will modify the blog post in that regard. I also agree with Vol that the Langton ships are somewhat oversized (my guess is about 1/1100, or maybe even 1/1000).

We are lucky to have such good choices. When I first started building ships in the early '80s, the GHQ models were absolute Cadillacs compared to the ships from Navwar and Skytrex.

I should say that I am not an exclusively Langton man. For example, I think the next build is going to be the USS Franklin for a short break from Trafalgar. I'm going to use the Red Eagle/Skytrex hull, along with masts/sails from Langton. I have some other ships in the collection like this, but for most things (generic merchants for instance) I simply use the masts/sails that come in that kit.

Brian
congratulations my man! I can barely put together 1/700 ships so your work is truly amazing.
separate question. any interest in the war of 1812 on the great lakes?

Joe

Joe,
Thanks, but almost 20 years of practice on my part might have something to do with that!

I find the War of 1812 on the Great Lakes interesting, but I haven't done anything with that interest. Maybe when the Trafalgar project is done, I will look at that. It might be nice to build a project that didn't require so many ships.