"New 1/700 WW2 Naval Project" Topic

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Sometimes madness strikes in the strangest of ways and I certainly hadn't planned a foray into a scale and period that needs a huge warehouse to play but Yarkshire Gamer has never been known for the smaller things in gaming.

I've done a blog post (link above) to discuss the plans for the Project and show off the first completed ship I've done. I think this is one of the best pieces I've done in a long time, possibly ever.

Why not join me on this latest journey.

Regards Ken
The Yarkshire Gamer

Ken,

The ship looks brilliant! Are you going to hire a bunch of rogue rug rats to push them around on the floor?

Great model but this is a scale too far for me.

That looks nice, but…. I'm not joining you on this journey.

I already walked away from 1/700 scale because it's too big, too expensive, and too impractical to play with. And store. And transport. And the last thing I need is a fifth naval gaming scale…

What are you planning to do with them?

I was looking at 1/700 models as targets for air games, and maybe also MTB games. I really like what Kevin Smyth and Dave Shueler do with them:
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- Ix

Hi, it looks great! I fell into this gaming scale about 20 years ago. You are absolutely correct about the price point. It really isn't that expensive compared to smaller scale ships. I found that US DD's and Cruisers are where the expense is as those can be expensive. I found some Cleveland class US light cruisers in 1/600 by Lindberg for 10 bucks each so I got 3 of them. I will do Guadalcanal amongst other battles with my Japanese and US ships. I have much of the Japanese navy already done. I was given dozens and dozens of Japanese ships made by a master modeler years ago after he passed. Plus a lot of painted aircraft for them. I really like the scale! Looking forward to see what you do.

thanks

John

Excellent work and the basing is just superb.

We have played Victory at Sea for the last year+ using 1/600-1/700 scale ships on the tiled patio. We tripled the gun ranges (30" to 90" and range bands), tripled the ship movement (like 6" to 18" per turn), use zonal aircraft movement vs. the inches in game, and improved the damage rules. No major issues so far, a quick and simple WW2 naval game after some adjustments. As for storage, a apple box cut down stores a dozen+ ships, more if DD's or similar small ship size. All ships are waterline models in my collection.

I use sweater boxes for my mounted ships. I have 7 or 8 of them I think. I have more ships I need to base. I really like the basing method that Ken used in the pics above. That is awesome!
It's easy to fall in love with this scale of naval gaming. It would be GREAT if I could find files to print ships off at this scale.

Thanks

John

Cheers everyone,

It seems 1/700 is a bit big for some :-)

As I said in the blog post, I don't think they are expensive, a 1/2400 scale GHQ is about 19 GBP and that is before the current slump in the pound takes effect. The Big ships have cost me about 25 to 30 pounds and there is a second hand kit site called King Kit which I could have got them cheaper.

I'm not that bothered about ground scale to model scale being exact, I would much rather the game looked good and I think with these ships it will.

I'm fortunate in having a club that has its own club house that used to be a Cinema so space isn't really an issue. I'll build up both sides for Denmark Straight plus a few German Destroyers and just have some fun with some great looking minis. If it doesn't work out I will have a lovely set of ships to put in a cabinet.

I do say Go Big or Go Home on my Podcast!

Regards Ken
The Yarkshire Gamer

I will say, the 1/700 ship models are a special kind of delight to build. Styrene is easy to work with, reasonably easy to repair, fun and pretty easy to modify, and a lot of the 1/700 manufacturers are great at detail and proportions. 1/700 also feels luxuriously spacious when applying paint, after working on scads of tiny 1/2400 and 1/1200 ships. The weathering is actually easier in larger scales. There's also a whole world of 1/700 hyperdetailing stuff out there if you want to add extra bits.

I do think 1/700 and 1/600 are the best scales for MTB/coastal actions (e.g. Narrow Seas, Cruel Seas, Action Stations, etc.). I also admit I like the idea of 1/700 destroyer duels. The DDs are in the "right size" range that causes maximum excitement in the Toy Lust center of the human brain. There are 1/700 models for British vs. German North Sea actions and IJN vs. US actions in the Slot (and elsewhere in SOPAC).

When I was shopping 1/700 WWII naval models, it looked like the Pacific was pretty well covered, but the Atlantic offerings were mostly BBs and CVs, plus some famous cruisers. One of the three reasons I settled on 1/1200-1/1250 instead was availability of models, especially for somewhat niche topics like French and Italian DDs.

- Ix

A great idea!

I've bought some to do stuff like this too.

They'll probably serve best for me as targets and/or hunters in MTB games, but could also be used for air to sea battles, etc. as well.

DD duels are also an excellent option, as are some scenarios for convoy battles too, though I doubt I have the space for, or can afford to purchase a whole naval convoy in this or 1/600th scale.

When I started WW2 in the 70s it was with 700th scale simply because they were available at the local hobby shop. We used Fletcher Pratt rules, lots of fun there.
Now I use 2400 because I'm more interested in playing fleets than individual ships.

I print up my 1/2400 ships now. I bought a WWII fleets set from Wargaming 3D. Covers all the major Combatants plus France and some others plus aircraft and some subs. I already owned a bunch of GHQ, CNC and some Panzerschiff ships. The printed are pretty nice. Makes it easy for fleet battles. I can Print Ancients, ACW, WWI. Age of Sail and many more eras on my printers. it's pretty great!

Thanks

john

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A quick update, another ship and a WIP on two German Destroyers

Regards Ken
The Yarkshire Gamer

Beautifully finished models. I wish I could achieve those standards in any scale.
One point though is the position of the white ensigns. In peacetime the ensign is normally only worn on the ensign staff (as you have them) in harbour and when the ship is closed up with Special Sea Dutymen at their posts. At sea the ensign is shifted to a gaff on the mainmast, or sometimes a stump mast specially provided. In wartime I believe the ensign was always in the sea position and the ensign and jack staffs are struck down to give clear arcs of fire.
In action additional ensigns are often hoisted on convenient yardarms so the colours are still flying even if one is shot away.

In fact the first thing passed over the 1MC (loudspeakers) when a ship casts off the last line is "Shift Colors". The ensign on the stern is hauled down at the same time the one on the mast is raised. That's in the US Navy, I'm sure the UK is the same.
I remember being in port with a UK ship once, they had a box at the bottom of their staff and when Colors was passed they hauled down the flag and stuffed it into the box without removing it from the line. I thought that was very efficient if a little disrespectful.

Pontius and Murvihill,

Thanks for the info, this isn't my first sheep dog trial ;-) I am aware of the flag position (although subsequent examination of contemporary photos often shows the Ensign on the rear staff whilst at sea (although hard to tell from photos and maybe leaving and entering port).

I have talked about this elsewhere and forgot to post about it here. I plan to do some rigging on the models in the future, when I pluck up the courage to do so. I will re place the flags during the rigging process.

My answer is that the ships are on my game table and not at sea ! It does make me laugh when I spend days over a model and produce what I think is the best models I have ever done that the first thing people say is "the flags in the wrong place" lol

Regards Ken
The Yarkshire Gamer

Just got my wave foam in the mail yesterday. Looking forward to using it. Did you use the ocean medium from Vallejo or similar for your blue water?

Thanks

John

It does make me laugh when I spend days over a model and produce what I think is the best models I have ever done that the first thing people say is "the flags in the wrong place"

Pedantic criticism is just how naval gamers signal status.

You're not really going to paint those German DD's in that shade of gray, are you?

(I'm kidding! I love your work on these. I can practically smell the salt air wafting from the photos.)

Hi John Leahy,

I didn't use Ocean Medium for the sea, just my years old method using Polyfilla (Spackke) in the USA, below is a tutorial video of the technique on some smaller ships. The only change on the bigger ships is that I paint the bare plaster in gloss varnish before I start the blue.

youtu.be/NQMlywFOoeg

I'll do a tutorial on these larger ships when I have done a few more and I'm happy with the process.

Regards Ken
The Yarkshire Gamer

Thanks Yellow Admiral,

I've been round Naval Gamers for long enough to know, it still makes me laugh. I haven't deliberately put anything on these in the wrong place yet to wind them up like I do with my WW2 tanks lol

I bought the actual colours for the Germans from Life Color so any complaints can go to them.

Cheers for the kind comments, I'm biased but I love how these look.

All the best
Regards Ken
The Yarkshire Gamer

I bought the complete sets of Life Color paints for the USN and IJN, and I was disappointed. I suppose if I'd started with them, I might have been happy to just use them out of the bottle, but after months of research and experiments, I thought most of the colors just looked "off".

Note that I'm not saying I'm right and they're wrong. The interpretation of historical palettes involves a fair bit of personal taste. For the USN Pacific War colors, I definitely favor blue tones in my ships, while many "correct" paint colors verge too gray for me. The official tones may be more correct matches, but scale effect and poor lighting cause gaming models to look better when painted rather more brightly than is realistic.

- Ix

So basically even buying the right paints makes you wrong LoL

I will just have to solider (or should I say Sailor) on through.

Regards Ken
The Yarkshire Gamer

Paint didn't necessarily match itself. Even the same shade from the same factory could be different in different batches. I remember someone painting "FTN" on the hull of their ship while repainting but the letters were from a different batch than the surrounding paint and they had to go back and paint over it after the captain spotted it. This was in the 80's, quality control was worse in WW2.
At some point you have to stop worrying about exact shades and move on.

Murvihill,

I moved on from it years ago mate and have been laughing about the "pendants" for years, especially those who dont read the full post that explains the flag or the paint colour.

Regards Ken
The Yarkshire Gamer

Interesting on the use of spackle. Never got mine to look as nice as yours does. I have used crumbled wax paper which looks pretty good. I saw a video on using toilet paper mixed with glue that also looked decent. Always on the lookout for good tips! I'll take a look at Life color paints.

Thanks

John

@ <a href="https://fnaf2.io">fnaf 2</a>
DWpe! they thy look awesome