I've always been a fan of splintered oars, crashing beakheads, and drummers yelling "come'mon, you scurves! The Captain wants to go water skiing, so pull harder!" So I have been slowly collecting Langton 1/1200 Renaissance galleys (about 25 so far) - and somewhere I have a huge, unopened Roman fleet, too!
In response to 
Editor in Chief Bill 
's call for Workbench naval products, this is the second installment from the table of 
Virtualscratchbuilder 
. I'd like to thank Rod and Carol at Langton for sending this and other ships for me to build in answer to Bill's call!
Background:
This sweet little kit is part of Langton's line of Renaissance galleys, designed to fight Mediterranean naval battles from about 1400 to 1600 AD. Though there were many nations and citystates involved, the antagonists will be broadly labeled Muslim and Christian. Naval forces from these opponents fought many engagements, culminating in the huge, decisive battle at Lepanto in 1571. This kit depicts one of the larger ships of the time, a Christian Capitana (also known as a Lanterna). Capitanas generally served as flagships for groups of 20-30 galleys, and at Lepanto, there were about 20 Capitanas present among the 200+ Christian galleys.
Materials:
- Wal-Mart grey primer
- Razor knife
- Straightedge
- Pokemon card
- Superglue
- Elmer's wood glue
- Superglue-soaked rigging thread
- One sheet of Langton's Renaissance color prints (for flags, awnings and armings)
- Various paint brushes
- Various Ceramcoat and Reaper paints
- Water and soap
- Reaper Pro Paint #18206 Wood Shade Ink
- Tweezers
- Pin vise
- Older-than-the-hills gun-barrel brush
This is how the galleys are sold, one to a package.
The parts laid out for identification. Some are very tiny, and care must be taken not to loose any, particularly the rudder.
As always, into the soup (water and soap) for a good soak. Once out, it's a good idea not to get your grimey body prints on the painting surfaces of the etched brass. The fret picks up body oils very easily.
Parts laid out to dry.
Off to the priming shed. When I work with something this small, I prime the parts inside an old model box, because the primer will blow the parts around, and the last thing you need to do is go looking for them.
Back from the primer shed.
I assembled the model (using superglue) to this point, and I will shortly begin painting other parts. Rudder, poop, masts and forecastle are attached.
Detail showing the rudder and poop attached.
Quick shot of the model next to a finished Capitana. I am not up that much on the heraldry, but I believe the finished ship is in Maltese (Christian) colors.
While the glue on the hull is drying, the yards and their sails get a base color of Ceramcoat medium brown. The benches get a basecoat of Reaper Bright Red. I've decided that these rowers are all wearing red shirts, so that's how I will start.
While those are drying, I start on the frets. I want the oars to have a yellow stripe, so I paint that. Only one side of the fret needs to be painted for the oars. I also painted the poop awning frame and the forecastle railing, all using Ceramcoat yellow. The awning frames and railing need to be painted on both sides of the fret. The kit gives you an option of two awning frames: one peaked like a house; the other round, like half a pipe. I chose the latter.
Shot showing some of the red on the oars.
To paint a straight line, I use a Pokemon card as a painting rule. Never use the same edge twice, and be careful not to put the card down on wet paint. I also painted the side railings red at this time. I painted the little flags on the side railings white.