Monday 4 October 2010

Note to Self: Painting Sea Bases fro 1/3000 ships

Painting Recipe used for 1/3000 WW2 Pacific ships used for Battle of Java Sea
 (IJN versus ABDA)

Ships mounted on card-stock 
Cruisers: 30mm wide 80mm long
Destroyers: Combination of 30mm wide by 50mm long and 20mm wide by 60mm long
(Latter version is better/preferred for larger destroyers)
Navwar 1/3000 figures washed, filed of flash and glued to base using wood-glue
Note: Basing note important for GQII rules used

Wave Effects
After wood-glue sets (or alternatively painted ship "plonked" into wet filler
DIY Brand (Focus) Flexible Gap Filler, ready mixed in tube thinly spread over base
Rough irregularities represent waves

Sea Painting
Base left to dry overnight
Mixture of Anita Acrylics: Midnight Blue/Navy Blue + Jungle Green (50:50) applied to base and sides
Uneven coverage requires second application of same mixture
Lighten composition with progressive amounts of Ocean Blue in wey brush fashion not seeking 100% coverage
Sufficient to take the prominent tops and crests
White may also be added to this mixture (actually used Games Workshop Skull White as it was the nearest thing to hand and I wanted to use it up before it dried up on me)
Final dry-brushed sparing with a white wave top. 

Ship Wake Painting
Here I need to do some more research
I went with my standard white down the sides of the ship with a churned propeller wash
This is probably more cartoon than physical representation
Assumes ship travelling at speed without generating great "V" wave
Comments appreciated
Three step process using:
(Games Workshop) Codex Grey
(Games Workshop) Fortress Grey
(Games Workshop) Skull White
Why these paints simply to use them up

Photographs of finished ships to follow in subsequent posts
Perhaps  I can retro-fill description of the above better with more examples as I go along

5 comments:

Paul said...

Crikey mate, what a mission. You are starting to put me off Naval gaming!

Geordie an Exiled FoG said...

Lol, the bark sounds much worse than the bite

It's just so I don't forget my secret cookie recipe

Actually each step is incredibly quick as the ships are relatively small and quick to paint

Just a little detail like in the bases and in the flocking on your Command Decision battalions

Nothing like the assembly of your custom figures (which still impress me no end)

;)

Tim Gow said...

I remember now why I switched to 1/6000 scale!

Geordie an Exiled FoG said...

It's not so much the scale but my dislike with the "sea is flat blue" school of wargaming thought

1/6000, 1/3000, 1/1200, 1/720, 1/700, 1/600, 1/350 waves arw waves

Besides sides ships need a little bit more individual attension IMHO

Geordie an Exiled FoG said...

Note to self - Incredible, I came back some ten years later to try and remember how I did this!