Half Term Fleet in a Week - Mothballed

Almirante Latorre 

With the half term holiday over I've had to admit defeat in completing the interwar Chilean fleet, so I've decided to mothball the project and save it until another time. I have assembled, based and undercoated all of the ships required, however, so it's not a complete wash out. I now have just over a month or so in which to tinker about with before the summer holidays, so I'm not thinking of starting anything new, but will instead aim to finish off a few loose ends in existing projects when I can find the time. It's not been a very productive year so far, that's for sure! 

Half Term Fleet in a Week: Basing

It doesn't look like much but the Chilean Interwar fleet has now been based and undercoated in matt black, ready for the bases to be blocked in tomorrow. I've also added an oil tanker to the line up using a Japanese tanker that is not too far off the actual Chilean fleet oiler Rancagua. 

Half Term Fleet in a Week: Assembly

O'Higgins (converted Asama) 

Almirante Latorre (original / modernised) 

Chacabuco (Takasago) 

Almirante Williams / Serrano

Libertad / Constitucion

Almirante Cochrane 

It's flipping hot today so all DIY has been cancelled, giving me a free afternoon to assemble the 1/3000th scale interwar Chilean fleet. I added brass masts to the models as I had some new 0.3mm rod that I ordered by mistake, but which is ideal for the top masts. I also converted the Navwar Japanese armoured cruiser Asama into something not unlike the Chilean O'Higgins. The next thing to do will be to base the models with acrylic paste, which is a different approach compared to my other 1/3000th stuff but which I use successfully for my 1/2400th scale models. 

Half Term Chilean Interwar Fleet in a Week

 

A slight change of plan after I realised that painting the Royal Navy for the Norwegian Campaign might be a little ambitious in one week? Instead, I'm going to paint and base almost the entire Chilean navy c1937-38 for an Interwar extension of my ongoing 'What If?' Chile vs Argentina naval campaign. The models are all from Navwar with some new additions making it a feasible project, along with a couple of 'might have been?' extras, including the dreadnought battleship Almirante Cochrane as converted into an aircraft carrier. I'll get cracking today! 

Half Term Home Fleet in a Week

It's the May half term holiday next week and I thought I'd have another crack at painting and basing a Fleet in a Week. I've done this before and it's a really good challenge that helps to shift a lot of lead in the right direction. This time I'm probably painting the early war Royal Navy warships for the Norwegian campaign, to add to the ones I have already done. The 1/3000th scale models are all prepared, so I can start painting straight away, which is a bonus. I may well add one or two more battleships to the mix and possibly another carrier. 

WW1 Naval Project Pick Up

It's been absolutely nuts since coming back from Brittany, with a funeral in Bath, a day trip down to Plymouth to pick up stuff from the boy's flat and even a missing person man hunt for a friend's elderly relative, who wandered off from his sheltered housing and got lost overnight.

This means I've not had time for anything remotely wargaming related, so instead I've set out what I'm going to do for the rest of the month, prior to starting a new project in September.  

http://jimswargamesworkbench.blogspot.com/2025/06/summer-naval-project-ww1.html

I have been focusing on the First World War this year including the naval campaign in the Black Sea and the hint for the Goeben, with a Turkish fleet ready for painting, so this will be my focus for the rest of the month. 

I may also tinker with a few other things of a naval persuasion, such as rebasing the 1/600th War of the Pacific stuff and perhaps even refurbishing the 1/1200th scale models I was given, but nothing too much as I just won't get it done otherwise!

1/2400th Scale WW1 RN Destroyers

I needed some 1/2400th scale destroyers for my 'Get The Goeben!' naval project, ideally Beagle or 'G' class DD's to be based in Malta for the solo campaign, but Tumbling Dice don't have any and GHQ are not available any more in the UK (I don't think they have any either). I have found some 3D printed 'L' Class destroyer models on eBay, which are three to a pack for four quid, so took a punt and ordered some. They are nicely detailed and could even pass for 'G' class DD's with a bit of light surgery but, as with most 3D printed ships in smaller scales, they do suffer from bendy hulls and are a bit fragile if you try to un-banana them with too much enthusiasm. They'll do for the moment but I think I might scratch build some ships out of plastic card in the long run.

WW1 Turkish Black Sea Fleet

I've almost finished the Jasta 11 Flying Circus triplanes, so I'm moving straight on to the WW1 'Get the Goeben!' naval project for the rest of the month. Here's the Turkish Black Sea fleet all ready for painting, with the two torpedo gunboats and a U-Boat added for good measure. I'll get cracking on the bases tomorrow, when I'm also planning to add the decals to the Fokker Dr.1 models to wrap up the Algernon Pulls It Off! project, at least for the Summer.

Interwar Argentinian Fleet c1937

This is what I've sorted out for an interwar Argentinian Fleet c1937, using the old Navwar models. There are the two dreadnought battleships Moreno and Rivadavia, two Vienticinco de Mayo class heavy cruisers, five Cervantes / Mendoza class destroyers and three Sante Fe class submarines. Not a lot but better than the Brazilians, who are in need of some modern reinforcements which I'll have to order from the old Davco range. The stern of one of the cruisers was miscast, so I'll have to mend it with plastic card, but otherwise I'm ready to start cleaning up and painting the fleet for a mini solo campaign with Find, Fix and Strike.

Summer South American Project?

The half term holiday is almost over and, due to DIY and gardening duties, I've barely scratched the surface of what I hoped to cover in wargaming terms. At the moment, I'm painting the Jasta 11 triplanes and I'm going to continue with those over the next week or two, but I'm now switching from an air to a naval project, as planned for the summer.

In a change of focus, the Napoleonic naval project is going to be left for the summer holidays in about six weeks time, both for INWarD 2025 and as to assemble the Spanish fleet, so the decks are clear for something else. I did think of painting the 1/2400th scale Turkish WW1 fleet that I've prepared, so that's a definite option but I also fancy something a bit different. 

About a year ago before Navwar went off line, I bought two opposing 1/3000th scale fleet packs, one Argentinian and one Brazilian for the Second World War. I was planning to use them for another South American 'What If'? solo campaign, this time set in the 1920's or early 1930's but didn't get further than a few sketchy ideas 

I quite like the idea of getting this going again, although I'll need to add some WW1 'E' class destroyers for Brazil, which were not included in the packs. I do have all of the principal battleships and cruisers though, which makes this a very feasible, quick painting project for this month, if I get on with it. I'll have to take another look at my notes first though, as it's all a bit 'back of a fag packet' at the moment!

Get the Goeben! RN Battlecruisers

The latest addition to the workbench is a trio of Royal Navy warships for a "What If?" scenario set in August 1914. Here we have the battlecruisers HMS Indomitable and. HMS Inflexible, accompanied by the light cruiser HMS Dublin. I thought it would be a nifty idea to paint these up alongside SMS Goeben and SMS Breslau, so that I can actually play a game at some point, rather than have to wait until the Russians have been sorted out. I'll get these ready at the weekend.

Turkish Black Sea Fleet Basing

A refreshing nautical breeze is wafting across the workbench today, with the WW1 Ottoman fleet now based and ready for undercoating. I've added a single UB-III submarine to represent the UB-II flotilla that operated in the Black Sea, even though submarines don't really appear in most rules involving surface action, aside from convoy games or one off tactical scenarios. I'll crack on with the painting as soon as I get some free time, which may not be for awhile.

Kriegsmarine Commerce Raiders

This doesn't look very inspiring but it's actually a Navwar set of nine 1/3000th scale German merchant commerce raiders, each ship in two versions, one disguised and the other ready for action. I paid slightly under the retail price, saving a quid or so, but that's not the point when you get a really unusual and potentially useful set of models. I'll paint these up for some early war scenarios to go with my existing fleet for the Norwegian campaign.

Fairey Seafox

           

I finished two Tumbling Dice 1/600th scale Fairey Seafox spotter aircraft for the Battle of the River Plate game this afternoon. They were a bit rushed but look not too bad, even if I knocked them out quickly. I will only need one for the scenario but the other one will be handy for future games, as well as being a backup just in case 

Mid War Japanese Battle Pack Bargain

 

As always, eBay came up trumps last week with a Davco Japanese Battle Group pack for a little over twenty quid. Although I have the Nagato, Fuso and Mogami models already, the other ships will slot in well with my early war fleet, while the surplus ones can be saved for a rainy day. Splendid!

Early War Royal Navy On the Slips

 

I've now started on the final stage of my early war Norwegian Campaign focussed naval project, with the destroyers, heavy and light cruisers, extra battleships and a single carrier now on the painting table. These are not all for Norwegian scenarios but most of the ships were involved, the obvious odd one out being HMS Eagle. I'm planning to chip away at these over the next couple of weeks, with a deadline of mid February for the project to be wrapped up 

Early War Capital Ships Finished

 

Making Waves

             

Another busy day but with some progress made on the Norwegian Campaign warships. I've added the bow waves to the painted models using texture paste and I'm now waiting for it to dry before I can add some white highlights and the wakes. In the meantime, I thought I'd prepare some more Davco capital ships to add alongside the cruisers and destroyers, so I now have HMS Eagle, HMS Ramillies, HMS Resolution, HMS Barham and HMS Nelson for the Home Fleet (except for Eagle which was in the Med)

Norwegian Campaign Capital Ship Basing Update

Despite the garage being colder than a yeti's armpit today, I've been cracking on with the bases for the capital ships to the point at which they just need the bow waves and wakes added, followed by the name labels. This should be sorted fairly quickly, so I've now shifted focus to the cruisers and destroyers, which have been undercoated in primer then base coated with Vallejo London Grey. There will be no fancy camouflage patterns on any of these as they are in early war all over grey, so painting should also be fairly swift, assuming it warms up a bit?

Norwegian Campaign Capital Ship Basing

           

It's flipping freezing in the garage where my workbench is located, so painting has been postponed for a few days, not helped by being really busy with work and weekend family things. The bases for the capital ships have now been textured and undercoated, ready for painting at the end of the week, when I have an unexpected day off. I'm hoping to finish this part of the Norwegian Campaign project over the weekend, ready to start in the cruisers and destroyers.