From JP - 1/1200 ACW by Thoroughbred and Langton miniatures (28 points)

Hi folks, as usual I am trying to get something done quickly and ahead of Christmas. The obvious choice is my ever growing ACW collection.

These are rather large vessels, pretty much at the top of the vessel sizes for the ACW.

 USS Dictator was the largest US Ironclad built, late in the war. She's a real bruiser under any gaming rules for this period.

CSS Alabama needs no introduction for connaisseurs of the era - the most reknown of Confederate raiders. CSS Rattlesnake and Colonel Lamb were blockade runners.

Here are the 4 together along with a stern view. As an idea of size, Dictator was more than twice as large as Monitor.

I am claiming 

4 x large 1/1200th vessels    at 5 points each (for lack of a better idea!) = 20 points

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Welcome back to the Challenge, JP!

Great work on these ACW ships. I always thought it was particularly brave to be in any of the wooden riverine craft during this period as the ranges were so close and the guns quite large. Brutal.

1/1200 scale naval has always been a bit of a puzzle for scoring in the Challenge, but we'll go with 5 points for smaller craft and 10 for larger vessels with full masts and rigging. With this in mind, I'll pitch these at 7 points each for a total of 28. Well done, JP!

- Curt

From KerryT - The cause of much swearing - a maritime entry (40 points)

Morning, afternoon and evening all

One good thing about the AHPC is that it compels you to complete some long unfinished figures. In my case, the figure in question is a 1/1200 Napoleonic ship from Langton Miniatures

This is a British frigate and probably was one of the oldest unpainted figures in my collection. I moved to NZ in 1999 and brought it with me, probably having bought it in the early 90s. I painted up and rigged about a dozen British and French ships of the line at the time and added a frigate but never put it together. I was daft enough or bold enough, depending on your perspective to get a frigate in full sail

I managed to find an old article in Miniature Wargames issue 80 called "splicing the main brace". This was the original guide for painting and modelling

Just checked, it was published in January 1990

Painting was easy enough but my eyes are not what they were and I don't recall having so much difficulty when completing the original models and this is when the swearing started. There was a lot of it, particularly when the sail came away from the foremast mid way through!

Here it is next to to an older model

My limited suturing skills came in handy here

The round painting base added to the problem as it kept rolling

After at least 4 hours of sweat, tears and toil and some old fashioned Anglo-Saxon phrases, it eventually came together. I confess I nearly gave up after completing the standard rigging (black thread) but persisted in the end and completed the running rigging (light thread)

See the gap between the topgallant and the foremast!

Not sure I'll ever buy more of these after that ordeal!

Thus in summary

Maritime bonus  20 points

1 x 1/1200 ship - no idea points wise but Millsy the riggin took friggin ages!

From Millsy: I laughed immediately I saw the title of this post Kerry following our chat earlier in the week. As I said at the time I outsourced all my rigging work and I think you can appreciate why! Frustrations aside you've done a lovely job on every aspect of the model and the effort invested in the rigging certainly paid off in the overall result. Given the rigging let's score this as a 28mm vehicle at 20 points, bringing the total for the sub to 40 points. Nice work mate and I hope the PTSD isn't too bad!

From MilesR: A Ship and a Greyhound 30 Points

 A rather spartan and eclectic mix of submissions this week - a 1/1200 US Third Rate and a 28mm M8 Greyhound.

 The ship is a 1/1200 scale model painted as a US Third Rate from Langton Miniatures.  Langton still are my favorite minis to make.   My effort isn't nearly as good as Byron's ships  but will serve well on the table top.  I've learned that minimal rigging stands up a lot longer.

This model depicts the USS Columbus, which was launched in 1819 after some delayed construction.  She saw service against the Barbary pirates and during the Mexican -American war.

This submission represents my first score in my side duel with PaulG with 1/1200 langton.  I do think we should add Byron to the tally there with his wonderful ships!

 Next up is a resin and metal 28mm scale model of a M8 Greyhound from Warlord miniatures.  The model was so-so  in quality.  Some of the detail part were horrible miscast that they couldn't be used including the headlights and their protective frames.  I tried to cover it up with some very vasty made "sand bags" which look OK.

 The greyhound is a great unit to have in Bolt Action and I've always liked the look of the beast.

 Just how big is a 1/1200 ship?  Here's a shot comparing her to a 28mm scaled figure and a 28MM scaled frigate.   The frigate would have been 2/3's the length of a third rate.

One of the reasons for such limited productivity today was the fact that my paint desk was a mess and needed to be cleaned up before to final "big push" of this year's Challenge - so a few hours of clean up was required.  Also sanded and treated to work top as it was showing some real wear and tear.

Great and varied work this week Miles.  I really envy anyone who can get 1:1200 sailing ships together (and holding together).  I have tried Napoleonic era ships and Armada galleons, but have decided that the skill set required is far beyond what I have in my personal toolbox.  Fortunately, I was able to handle these skills on a 1:1 scale when I owned my 24 foot sloop.  However, I will say that Columbus has badly run out of water and the US Navy needs to cashier the Captain and sailing master.

Bad luck on the quality of the Greyhound kit.  I've not used any Warlord stuff, but from what I have seen they seem to be rather hit or miss on quality.  Your sandbag fix works, what did you use to make the sandbags?  Have you thought of a roll of camo netting on top of the sandbags, it might cover a variety of sins.

And what's this about tidying up mid Challenge.  Empty calories my dear lad!  Skip the  junk food and bring on the steaks!

My scouring of the Challenge Archives found that last March Curt gave you 15 points a piece for your Spanish 74s, so I'm giving 15 points for your Yankee sailing ship.   Perhaps we could upgrade the scoring spreadsheet to include ships next year?