Painting Tutorial for 1/1200th Ships

A short tutorial on painting 1/1200th scale ships from Ark Royal Miniatures for use with the Mad for War rules. This is a basic tutorial, mainly using contrast paints, for a speedy and simple finish. If you want to get reasonable-looking ships on the game table quickly, this is one of the ways to do it. 

National Maritime Museum, Greenwich

The wife and I both work part-time now (I jokingly refer to it as semi-retired!) and have been trying to get out and about together on our shared Tuesday off. We have had several trips out to museums and galleries, just the two of us, something we haven't been able to do regularly since the kids were born. Yesterday we visited the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. Its been a long time since I was last here and I had forgotten what an excellent museum it is and the amazing collection of very famous pictures it holds. 

The Battle of Barfleur (19 May 1692) by Ludolf Backhuysen - The English and Dutch Fleets stop a planned French invasion during the Nine Years War. They won two linked battles, off Barfleur and La Hoguq and destroyed many enemy ships. This picture shows the French flagship, the Soleil Royal, under attack. 

The Destruction of 'L'Orient' at the Battle of the Nile, 1 August 1798 by George Arnald. The explosion was so shocking that both sides stopped firing in the immediate aftermath of the explosion. Fragments of the ship were scattered across Aboukir Bay and Nelson kept a piece (on display in the museum) of a masthead as a souvenir.  

The fall of Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar, 21 Oct 1805 by Denis Dighton - The sailors and Royal Marines on a ships upper deck were extremely exposed to enemy fire. This painting of the Victory at Trafalgar shows the fierce fighting with the French warship Redoubtable close alongside. Nelson is shown falling wounded to the deck. 

The Death of Nelson by Arthur William Devis is probably the most famous picture to come from the Battle of Trafalgar. It portrays the death of Horatio Nelson at 16:30 on 21 October 1805, below decks on his flagship HMS Victory during the Battle. The artist spent several weeks on board the Victory, sketching the location and making individual studies of the persons featured in the final work. The painting takes liberties with the actual setting and people present. The place of death on the ’tween-deck was actually far shorter than depicted, and Captain Thomas Hardy (standing behind Nelson) was not actually present at the moment of death. 

In addition to the gallery dedicated to Nelsons Navy, I had specifically wanted to visit the Polar Exploration gallery. (this isn't military history related, so you may want to skip this bit). I have long had a fascination with this romantic period of our history and in particular the Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1917. The expedition ship Endurance became trapped in sea ice and was eventually crushed, forcing the crew onto the frozen sea. The story of their trek across the ice and eventual rescue is for my money one of the greatest survival tales of all time. If you have never seen the pictures of the expedition photographer Frank Hurley I urge you to seek them out, they are truly spectacular and some of the best images ever taken during this period of exploration. 

Endurance among ice pinnacles by Frank Hurley. Shackleton expedition, February 1915. 

Perilous Position of HMS Terror by Admiral William Smyth - On his final Arctic expedition George Back's ship, HMS Terror, got trapped. Squeezed by the pressure of the ice, it drifted for 200 miles before finally floating free. It was so badly damaged that it barely made it back across the Atlantic. The Artist was at the time a first lieutenant on the voyage. 

They forged the last links with their lives by William Thomas Smith - Franklin's entire crew perished during their attempt to navigate the North-West Passage. In 1859, searchers found a boat with human remains, believed to belong to the crew. This scene is imagined here. Lady Franklin supported the idea that her husband had found the route, although, in reality, this was not the case. 

We also had a wander around Greenwich but we will probably come back at a later date to visit the Cutty Sark and some of the other museums here. 

Not sure what our plans are for next week, but if the weather stays dry we'll probably find somewhere else to explore.

The Battle of Rhodes

While I was on Holiday I saw relatively little evidence of Rhodes wartime experience. Inside the old city there are a few parks that mark the location of allied bombing and some of the Italian buildings around the harbour still show the scars of shrapnel damage in their stonework, but other than these marks there is relatively little evidence of the second world war to be seen.

Following the Italo-Turkish War of 1912 Rhodes and the other islands of the Dodecanese were ruled by the Kingdom of Italy until 1943. Initially the islands were under a Military control but from 1923 power transferred to a civilian Governor. The first Governor favoured a liberal policy of peaceful coexistence between the various ethnic and religious groups but later governors took a more 'colonial' stance, giving land to Italian settlers and promoting Italian language and culture. However the impression I got from talking to guides and locals was that the period is looked on relatively favourably as it saw inward investment and building, especially in Rhodes town where many of the main buildings that exist today are Italian. Everything changed in 1943 following the Italian capitulation to the Allies in September of that year.

German Tanks in Rhodes (Public Domain)

The Germans already had a military presence on the island consisting of AA batteries and several battalions of Panzergrenadiers, built up over proceeding months to provide 'support' to Italian forces on the island. By September 1943 the German had about 150 armoured fighting vehicles available, including Panzer IIs, Panzer IVs, StuG IIIs and fifteen 150 mm self-propelled guns. Facing them was a much larger Italian force of 34,000 infantry, with a superiority in artillery but relatively few vehicles and no tanks. In addition the Italian Navy commanded several important coastal batteries, three motor torpedo boats, a minesweeper and a Gunboat mustering in total about 2100 personnel. Finally the Italian Royal Air Force had about 65 aircraft on the island, 40 of these being fighters. Unfortunately 10 of these were non operational and in any case they could only muster 20 pilots for the remaining mix of  Fiat CR.42, Fiat G.50 and Macchi C.202.

The actual 'Battle' for Rhodes only lasted three days and began after the Germans attacked and took the Maritsa air base on the 9th September 1943. Italian artillery fired on the base destroying several German tanks and captured aircraft but was in turn targeted by German Artillery suffering heavy losses. The following day fighting continued with more artillery duels resulting in losses to both sides. However German ground troops continued to advance and captured key positions on Mount Paradiso and Mount Fileremo. News of the fall of Greece and nearby Crete began to undermine Italian confidence and this was compounded by the news that it would take at least a week before any British reinforcements could arrive. The following day, 11th September 1943, continued to see heavy fighting but the military situation was by now critical. Faced with an ultimatum of unconditional surrender or have Rhodes city bombed - and without any prospect of reinforcement for at least a week - the Italian command felt they had little option but to surrender.

Aside from a handful of possible (but not certain) WWII pillboxes and gun positions I didn't see much evidence of the battle or the occupation of the island. I saw and photographed a couple of items but I haven't been able to identify them so I'm not even sure if they are of WWII origin. Can anyone help with the identification?

This gun barrel was seen on the island of Symi. I think these are items recovered by local divers but there was no sign or other information with this eclectic collection of rusty ironmongery. 

It had a distinctive muzzle break but was so rusty I couldn't make out any identifying marks.

The breach of the gun. I suspect this is an AA gun barrel (there were lots of AA batteries across the islands, both German and Italian) but I can't be sure. 

Another view showing the whole barrel. Pity is was so heavy or I could have slipped it in my rucksack...

A presumably Italian artillery piece inside the Fort of St Nicolas overlooking the harbour entrance. Can anyone identify it?  

A rather sobering postscript to the Battle of Rhodes is that of the 6500 Italian POW's captured in the Italian surrender, most were killed on their way to camps in Greece. As many as 1800 prisoners died when their ship the Donizetti was sunk by the HMS Eclipse (which wasn't aware the ship was transporting prisoners) and another 4000 we lost at sea when the Oria ran aground during a storm and sank off Cape Sounion. Such tragedies in peacetime would ordinarily be remembered as terrible disasters but were sadly an all too often occurrence during the war years.  The memorial to those lost in the defence and liberation of the Dodecanese sadly does not mention these men. 

So that's it. Despite looking for a local war museum I couldn't find any and there was relatively little (read 'none') in any of the small museums that we did visit. I'd be happy to be corrected but maybe the islanders are happy to keep the past in the past and put this period behind them. 

Bucklers Hard Maritime Museum

Sorry folks, more holiday photo's and another Museum! I will get round to some actual gaming related posts shortly but for now I had to tell you about this great 'hidden gem' of a museum. I say hidden but by that I mean 'hidden from me' because when I worked in the area some years ago I drove past this place many many times without realising what I was missing. While we were out and about last week, dodging the weather and generally hunting for somewhere to visit I saw a sign for this place and decided to make a detour, dragging the family along with me.

Model showing Buklers Hard at the height of its Shipbuilding period. 

The history of Bucklers Hard is one of misadventure, speculation, changing fortunes but ultimately of success from inauspicious beginnings. Situated on the banks of the Beaulieu River in the middle of the New Forest the location is today idyllic and peaceful. But at one time this was a shipyard building Ships of the Line for Nelsons Navy and later served as a base for Motor Torpedo Boats in WWII and was one of many sites in the south that built sections of the Mulberry Harbours for the Normandy landings. 

A Puckle Gun -  This was a very primitive crew-served, manual flintlock revolving cylinder capable of firing between 6-11 shots (round shot for use against Christians and square shot for use against Heathens!!!). Manual operation of the chamber advance slowed rate of fire to about 9 rounds per minute which was actually slower than other repeater guns available at the time. Investment in this new weapon was limited and few were made with only two surviving examples known to exist, one of them at Bucklers Hard. 

This model of Bucklers Hard shows the site during its most important shipbuilding period. Ships of the line up to 3rd Rate were built here including vessels such as the Kennington, the Eurylalus, the Agamemnon and the Illustrious. 

Model of HMS Beaulieu - 40 Guns, 5th Rate launched in 1791. She was saw service in the West Indies and was present at the capture of Martinique in 1794. Three years later she took part in the decisive British victory at the Battle of Camperdown in the North Sea against the Dutch who were a French client state during the War of the First Coalition (French Revolutionary War). 

Kennington - 20 Guns, 6th Rate launched in 1756. She took part in the Seven years war in North America and in Europe. She was part of the successful capture of Louisburg in Canada in 1758 before serving out her final years in the West Indies. 

Painting showing the Launch of the Euryalus

Shipbuilders looking over their plans and a model.

Model of the Euryalus - 36 guns, 5th Rate launched in 1803. With a crew compliment of just 264 men this frigate was a relatively small ship but played an important part at the Battle of Trafalgar, acting as Nelsons eyes. Commanded by Captain Blackwood the Euryalus commanded a squadron of four other frigates watching Cadiz to report on the movement of the combined French and Spanish fleet. After the death of Nelson, Admiral Collingwood temporarily transferred his flag to the Euryalus. 

The Agamemnon - 64 Guns, 3rd Rate launched in 1781. She served in the West Indies and was commanded by Captain Nelson between 1793-6 in the Mediterranean. It was while on the Agamemnon that he lost his eye at the siege of Calvi in 1794. The ship later took part in the Battle of Copenhagen and Trafalgar. 

A cutaway model of the Illustrious built at Bucklers Hard in 1789 - 74 Guns, Third Rate ship of the line. She took part in the Siege of Toulon and in 1795 earned a battle honour for her part in the Battle of Genoa. Illustrious was severely damaged in the engagement and was lost in bad weather a few days later. 

Memorial Stone dedicated to the victims of the SS Persia which was Torpedoed and sunk off Crete without warning in 1915 by the German U-Boat U-38. The Ship sank in under ten minutes and only four lifeboats were successfully launched. At the time this sinking caused outrage as the vessel was flying a neutral flag and the U-Boat made no provision for any survivors against the Imperial German Navy's policy regarding the attacking of passenger liners (but not, confusingly, against Germany's policy of unrestricted submarine warfare in place at that time)

The Wharf's look like they could do with some restoration having largely silted up. The day we went was wet and overcast giving this quiet riverside location an eerie quality. However during WWII the river would have been home to hundreds of landing craft gathered ahead of the Normandy invasion. 

  

The river is used more for recreation that boat building now. Shipbuilding ended here in the nineteenth century with the advent of much larger vessels and the introduction of iron hulls. The last major construction to take place here were the building of motor torpedo boats during the Second world war. 

A very interesting museum, especially if you have a passion for British naval history. Its a bit off the beaten track, situated as it is in the centre of the New Forest National Park, but well worth the detour to visit. 

Valance Time Tunnel

This weekend my local museum Valance House is holding a multi period living history event dubbed the Valance Time Tunnel. Its not a big event but the range and quality of the reenactment groups is very good and all the exhibitors were friendly and very knowledgeable. This is the same museum that is currently hosting the Ray Harryhausen exhibition so now you have two reasons to come to Dagenham! As usual I took a load of Photo's and here are a selection of the best.

The grounds of Valance House are filled with different reenactment groups

Archers demonstrate the power of the English Longbow...

To punch wholes through plate steel!

The WWI group also had a commemoration of the fight for Women's suffrage. 

A group of Jolly Jack Tar's display boarding tactics to the public.

They also had a very interesting stand and I spent a good half hour here chatting to some very knowledgeable and enthusiastic chaps.

There were also some Medieval and Elizabethan cookery
displays. This guy is cooking an early version of what today
would be called Scotch Eggs

Elizabethan reenactors

Artillery display (sadly no gun firing while we were there)

A couple of ECW reenactors taking a break on what has been a hot day.

This Saxon reenactor was making cooking utensils and bone needles. 

This event continues tomorrow from 11am so its well worth a visit if you are near by and at a loss for something to do, particularly if you have children. The Museum is also open and is FREE so you can easily while away a few hours here. 

Portsmouth Dockyard - A Birthday Treat

It was my Birthday yesterday and as a treat I had the whole day in Portsmouth Historic Docks. For those that are not familiar this is the home of the British Navy and one the best military museums in the country. This is the home of HMS Victory, the Mary Rose and HMS Warrior as well as several other vessels. The last time I was here was in 2007 and quite a lot has changed since then. 

HMS Victory sporting a new (and historically accurate) colour scheme. 

Recent renovation work discovered over 70 layers of paint backwards through the vessels history. Combined with documentary evidence the new colours match the colour Victory was at Trafalgar. 

One of Victory's gundecks

Another Gundeck. My pictures make this look brighter than it actually was. Even with the hatches open its a dark and gloomy place...filled with smoke and the screams of wounded men it must have been a vision of hell.

The place where Nelson died is marked by a simple lamp and wreath
carved into the woodwork. 

The Audio Tour of Victory has been greatly improved and is probably one of the best examples I have come across.  

I was very impressed with the Audio Tour of Victory. Its been updated and improved considerably since my last visit and I think the new version is one of the best I have come across. Step by step the tour walks visitors through the weeks and days leading up to the battle. The tension builds as the fleets approach each other and battle commences. The action is graphically narrated but is clear enough for visitors to visualise the action and understand the key moments in the battle. 

After the Victory we crossed over to the Mary Rose exhibition. This Tudor warship sank in 1545 and was raised in 1982 along with thousands of unique and well preserved artefacts. 

One of the Breech Loading guns (minus the breech bit) found on the wreck. 

A Muzzle Loaded gun also from the Mary Rose

HMS M33 - A Monitor Class ship and a rare survivor of the Galipoli campaign. 

HMS Warrior the first Iron Hulled warship.

One of the Gun Decks

HSL 102, is the only surviving example of the 100 class high speed launch and was stationed at RAF Calshot during the Battle of Britain.

Part of the Battle of Jutland exhibition

Our entry tickets last for a year so we will definitely be coming back sometime later this year. There is plenty more we didn't have time to see so a second visit is an absolute must...