From MarkG: WW2 Naval ships (72 points)

While my main project of painting up units for the Russian Civil War continues, as a side project I’ve been painting 1/1800 scale naval forces for WW2. I recently purchased “Nimitz,” the excellent set of naval rules from Sam Mustafa, which has motivated to start these. It also helps with motivation to occasionally take a break, and work on another theme, such as these.

Full compliment: Kriegsmarine on the left, RN on the right

These are all 3d prints that I made at home on my filament printer. The sheer amount of either free, or cheap, STL files on the web means I’ve been amassing files for pretty much any engagement I find interesting (many from Ghukek's Miniatures); thus, I have a big bag of further goodies for the Royal Navy, Kriegsmarine, Regina Marina, US Navy, and Japanese Navy still to paint.

HMS Hood and HMS Prince of Wales

Given that nearly each of the ships require a base with slightly different dimensions, I decided to use balsa wood. For the sea effects I followed Ken Reilly’s (Yarkshire Gamer) tutorial on the ‘U-Tubes.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQMlywFOoeg). I temporarily painted on the names, as I still have to print up ship labels.

Bismarck

For my first outing I’ve concentrated on the War in the Atlantic, with the key ships for the Battle of Denmark Straight, and the Battle of the River Plate. Who hasn't seen the film "Sink the Bismarck" and then wanted to wargame it. I threw in the Scharnhorst as well for some fictional encounters between the RN and Kriegsmarine. I’ll add a few more ships for this theatre in coming posts, such as HMS Cumberland, and HMS Rodney. 

Prince Eugene and Scharnhorst

Further on I want to focus on the Mediterranean battles, and eventually early war encounters in the Pacific, such as the Java Sea battles.

Graf Spee

For scoring, I found an entry from the 2023 competition, where Battleships and Cruisers were scored similarly to the effort involved with a 15mm vehicle, so 8 points each (if that is acceptable).

HMS Achilles, HMS Ajax, and HMS Exeter

Normal service with more RCW figures will resume next week.

HMS Hood

The points summary:

9 x 8 = 72 points for nine 1/1800 scale Battleships and Cruisers.

Goodday Mark, what a great renditions of these classic Warships! Believe it or not but when I was a lad I did read a lot of books about WW2 and some of these ships featured amongst their pages HMS Prince of Wales and Hood amongst them. So it's a joy to see them get this kind of high level attention from you! Not only have you done a sterling job on painting the vessels themselves, the bases are top notch to!

 

Cheers Sander 

From KenR: 1/700 HMS Forester & Foxhound (80 points)

 

Ship of the week has become ships of the week ! In what may be a vain attempt to finish off the military ships of Narvik I managed to get two Destroyers finished off this week, leaving me 1 Battleship and 3 Destroyers to do before close if Challenge in just 15 days.

HMS Forester is one of 9 F Class Destroyers a repeat of the E Class, she served throughout the War being involved at Narvik, where she escorted the Warspite. Forester went on to be part of Force H participating against the French at Mers el Kebir, escorting in the Med, Atlantic and the Russian convoys, chase the Bismarck and DDay, her crew would certainly have some tales to tell.

HMS Foxhound was also an F Class Destroyer, she had a similar career to Forester but was converted to an escort Destroyer and transfered to the Canadian Navy in 1944 and renamed HMCS Qu'Appelle, she also ended the war in one piece and her last duties were bringing Canadian soldiers back home after they served in Europe.

Both ships are 1/700 E Class Destroyer kits from Tamiya, the tooling for these is really old and they are the most basic of the kits I've done. The ridges along the Hull are a massive pain in the backside both for the decals and the weathering but they have turned out nice enough.

Foxhound is in a particularly interesting colour scheme, one I haven't seen on other ships and comes from wartime photos of the ship. It uses the high contrast of other schemes but the lower hull is split into two colours rather than having a single colour hull and a single colour upper. 

So that's two Destroyers at 40 points each for a total of 80. I have 2 Destroyers half built and Warspite on the go, but the easy wins have all gone. The remaining Destroyers are more advanced kits and Warspite is, well huge, my work pattern means I've only got 4 days left in the Challenge to get stuff done, so let's see.

TeemuL: As promised last week, there are two ships this week, well done, Ken! Older and simpler kits are not necessarily easier and funnier to work with, something you seem to have experienced first hand this week. Once again, you have managed to make the ships individual even though they are the same kit. Let's see if you can make a ship in four days for the rest of the Challenge, I'm sure there are several thumbs up.

From KenR: 1/700 HMS Punjabi (Ship of the week) (40 points)

Well this Challenge has turned into a ship fest against all my planning but with work commitments getting through a ship a week is a challenge in itself at the moment. It's definitely helping me progress the ship part of the Narvik Project.

This week I present HMS Punjabi, the final one of 4 Tribal Class Destroyers for the project and this one is a 1/700 scale Trumpeter kit, just like last week's entry. I've opted for a dark grey lower hull with light grey upper on this one and it does make quite a nice contrast.

The ship spent its career in home waters and on the Northern Convoy routes, she was involved in the 2nd Battle of Narvik where she was badly damaged, losing all power for over an hour. She was lost escorting Convoy PQ15 in May 1942, the deck watch believed they had see a mine and ordered a 15 degree turn to avoid it, unfortunately it was foggy and without knowing the ship turned in front of the British Battleship KGV. The larger ship sliced Punjabi in two however the impact and explosions of depth charges on the Destroyer caused serious damage to the KGV.

So that's another 40 points to the total, I'm a country mile of my target but at least I'm getting a bit done each week. With this ship complete, I have 5 more Destroyers and Warspite to do. With 3 weeks to go, I'll need more than a ship a week and the Warspite is a huge job on its own. Never mind a half done unit of Prussian Landwher !

Anyway, I'm going to aim for two ships next week, until then here are the 4 Tribals for the project.

TeemuL: Let's start with a safe and familiar first entry of the day, 1/700 ship. Thank you Ken, I know there are lots of followers on this project. And two ships a week next? I just hope that those people who are waiting for the Prussian Landwehr and other 28mm models are not neglected too much.

It is interesting to see, that even when those four ships are more or less similar, your skightly different colour choices make them all individuals, but they still look like a group and they all look very real. Splendid job!

From KenR: 1/700 HMS Cossack (40 points)

 

Second ship of the week and that's me back on track. I've a couple of Tribal Class Destroyers to do and this is the first one.

This model is the usual 1/700 scale made by Trumpeter and after the Photo etch fest of the previous IBG Models, this has zero PE which is definitely my favourite amount of the devil's work. It's still the same 40 points PE or not !

HMS Cossack had a short but exciting career, first known for her part in the Altmark Incident where she "bumped" into the German Ship and rescued around 300 British prisoners of War who had been captured by Graf Spee. This took place in Norwegian waters (who were Neutral at the time) and Germany claimed that it was a breach of International Law. Pot, kettle, black.

Cossack was involved in the 2nd Battle of Narvik and was badly damaged during an engagement with the German Destroyer Z17 and just made it back to safety. She was then involved in the hunt for the Bismarck, finding the German Battleship during the night and kept it busy until larger ships and aircraft could attack the next day. Cossack was rather lucky in that one of her antenna was shot off by a shell from Bismarck, a few feet lower and it would have been a different story. She was finally sunk after a storm when she was being towed back to Gibraltar after a U Boat Torpedo hit.

Above are the 3 Tribal Class Destroyers to date (2 done pre challenge) and HMS Punjabi is the next ship to build. I reckon I can get another couple of Destroyers done plus Warspite before the end of the Challenge, which will leave me with just 3 more to complete the warship side of the Project.

TeemuL: And Ken delivers, the second ship this week and project is again back on track. Quite an interesting career for this HMS Cossack, nice to read it. Great job again and it is nice to hear there are options even on this project, with different manufacturers and amount of photo etches. :)

From KenR: 1/700 German Destroyer Z12 - Erich Giese (40 points)

It wouldn't be a Thursday without a 1/700 WW2 ship and this week is no different. Welcome to the final German Destroyer of the Narvik Project.

So thus is Z12 - Erich Giese a Type 1934A Destroyer, completed in March 1939, she had a short career being sunk on the 13th April 1940 at Narvik, but before that had been involved in mine laying actions as well as escorting two German Battlecruisers out to sea. She was also responsible for the torpedoing of HMS Jersey before heading to the Fjords.

Struggling with various mechanical and ammunition issues she survived the first days fighting at Narvik she managed to get into action on the 2nd day at a much reduced speed, Z12 ended up fighting 2 Tribal Class Destroyers and unsurprisingly came of worse and was sunk.

As previously this is a Trumpeter Model and this is the best kit for this ship in this scale. So its another 40 points to add to the total which keeps me on track for 1500 for the Challenge. Next up, ship wise is the British, I have started building HMS Hostile so hopefully you can see that next week. Finally a group shot of the German Destroyers done this challenge.

TeemuL: So you have done now the German ships, but will continue on the British ones. I'm glad several followers are happy to see more of these ships of yours. Myself, it seems like last week when I saw one of these ships, is that so? Yes it is, Thursday traditions are strong and alive! Another 40 points for you!

From KenR: 1/700 Z13 German Destroyer (40 points)

 

No surprises with entry no 1 this week as another German Destroyer rolls off the Production line, this is the 4th of the Challenge and also the 9th of 10 German ships for Narvik.

This ship represents Z13 Erich Koellner a Type 1934A Destroyer. She had a very short career, after two mine laying sorties she was involved in the Battle of Narvik, She was hit by HMS Warspite whose 15" shells failed to detonate but even so they caused tremendous damage and the ship was scuttled.

As everyone loved a coloured turret I've done some yellow topped turrets on this ship, as seen during German Operations during the war, it will certainly make the ship more visible on the table.

Points wise it's 40, the ship is a 1/700 kit by Trumpeter Models, next up is the final German Destroyer. Below is a team photo of those done so far, this Challenge 

TeemuL: Is there another way to start a Thursday morning than one 1/700 German Destroyer? Excellent work again Ken. Those yellow turrets are not that striking in the photos, but I'm glad if they work on the table. Another 40 points for you!

KenR: 1/700 Z22 Anton Schmitt German Destroyer (40 points)

Second entry of the week and I've managed to keep up with my planned ship a week. This time its Destroyer number 8 of 10 for the Germans at Narvik

The ship is a 1/700 scale model from Trumpeter, I'm very impressed with these kits which are full of detail without being ridiculously difficult to put together. After the excitement of the red Turrets last week, I've turned down the heat with a plain light grey ship with aerial recognition flags front and rear, maybe next week I'll have some coloured Turrets 😉

The model represents Z22 Anton Schmitt which was a Type 1936 Destroyer named after a German Sailor who was the last man on the last gun operating on the German Light Cruiser Frauenlob at the battle of Jutland, he went down with the ship. She was sunk in the initial British attack on Narvik whilst still in port. 50 crew were lost, the remaining men joined the ad hoc German Naval Infantry units in the land campaign.

So that's another 40 points towards my total, to keep me on course towards my 1500 points total for the Challenge. At the moment I've got the next German Destroyer being built and some Spanish Italian Wars Cavalry hopefully ready for next week. Until then here is a group shot of the ships to date.

TeemuL: Big ships, what's there not to like? Excellent quality once a again and I like your athmospheric photos, too. 40 points to your tally and expecting two posts next week. :)

From KenR: 1/700 German Destroyer Z18 Hans Ludemann (40 points)

 

A theme for this challenge will be me finishing (or trying to finish) off the ships I need for my Narvik display and this is Destroyer 7 of 10 for the German forces.

The ship is Z18 Hans Ludemann one of six 1936 Class Destroyers which was named after a midshipman who saved the lives of a number of other sailors when a cylinder exploded on his Torpedo boat in 1913, like all the German ships at Narvik it didn't end well. After British ships had knocked out all her guns the crew tried, unsuccessfully to scuttle the ship. The British boarded the ship after which it was Torpedoed so that it couldn't be repaired.

With each ship I do I try and look for some subtle difference so they can be identified on the table without picking them up. The German Destroyers at Narvik were most likely all light grey and although historically accurate to that afternoon it would be rather dull and also impossible to tell them apart!

It was common practice for all the ships in a German Naval operation to paint their Turrets and Gun Shields in different colours to aid visual detection, so I've added some rather sumptuous red turret shields, the photos have really made them stand out but in real life they are quite subtle, honest 😀 

The model is 1/700 Trumpeter and I claim my usual 40 points for a ship of this size. I've another ship on the go along with some 28mm French Napoleonic Artillery so lets see what arrives first. Team Kreigsmarine so far below.

TeemuL: I really like your 28mm minis, but these ships have something! I guess a big part is the diomara style they are represented, good looking water effects, breaking waves, foam and so on in addition of great photos. I like the way you have added wear and tear to the ships, emphasizing the diorama style.

As for scoring, we can really see the difference with the first timer DaniHG, who asked 2 points for his 1/285 vehicle and veteran KenR, who asks 40 points for 1/700 vehicle.... :) But it seems to be a tradition to award 40 points for 1/700 ships, I might need to try some of them, too. :)

From KenR - 1/700 German Destroyer - 40 points

 

It's been a slow start to the Challenge this year for me but I thought I would start with an old favourite Project from a couple of years ago, my 1/700 scale WW2 project (Narvik and Convoy Actions)

The model is from Trumpeter and represents one of the earlier Type 1934 Destroyers, Z2 Georg Thiele, named after a WW1 Corvette Captain she was lost at the Battle of Narvik, out of the harbour during the initial British attack, Z2 attacked the British as they exited the Harbour, she was rammed and hit at least 7 times  with Ammo and Torpedoes gone her Captain beached the vessel and its crew escaped. They later joined the land fighting around the town.

I've added some basic marking on the ship, although the German ships at Narvik were most likely plain, I'm thinking ahead to the demo version of this game when on table recognition between 10 near identical ships will be an issue.

Points wise I have gone for 40, which is what I have claimed for this size of ship in the last two challenges, it's about 20cm long and takes a full day to do, about the same time as 8 x 28mm figures. I've got a unit of 28mm Prussians done and being based so they will be next.

No Big project this year, I hope to make a dent in my 3 ongoing Projects, WW2 Naval, 28mm Plancenoit Napoleonic and of course Italian Wars, I have a Swiss Pike Block staring at me as well !

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Welcome back to the Challenge Ken! I really like seeing you return to this naval project - the history is fascinating and your results are absolutely stunning (love the shell waterspouts too). I look forward to hearing more about the upcoming game demo which features these models. In the meantime please bring on your Prussians and Italian Wars efforts!

- Curt

From KenR : 1/700 HMS Calcutta - Maritime Library (80 points)

 

When I saw the Maritime section in the Libary it wasn't too hard for me to think of a suitable entry, after all last years 1/700 WW2 Naval Project won the Challengers Choice ! I hadn't done much on the Project after last year's Challenge and I have been mostly working on the Mentana Game so it was lovely to get back on the water again.

This is a 1/700 scale model from Trumpeter representing HMS Calcutta, a C Class Light Cruiser of the Royal Navy as she would have looked in 1941 whilst serving in the Mediterranean.

The ship was built at the end of the first World War but was commissioned too late to see action. Calcutta served in Norway, at Dunkirk and in the Med where she was sunk by German aircraft on 1st June 1941 off Alexandria.

Initially armed with single mounted 6" Guns the ship was re armed as an AA Light Cruiser in 1939 and was fitted out with 4 dual QF 4" Guns as well as a quad 2 pounder in the front superfiring position (which looks a bit wierd !)

I've painted the ship in its dazzle camo pattern from the Med, rather than just go for a straight grey with a ship I prefer to go for a more interesting look and I'm getting to be a bit of a dab hand with the masking tape and air brush after a bit of practice.

Points wise I've gone for 60 for the ship. Last year I didn't do any Light Cruisers but was scoring 40 for Destroyers and 120 for Battleships so 60 is about right, added to that is 20 for the Library Maritime bonus, giving a total of 60. I've started a Liberty Ship as well as the Pike Block I have on the go.

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Great to see your 1/700 naval efforts making a return to the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge once more Ken! The model ship looks incredible, and as always it is fun to read about its service - although it seems depressing to be refitted specifically for anti-aircraft duties, and get sunk by aircraft anyway!

What I love most about these 1/700 ships is that you can really see them and get a feel for them - and your basing really adds to that sense too. I gather that this large scale throws a wrench in things when trying to have the models on a table of any sort of size...but wow, it looks great!

If you say 60 points for this, that works for me! Toss in the Maritime bonus, and that is 80 points for you. Well done!

GregB