Carp to Gold Ep. 5. - Young and Boatiful

The Aurora has four pairs of boats according to my plans, including two steam launches. These are the boats that came with my kit. As you can see there's only seven of them. I washed them and scraped off the sticky glue residue, also trimming away some of the injection mould marks.

Painting Tally, June 2026

June has been more productive than May (when I didn't do a thing, go the naysayers).

Here's the exact list:

28mm

Primed

26x Bloody Miniatures ECW/TYW figs

24x Warlord Games Clubmen

6x Warlord Games Generals

1/72

Completed

16x GNW Russian infantry

Primed

32x GNW Saxon infantry

1/700

Painted

Aoshima IJN Nagato 1927

1/2000

Painted

RHN Averof

Repainted about 10 of my earlier models and made bases for them (which require a layer of varnish)

Rurik II

Primed

SMS Blücher

This means a total PU of 722.

Purchases: Mostly concerning the Aurora build, some additional third party building material, a display cabinet etc.

June is birthday month, so I got both a model kit (a Trumpeters USS West Virginia 1941) and the aforementioned Warlord metal figures, a splendid haul if I say so myself.

Pride of a Nation, A Beast Made of Steel etc. etc.

 

I can't recall a more overdone topic in naval history circles than the Bismarck, both the ship and its operational history, even though I could recount, just on a whim, about ten different battleships that had a more interesting or successful career (including the Tirpitz and the Scharnhorst class [no, those were not battlecruisers]).

 

But there's no stopping the Bismarck fanboyism, and that may perhaps be one of the main reasons building her (yes it's a her) for my Battle of the Denmark Strait project took about two years. That's a lot of time for a 1/2000 model, even in scratchbuilding terms. 

Alas, taking some time off from the Aurora and managing a complete paintjob on a 1/700 interwar fit waterline Nagato, I took out the hulls of the Bismarck and the Prinz Eugen (no, they are not DKM Bismarck and DKM Prinz Eugen), and built the superstructures.

When building such models, one must cut a lot of corners. Some of the details you simply won't see. Some have to look just about right from a distance. The main visual cues for the ships must be there, but otherwise it's more or less free reign. That's why I like WW1 era German battleships for instance: very little deck clutter, very effective, streamlined designs. I procrastinated with this project because I was overwhelmed with all the bits and bobs on a WW2 battleship's superstructure, so in the end I just went at it and made things on the go.

The ships' hulls and other larger pieces are made from 3mm and 2mm balsa (1mm on the top layers of the Prinz Eugen), and they are built using the layer or sandwich method, where I construct things from the waterline up. The balsa is stiffened and filled with liquid CA glue and acrylic paste. The turret rings on the Bismarck are small rubber rings bought at a craft store (apparently for making children's necklaces). The rest is placticard (0.5mm and 2mm), plastic bits from leftovers (such as a 28mm Mongol spear), paperclips, the cranes on the Bismarck are Perry sword sheaths and on the Prinz Eugen they are stolen from a 1/700 Derfflinger, and her floatplane is from an old plastic anchor.

Since taking the above photo I made the Bismarck's prow a bit more pointy (she resembled the Iowa class' crocodile prow a bit too much) and added the visually important large flying bridge. You will be able to see those when the models are painted and based.

The deadline for this project is InWarD 2026, as I missed the anniversary of the battle (again). Until then, it's peacetime readiness for the completed PoW and Hood.

Carp to Gold, Ep. 4., Smug Assemblies

The time of painting has come on the Aurora!

I primed the hull white with MIG One Shot primer, then coated the entire thing with two layers of VMC White Grey, following up with VMC Yellow Ochre on the deck and upper works.

The upper mast trunks are left bare because they are going to require further attachments once the main bridge structure is placed.

Second Hand Swedes

As you may or may not know, I have a 1/72 scale WSS/GNW project running, with actually quite good progress, only I hadn't properly photographed everything. The figures are safely packed away for now in a 8l plastic box.

I got the 'From Narva to Poltava' big box made by Strelets for last Christmas (among other things), and this includes twelve Swedish pikemen and the same amount of musketeers. For obvious reasons, this is not the best distribution, chief among them the fact that my sixteen-figure units contain one central element of four figures and two 'wings' of six figures. 

(Of course it means different base sizes within a unit, but my OCD wouldn't let me get away with the command element not being perfectly in the middle.)

As I completely ran out of Swedish musketeers (that is because I traded my GNW collection for some Perry HYW figures IIRC before our previous move), I had to find more. Zvezda, being a Russian company, does not really import anymore to the EU and they only re-released their stuff once some time ago, so resources are scant.

As mentioned on the 'Carp to Gold' build log, my significant other convinced me to register on the second hand marketplace app Vinted, and just by searching for Zvezda, I hit the jackpot: not one, but two sellers offering used GNW Swedish figures.

I bought both and they were with me in a little while, about sixty figures in total (plus a complete unused box of Swedish artillery, and thirty-odd Streltsi, all for good use). I washed them, removing some of the old paint, and using the remaining unpainted Strelets pikemen, organized them to battalions, trying to maintain similar poses throughout. I made the above reference picture before stowing them away, but fortunately I could find a box with internal compartments, so I probably won't mix them up.

The wonders of the internet I guess! Now, on to painting them (after a unit of Russian foot, test pieces for my AK Mint Green colour, and two more Saxon infantry are completed, among other things)...

When in Vienna...

On the first week of June my wife and I took a train to Vienna as part of my birthday trip. Instead of Schönbrunn and Wienerschnitzl I selected two museums as our programme for the day: the Royal Armouries and the Military History Museum. Both are within 20mins of the main train station, although in opposite directions.

We started with the Royal Armouries (Hofjagd- und Rüstkammer), which houses many fancy artefacts of the Renaissance, starting from the 1490s all the way to the middle of the 17th century. There are many halls full of arms and armour, a fine choice if you are into stuff like that.

I took a multitude of photos, but here are the highlights of the day, starting with a big bunch of two-handed swords.

Carp to Gold, Ep.3., The Sand(ing)s of Time

I thought I could gain no more by keeping the deck and hull halves separate, so I assembled them. Hair bands and rubber are always useful for keeping pressure at the right places.

Painting Tally, May 2026 (or lack thereof)

May is the first time in the over one and half years of tracking my painting output when I did NOT paint anything (that is, get something at least to an assembled or primed state).

I spent some time on the Aurora model, but that is far from being assembled or primed. There is still some minor tweaking to do (and I shall make follow-up posts). Similarly, I did some painting on a 1/700 scale interwar fit IJN Nagato.

Besides the ship model and the suitable aftermarket parts, I only bought a bunch of meeples. They are in the process of being armed with toothpicks and coffee stirrer shields.

By the measure of area to be completed, the home renovation is progressing well and an A/C was just installed in our living room. 

I hope to focus more on hobby projects in June, continuing my 28mm TYW project and the 1/72 WSS figures.

Carp to Gold: Ep. 2., Hullduggery

Before any doubt arises, yes, I will add more bad puns to the title of this series.

Anyway, I made some progress on the Aurora, which at first seems a backwards step, but alas! not so!

I managed to separate the deck and the hull halves. For the 1903 fit these require major surgery, and it is actually better to have access to the edges of the deck and the inside of the hull halves.

So I sanded most of the tacky glue off the deck, and then removed the two midships sponsons and the rearmost one with a scalpel, we won't need those. Also the rearmost deck house and the 6" gun have to be switched up, so I chopped the deck house off and will rebuild it later.