Metamorphosis

Some of you may know that I'm cheap when it comes to the hobby. On one hand, this hones my scratchbuilding skills, on the other, it makes for interesting projects.

One of the drawbacks of naval wargaming is the lack of inexpensive model kits. I've been fawning over GHQ's and Langton's offerings for a long time now, but I simply cannot afford them, nor, for that matter, more gamey stuff like Tumbling Dice and Navwar. In recent times, I've come to learn about better opportunities, and I'd like to show you one of them.

One of the cheapest, if not the cheapest kits on the market is the Revell Spanish Galleon. Nominally at 1/450 scale, at first glance it does not have much to offer for later than the end of the 16th century. It is also a pretty old and thus badly manufactured kit. However, I've built two of them so far, and during the construction of these, I came to appreciate them, seeing some opportunities.

They are relatively large ships for gaming purposes, so alterations should be easy. The sides with oars are removable and can be replaced with a block of balsa wood to create a gundeck. If you hack away the long galeon prow, you can replace it with a late 17th-early 18th century looking one. You can then raise the stern a little bit, and voilá, you have something to put on the table as a man-o-war for the Golden Age of Piracy and other Lace Wars conflicts.

This is my progress on the test piece so far. I have another kit, which I think I'll be converting to an Ottoman galleass with an oar deck and higher superstructure. The bow pieces on this one are 2mm balsa wood, paperclip and stretched sprue. Sprue stretching is a procedure I have just recently learned, but put to good use already. The ship is going to be part of the Royal Varangian Navy, and is christened by the Princess Royal as Konung Harald XVI Jordgubbvän.

Stay tuned for the finished models!