A Fluyt

You might remember that last time I was thinking about 17th/early 18th century naval gaming, I chose to stick with the current scale (about 1/500) as I had the necessary amount of hulls. In the end I reversed my decision and bit the bullet, switching to 1/1200 scale, the primary reason being the relative ease of building the models and storing them. Thus, for starters, I made an order with Warfare Miniatures for an economy pack of their Ark Royal ADW Dutch ships, this first complete vessel being one of them.

The order arrived in due time and the castings are great, splendid little vessels with lots of individual character. I chose to build a smaller one to see how challenging it is to paint and rig, thinking that the larger ships won't prove such a hassle once I mastered this.

I'll divide my ships to Red and Blue squadrons to be able to field them against each other until reinforcements arrive. I also made some resin copies of the 70-gun large Indiaman, using Blue Stuff (for strictly personal use, mind you) to boost the firepower of each of the two squadrons. Of course the copies are nothing compared to the crisp detail of the original, but they will suffice.

I used acrylics (notably VMC Flat Brown on the hull, AK Flat Flesh and Cream White on the sails) for the base colors, followed by a raw umber oil wash and highlights to paint the ship. The rigging was made with thread, using the same method as with the 1/500 scale ships, albeit with some simplification.

The base is a Renedra 20x40 plastic one from the spares box, with rounded off corners. For the sea effect I used artist's acrylic paste, stippled on with a stiff brush, and some acrylic medium, painted with Prussian Blue, followed by a grey drybrush, a dark green glaze, another glaze of Prussian Brown and a white drybrush for the wave crests. Once the paint dried, I added a single layer of gloss varnish.

For now I'll up-rate the vessels I have: the fluyts will become fifth and sixth rates, the frigates and smaller Indiamen fourth rates. I'm very contended with the quality of the models, so I will most likely purchase some more.