Photo report of the Greek warship Averof

My wife and I took a four day trip to Athens, which we mostly spent in the southern districts near the sea (besides a mandatory trip downtown). The highlight of the journey, of course, was visiting the armored cruiser / battleship Georgios Averof.

The ship is moored in Faliro harbor, is maintained by the Hellenic Navy, entrance is 5EUR per adult. We arrived early Tuesday morning and were the only visitors at that time besides a guided school tour. 

Entrance is from the stern via a staircase - as we went up and down the length of the ship I organised the pictures from aft to fore instead of chronological order.

Most of the spar deck and upper deck are free to move around, and so are some of the internal areas. The bow is accessible via the enclosed superstructure above the spar deck.

Nova Hungaria - SMS Weissland

The naval support unit for the penal battalion has two ships, the gunboat Maria Theresa and the paddle steamer Weissland. The MT was built long ago, but in the world of Nova Hungaria, the Weissland is the older ship. 

15mm ground targets, fences and ruins

The WW2 campaign is rolling on, and here's some neat stuff to bomb to pieces. First a cruiser/destroyer (depending on scale) and two 152mm howitzers.

Flea market finds

This is a wooden model ship and a metal cast Prussian SYW grenadier I found on the local flea market. The two cost about 2$. I intend to restore the ship, build it a full sail clipper. First I need to remove the ugly old finish without further damaging the wood. 

Merry Christmas from aboard the Judgement's Scream!

Christmas is tomorrow but I thought I would just let my readers know I'm still alive and quite eager to see the Essex figs I'll have got under the tree. And honestly, I wish the same for all who reads this weblog. 

Well it would be hypocrite to say it's the expectation that matters and not the moment when you rip the wrappings apart like a hungry Berserk and put your dirty, Christmas-tree-leaves-pierced, decoration-wire-stabbed, possibly not yet electrocuted hands on the shiny things that await you.

All in all, a merry Christmas to you. 

Gave in to temptation and bought a plastic ship kit, Revell's 1/450 'Spanish Galleon'. Now the mould is extra super terrible: imagine all the flash you can, and double it, now you have what I had to face. Fortunately I didn't have to bother with the underwater parts and cut them right off, wishing to make a waterline model. Assembly was also very painful and included a lot of swearing (my roommate bears witness, I think I just invented some new, cool sounding curses). There are no pegs and holes in the hull and if there are, the mould is old and pours plastic into them or leaves them right off. Then I encountered more flash. As bad as it was assembling it, painting the thing was a joy. Really, a neat little model. 

I removed the oars and replaced them with a gun deck and added some primitive rigging as the masts looked really bare. 

Have a little more back story: the ship was built by Halbard Dun of Waterburg, who has originally been a shrimping captain (obvious Forrest Gump reference), and made his fortune bargaining with the Lesser Folk who occupied the sunken parts of the city. He dealt with Crabmen, Sharkmen and all what you can imagine. They got legit Imperial coins which they could use 'Upwaters', and Halbard got a cheap workforce who were very much eager to be occupied. And Halbard Dun did it all for one thing: to be a pirate.

Now these are perilous times we're talking about, and the Galleys of Ódensbarad are pretty much an opponent to anyone willing to be a 'free sailor'. So the Judgement's Scream (ol'Captain Dun had something for bizarre names) has been equipped with more cannons any galley could bear, and more sails any smaller vessel or rower could use.

After unsuccessful raids on Kingdom, Waterburg and Fjördstiri waters, the crew set sail to the southwest, into the heart of the archipelagos, and setting up a base in the free port of Nolisium. There they met a bard and an Elven woman who've changed the course of their story... Together they were tasked by the Golden Prince to reclaim the Claymore of Omens, the last relic known to the world forged by the Nine Phoenixes etc. etc., more lore thing. So the Judgement's Scream is a key to the story and a very trusty vessel. 

And she looks oh-so good!

More ironclads

Thought I would share more at this point as I'm running out of content for the blog. Found in the same thread as the previous one.

What I know or guess: these are the generation of warships before the pre-dreadnoughts and after the ironclads with side-batteries used at, for example, Lissa; they still have cannons in the old ship of the line style and turrets on deck and on the sides. 

I can't tell what this is,

but I do certainly like it! Found on the 'weapons' board of that certain infamous place of the internets. The whole concept of the ironclad with side-turrets is interesting in itself; looks like something freshly out of a steampunk novel.

Minecraft morning with the fleet

Minecraft frigate

I made a 36-gun frigate in Minecraft 1.81.

And here's how I built it :D

Base with blocks to count length

Some oldies

I love LEGO. This is kinda weird at my age, but it's one of the best possible forms of being creative... I mean, the whole thing is about that.
Whatsoever, feel free to go and check my Picasa album of the latest 3-decker ship of the line, the flagship JRS Antechaiton (Messenger of God).
Teaser:

Almost the whole of the LEGO material is contained :D She couldn't last long and in later occasions 4 or 5 smaller vessels were made of the same materials (a brig, a xebec, two cutters/sloops and a 36-gun frigate...).
(One of the masts is actually broken but the main thing is visible).

The first plans I drew and is presented at my devArt gallery:

She was the flagship of Admiral Jedrich Skyfarski at the battle of Kap Navidat (one of the biggest sea battles in the Jackewline war of independence). The lower pic is made in MS Paint and took about 2 hours to make.