Howlin's world of Triremes, and Biremes and more!

[Howlin]

It was recommended to me at a hobby store, but It may be better suited to the hard plastics most models are made out of, they do not sell many of the 1/72 soft plastic stuff, I think their selection only comes from bulk collection buys. Its a very smelly primer, I have to use it outside.

I may need to try a few methods before I paint these Zvezda legionaries for my next one. Which could be out pretty soon, but the next after that will take some more time.

So you put the glue on afterwards as a sealer? does that give a glossy shine? I was thinking about trying a matte modge podge. I did a test of regular for my water effects to see if I could use glue or modge podge, but it seems the modge podge does stick to plastic better.

[Minuteman]

More fine work, this time a warship crowded with Roman marines.

I'm not sure whether the Corvus bridge should/might have had a spike underneath the 'enemy end', to fix it into an enemy warship for boarding purposes? I seen to remember reading about this in one of the Peter Connolly books?

Perhaps your model does, I just couldn't spot it.

[Howlin]

Thank you, There are many threads I too skip on as I primarily check out the ancient and medieval ones.

The swan was made with a wire armature and then molding on milliput puddy. The decorations on the side of the tower trireme were made by cutting out the decorative trim pieces on the name plates of the Academy biremes. See image



Some also use lions as the stands which is where the head came from. The Greek soldiers relief comes from the Imai Greek warship.
Most of the tower and side walls were made from the large rectangular base plate itself.
And then milliput puddy things as smooth as possible.


I have some other threads you may be interested in giving some comments on as I have asked for suggestions and such. These are my in progress builds and some have quite a lot of custom work with styrene sheet and milliput.

Biremes and triremes including some of the ones now finished
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=24575

Corbita and merchant ships (mostly custom built from scratch and spare parts)
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=24574&p=269959&hilit=corbita#p269959

Catapult/ siege trireme
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=24937

Flre ship
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=24989

[Howlin]

You are right, and the model does have one, its small and the coloring does not quite stand out enough. Its best seen in the first pic. This is one of the things I have noticed is how pictures really bring out the imperfections, such as the painting of the side shields look a little more blotchy and sloppy in the pictures, but in person the colors seem better and looks fine though a bit dark from when I added a wash.

[Howlin]

Here we are! the completed Imperial Roman Emperors Guard.

A companion ship to the Emperors Trireme set to guard its flanks.

These are the elite hardened, battle tested professional soldiers tasked with the most important duties as a companion ship to the Emperors Trireme to guard its flanks. They are swift, fierce and mean business, they do not mess around with the safety of long ranged missile attacks, they just get in there ram and board your ship and your in real trouble then. With good resistance to light projectiles from their large shields and heavy armor they are small in number but not to by under estimated.

Ship: is a Roman Warship made by Imai, Academy, Minicraft. Again a corvus was added as well as a widened top deck, and a little modification to the ram.

Minis used: Zvezda Imperial Roman troops, Orion Roman Siege troops, 1 Stretlets Roman senator.

































Whats next??? The mighty and wealthy Carthaginian flagship the "Fighting Flamingo" stay tuned in the coming weeks.

Thank you!

[krugi3]

Hello!

Nicely done work, but let me say two points on the curvus:

1. Imperial Romans and a corvus doesn't appear in the same era. The corvus was a short lived boarding device in the 3rd century BC.
2. Noone can board your corvus as it is much too high fixed on the stave. And if you lower it then it will crash on the railing and damage it. I had the same problem with my Mylae Diorama
http://bennosfiguresforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=24501&p=273731&hilit=mylae#p273731

I noticed that you intend it for wargaming with a little historic free space, but maybe you want to reconsider this. Up to you ...

Kind Regards
Thomas

[Bill Slavin]

Another very nice addition to your fleet. It's always a joy to see your beautiful work and conversions. I wish you had a better camera though! The shots don't do credit to your lovely work.

[Howlin]

Thank you for the feedback, I am not a history expert for each era and stuff so yeah there is a lot of flexibility in what I am creating. There will be really weird allies and timelines fighting with and against each other. Its all just for fun.

I just assume they have a small step stool or ladder they would use to get up on it that I did not include. I had to make it so high so that when placed down could go out of reach of the side rails and hopefully not damage them. It is pretty easily removable with just an extra plate over the hull, so can be used in a variety of ways.

I will keep it because I am trying to asymmetrically balance the game where Roman/ Egyptian side strengths will have more boarding capabilities and the Greek/ Allies side will be more about long range projectiles and ramming.

Love the diorama! expertly painted and the water effects are top notch!

[Howlin]

yes I know I am so sorry, I took over 30 pics and these were the best I had.... I may try to do this in some sunlight on Sunday and see if I can borrow someones smart phone. There is a lot lost in the pictures.

[Howlin]

I was just thinking.... maybe one day i will modify the corvus mounting plate to hold a rotating rock thrower ballista... for a more historical option. Thank you for the input

[Minuteman]

Great work! A very fine looking ship and some superb figures. I like the shade of purple you have used, very appropriate to these elites and suitably 'Imperial Roman' !

[Peter]

I like it how you painted that ship and figures. Keep them coming.

[CliosPaintingBench]

Hope to see more progress soon! Love the purple Roman shields, I've got a feeling we'll be seeing some Carthaginian crew soon...

[Howlin]

Oh there will be Carthaginians! My favorite of all the Zvezda models is the Carthaginian one. The only one I really did not modify~ about 42 minis to paint, and only 5 repeats!

I also am co-currently working on the knock off version of the Atlantic Greek warship. I need minis for it though. I could use Zvezda but am considering trying procure some atlantic minis to fill it up to be true to form. just a small crew for that one.

[Cryns]

Nice to see your ships become more and more realistic and historical correct.

Can we consider the building of a knock-off version of the Atlantic Galley as nostalgia?
Adding Atlantic mini's to it sounds like a good choice: once you build a vintage/retro model, you should go retro all the way

Does knock-off version mean a cheap copy / remade?
Than your shipmodel must be the Imai 1:72 replica of the Atlantic galley.
Your Imai Roman galley must in fact be a replica of the Aurora original: same shape, same size.

Usually the fun in building a ship (modelkit or scratchbuild) for me is to get as close as possible to historic relevance and correctness. The main question is: What archaeological source is the shipmodel based upon? If this differs from the shipmodel, I try to change and improve the shipmodel.

The exception is with the old vintage toys and models for me.
Because I want to pay some respect to the design and value of this vintage model.
Then my fascination turns towards the question: What sources did the designer of the model back in the 1960's or 1970's use by creating this modelkit?
Especially with those old Atantic toys this is a real interesting journey.
The designer of their Ancient Greek range must have had limited acces to proper historical material, and most of it must have been found in Italy and in Italian publications. Which appear, to my opinion, as being a weird mixture of ancient Roman, Italiot-Greek and Etruscan images.

Like that Atlantic galley. The image that comes most close to the model is this one:


Its supposed to depict a Roman ship but its archaeological source I don't know. Its publicated in 1975 in this Italian book not long before Atlantic developed the shipmodel.



The timber designed captains hut and the poopdecks bulwork can be inspired by a mis-interpretation of another picture in this book:



This is as far as I could trace the origins of this model down.
I wish you good luck with building and developing this retro model and crew

[Howlin]

Yes I say knock off version because Atlantic seemed to sell the molds. But from pictures alone, the Imai seems to be slightly less chunky and a better design. its only flaw though is that it has huge windows into the inside and not much inside detail or crew, So I was going to just cut out something with a black silhouette to give the appearance of shadowy people inside.

I am of course inspired by historical accounts but I do not hold myself to them too strictly because of how little survives, there must have been thousands of these ship, and with many different builders and creative motifs over the time periods, and going back even further gets even worse.... Pre- collapse of the bronze age must have been something to behold. Sadly so much of history is missing or skewed we really do not know.

I fully commend your work and attention to the historical detail though!

The Atlantic ship is an oddity of design, but i guess that is also what I like about it, something different to add into the mix. That bottom picture particularly looks like the inspiration with the squared up back porch.

[Howlin]

After a big break I present to you, the:

Ancient Greek Bireme: "The Sun Dolphin"

A model by IMAI which is a remake of an Atlanitic produced ship model. While the Atlantic model is quite rare and collectible from my observations is much more chunky and the IMAI version is superior.
I used artist acrylic tube paints, and the water is done with bathroom tissue and Mod Podge, then painted, and then added on tuffs of cotton balls with more Mod Podge for the waves


Minis used:

Atlantic Ancient greek
http://plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.aspx?id=73

Atlantic Greek life in the Aropolis
http://plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.aspx?id=72

Orion Roman Sailors (for Greek fire weapon)
http://plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.aspx?id=288

Hat Alexanders light infantry (for steers)
http://plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.aspx?id=148

Special thanks to Frankzett for allowing me to use his rowers image! Its a really nice finishing touch.

I must say I held off on the Altantic figures for some time as they are rarer and a bit more costly, they also get some criticisms for accuracy and proportions, but I must say having them in hand are some of my favorites of the 1/72 world with good sculpting and dynamic poses.

For the game: this is a fast and lightly armored escort but with well trained elite troops ready to give all to protect its royal cargo. It carries a short range but devastating hot oil attack for any that dare to board her.

The symbol on the sail is Greek for Strength, with an added twist.

Hint: click on pictures for more detailed larger views.



















e85 availability map

















24 gas station near me











Thanks for viewing, I hope you enjoy! Please note this is for fun and not 100% historical accurate.

Well its not the Carthaginians like I thought I would do, I had some inspiration for this and maybe another before I get to finishing that one. It will be worth the wait to do in the grand opulent fashion of the wealth of Carthage! Leave a like or comment to motivate me to finish this epic piece.

[Bessiere]

Lovely piece of art you built. I am very impressed by all of it; the water is beautifully rendered in a nice blue. The waves and oar strokes are very realistic. The sails are superb, the boat exquisitely decorated and you made a great crew. Did I leave out anything? I hope not because it's all fantastic. Fine work.
Cheers,
Bessiere

[Howlin]

thank you, I had a lot of fun with this one having bright colors. Its nice to have finally finished it, there is a lot of touch ups, touching up parts that were touched up.

I still would like a better way to do bronze, which I use Gold and then add some shading, but this does not differentiate parts I want to look more gold.

[Ochoin]

Just beautiful. I think I'm most impressed by the removable sails.

Now this might sound like heresy, but have you considered a wrecked boat? Rammed, broken in half & only the stern above the waves?

BTW where do you get Atlantic figures? Unobtainable, I'd have thought.

donald