Wednesday 7 December 2011

A Cost and Time Effective Solution? - Perhaps!

It suddenly occurred to me whilst I was busy considering the naval aspects of 1890 for Fezia and Rusland that once again I had overlooked a ready made source of models I could use for the respective navies. I should point out that I would have no problem making the models that I needed based on historical Turkish and Russian types for 1890 and indeed, I have been looking forward to doing so but in the interests of both saving time and reducing the lead mountain (in my case probably more of a small hill!) it makes more sense for me to make use of what is already to hand. The ready made source to which I am referring to is of course, the Minifigs ships I own. Now these are ideal for use in an 'old school' way (they are very basic models from a detail perspective) but I am limited in terms of both the numbers available and the types I have. They are all slightly later ships (probably 1895 plus) as well but for imagi-nation purposes that is not too much of an issue. I will give this some careful consideration as I also have some of the dreadnought types for the range but would be disinclined to have two paint schemes on the go - standard pre dreadnought black, white and buff or wartime overall grey. It will mean that should I 'pre dread' the models in the earlier livery then the dreadnoughts will be largely redundant for the time being
Each side would have a few battleships and cruisers and a selection of torpedo boats which would more than sufficient for the forces envisaged. Using slightly later period ships means that I can use the 1890 to 1920 rules straight off the bat which will again be a big time saver. The models will also fit very nicely on the Hexon tiles. Ideally I would like to get a pair of 'standard' pre dreadnoughts and so will look to see what Ebay has on the go. The building project for the historical Russian and Turkish fleets has not been abandoned as such by any means. I intend tackling the same but for slightly further back - to 1877 in fact. The reasons for this minor deviation from the plan (Plan? What plan? I hear you say) will become obvious in due course - hopefully this evening for me and then to feature on the blog tomorrow for general consumption.
The plot will thicken, as plots tend to do….;-)

12 comments:

Paul O'G said...

What scale are these Minifig ships you own - 1:1200? Excellent! You can bulk out with the Houston's range too - they have both Russian and Turkish ships!

http://www.greatendeavours.co.uk/ships/index.php

Robert (Bob) Cordery said...

This makes a lot of sense. Using stuff that you already have will mean that you will be able to get started that much quicker.

All the best,

Bob

David Crook said...

Hi Paul

The phrase 'Ooooh shiny' springs to mind - thanks for the heads up and it is very tempting!

All the best,

DC

Bluebear Jeff said...

I was also going to mention the Houston ships:

http://www.greatendeavours.co.uk/ships/index.php


-- Jeff

David Crook said...

Hi Bob,

So, so right!

It will be good fun drafting the back story though!

All the best,

DC

David Crook said...

Hi Jeff,

They look really nice and I shall dabble in them at some point.

I just need to find the point.....;-)

All the best,

DC

Corporal_Trim said...

David,,

The Houstons are on the large side, ~ 1/1000 give or take a little depending upon the model.

BMC/Minifigs is a good way to go if you can find more. Although toylike, I find them more satisfying models than the Houstons.

Regards,
Steve

David Crook said...

Hi Steve,

The only down side to the Houstons is the fact that I believe they are only available from the US of A so shipping will push the price up somewhat. Luckily I will only need to raid the range for a few items so this should not be too bad. The Minifigs ships seem to vary in scale somewhat so fitting them in should not be too much of a problem.

I actually don't need many more Minifigs/BMC ships to complete the set up as envisaged so it should be, hopefully, easy enough to source the models I need - I will just have to be patient!

All the best,

DC

Paul O'G said...

Where can one buy the Minifigs/BMC models?

Corporal_Trim said...

David,

Altough some elasticity of scale is of course built into the BMC range itself, the ships fit quite plausibly together.

But I'm afraid you'll find that any attempts to combine Houstons with BMC is going to turn out about like mixing 40mm and 25mm figures. I can e-mail you a size comparison photo or two if you like.

Regards,
Steve

David Crook said...

Hi Paul,

Sadly they are no longer available - not since about 1973! Ebay, bring and buys and secondhand toy fairs are the only places you can find them now!

All the best,

DC

David Crook said...

Hi Steve,

Good point well made! I am considering using the Houstons for 1877 when I get to it (probably around 2025!)and so the Minifigs/BMC kit will be exclusively used for the 1890s.

All the best,

DC