Italo-Turkish & First Balkan Naval Wars

[mollinary]

This may be a strange place to post it, but there is a fascinating programme on Quest at present 10.15pm UK time) on the sinking of the Maine in Havana Harbour. Thought the naval Guys reading this thread might be interested.

Mollinary

[streetgang]

I just stumbled across this post, some interesting stuff. I have the Greek and Ottoman fleets to refight the major engagements of the First Balkan War. All of my ships are Navwar, I believe I used German TBs for Turks and French TBs for Greeks. Painted my fleets very similar to what you have planned: My Ottoman fleet was painted a dingy khaki with TBs in black. The Greeks are a light grey, can't recall how I painted the TBs, here are some of my ships:

http://lecoqfou.blogspot.com/2015/01/balkans-war-at-sea.html

I later purchased Russian Black Sea ships for hypothetical clashes between the Ottomans and Russians. I may have to venture into the Italian-Ottoman War too. Two good books for the Balkans and Italian Ottoman Wars are The Balkan Wars 1912-1913: Prelude to the First World War and A Box of Sand. Both deal with the naval aspects and have some good photos of vessels. I use a ruleset from a local gamer called "When Dreadnoughts Ruled the Seas" which have expansion sets for the pre-dreadnought era. The rules are more game than simulation and ships really take a pounding but they are a blast to play.

I also have pre-dreads form War Times Journal; their models, especially the 3D prints, are extremely detailed. That being said, there is something very charming (and speed paint friendly) about the Navwar models.

[paulr]

Nice looking ships Streetgang 
Particularly impressive tripod masts on Georgios Averof

I will be adding masts as I have done on my WWII ships, it makes a huge difference

WTJ do look to have a higher level of detail but I decided to go with a consistent look across all the ships

We will be using General Quarters I/II with the Pre-dreadnought mods from the Yahoo group

I've scaled up the AF & DF factors by a factor of 4 and included 12, 6 & 3pdr guns. This allows more differentiation between particularly the smaller ships

I've also changed the ground scale from the 1cm : 200 yards we use for WWI & WWII to 1cm : 100 yards to allow for some of the slower ships and also make the few fast ships feel 'really' fast

[paulr]

Order sent off to NavWar

Once I found a Post Office that had a fax machine

Fortunately it was my local Post Office that was still open when I got back from work

[streetgang]

Thanks Paul, I appreciate the kind words. I can't take credit for the tripod mast, that is all NavWar. The extent of my masts are single rods of brass wire where the masts should be. It gives enough of an impression for me to be content with. Good luck with your venture and please be sure to post some pictures, we can all use inspiration and motivation, I am trying to finish off my Russian Black Sea fleet now!

[pierre the shy]

Morning Streetgang

Very nice looking ships. I always add masts to my 1/3000 ships as they do make the models look much better and are generally easy to do, though I have gone through several 1mm and 1.5mm drillbits over time as I use a small modelling handdrill for the holes for the brass rod masts.

I've included some (well quite a few actually  ) pre-WW1 Navwar ships from various other nations with Paul's order but there are a few that I couldn't match.

However WTJ make the Chilean and Spanish ships I need in 3D printed "plastic"?

Interested if you had any issues/advice about painting the 3D printed ones if you did get them (as opposed to WTJ's metal cast models) as I might get the WTJ ones at some stage.

Cheers
Peter

[fred.]

Order sent off to NavWar

Once I found a Post Office that had a fax machine

Fortunately it was my local Post Office that was still open when I got back from work

You can send faxes by email these days, which might make it a bit easier!

[KTravlos]

I have never had any issues with painting WTJ rapid prototype ships. I consider them the best bang for you buck when it comes to the balance between detail and price.

[paulr]

My credit card has just had a rather large transaction from Navwar

So that confirms that someone has cleared their fax machine and the fax went to the right place

I wonder if it also means they have processed and dispatched the order
Three days is pretty quick to get that many ships together

It certainly contrasts with the level of communication we almost take for granted from Pendraken

[paulr]

A 1.35kg box from Navwar arrived for me at work today

I resisted opening it for almost half an hour

According to the note inside we got everything we wanted including the 'special order' of just some of the ships out of a couple of battle backs

I have some sorting to do tonight

[KTravlos]

I give you the joy of it sir!

[paulr]

I sorted the order last night and everything we wanted is there, including the special order of half a dozen ships out of a couple of battle packs

I also prepared the Greek navy last night, all 18 ships

This morning I added masts to the larger ships and prepared the Ottoman ships for the battle of Elli, 16 ships (including 4 extra destroyers so I'm doing whole classes)
The glue is drying on their added masts as I type

Once the glue is fully dry I'll trim the masts then undercoat all the ships

I also need to pop to my 'local' model shop and get some light Khaki once they are open

Unfortunately for Pierre the Shy this is not helping the progress on his ITLSU 1914 Third Echelon 
http://www.pendrakenforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,15515.msg226379.html#msg226379

[pierre the shy]

I sorted the order last night and everything we wanted is there, including the special order of half a dozen ships out of a couple of battle packs

I also prepared the Greek navy last night, all 18 ships

This morning I added masts to the larger ships and prepared the Ottoman ships for the battle of Elli, 16 ships (including 4 extra destroyers so I'm doing whole classes)

34 ships on the go already!?! blimey they only arrived yesterday .....at that rate you should be able to get back to the PM WW1 stuff within a couple of weeks....tops  

FWIW I made plenty of progress on the WW1 ITLSU stuff I have to do, just need to print and glue on the labels for the British stuff now and then onto last of the German stuff I have to do (until Paul does the latest batch).

Picking up my share of the ships tonight, so between us we should be busy painting ships for quite a while.

[d_Guy]

(Head lowered into hands - slowly shaking it from side to side) - I can't keep up! - the quantity of the output - the quality of the results - and I'm retired! -and jealous - did I mention jealous? 

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Know how you feel