 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| |
A Life on the Ocean Wave -
Britannia Miniatures' 28mm Ship's Boat
Fusilier Roly Hermans recently bought and painted Britannia Miniature's new ship's boat model. Here are his thoughts.
Surfing the internet can sometimes work out quite expensive. Particularly when on a whim you visit a wargames company site, and are suddenly attracted to a new product that you've never heard about before. This was certainly my case when I recently stumbled across this new ship's boat model at Britannia Miniatures' website. Despite not having any idea how I would use such a model in a wargame, it just looked so darn impressive that I had to have it!
Ordering was simple, and very efficient. I had an acknowledgement of my emailed order within an hour, and sending the package halfway round the world to me took only a few days.
On opening the package, I was intially taken at the sheer size of the model. I guess I'm accustomed to using somewhat smaller buildings and terrain items with my 28mm armies, whereas this beauty is definitely 28mm in scale. The boat measures 17cms in length and has a beam of over 5cms. When assembled, with overhanging carronade and oars, the measurements increase to 18cms in length, and 13 cms wide. Big and impressive!
Let's excamine the resin boat itself first. It is quite simple in design, and does not have very much fine detail. For instance, the boat is only four over-width planks high, whereas a real boat would have more and thinner planks. But so long as you are aware when you buy it that that this is a wargaming model, not a scale model, then that's not a problem. The only aspect I'm not so sure about is the rather rectangular cross-section of the transom - I would rather see this with the typical downwards curve of small boats.
The boat also comes with some metal extras, such as the large carronade for mounting in the bow, and two swivel guns for the stern. The oars are also made of metal.
Included in the kit are ten oarsmen (who come handless, as their hands are attached to the separate oars), a coxswain holding the tiller, a midshipman with a megaphone, and a two-man gun crew. Britannia Miniatures also sent me some samples of their standing figures, so I added a standing officer to my boat's crew.
The figures are nicely executed. They are well-animated - not at all exaggerated, but quite natural in pose. The proportions of the crew included in the kit are excellent, though I found the sample standing figures a little short in the leg. The boat crew and seated marines are all of a size that matches most current 28mm figures (but the standing marines I received as a sample are more like 30mm figures). They were quite easy to paint, having cleanly cast detailing and faces. Buttons are indented circles, rather than raised features.
I decided to use pins to secure the sailors and marines to their seats. This meant a lot of drilling and cut-up paper clips, but I think it will result in a stronger model in the end.
Painting the ship's boat was an interesting exercise. The various pictures and paintings I looked at showed a wide range of colours, from plain white to natural wood. However, when I spotted a very colourful boat in a picture of a diorama at the Royal Naval Museum in Portsmouth, I knew I had found my boat's livery. So my boat is white with red and blue trim, and sports a red interior with natural wood seats. The oars are white with red blades.
 |
 |
I painted the figures a mixture of colours, including blue jackets (some with white trim), white linen tops, and even a checked shirt. The officer figure wears a master and commander's uniform, but I prefer the look of a lieutenant's white facings. So I have told myself that this guy is a lieutenant who has just been promoted to master and commander, but has only had time to put a new epaulette on his old uniform.
I am now toying whether to mount the boat on a base or not. My thoughts are to get hold of a piece of perspex, and then use PVA glue tinted slightly blue to create some surface features and ripples. I would use white paint to pick out the splashes of where the oars have come out of the water, and the wake of the boat itself. If and when I do this, I will add a photo of the finished base to this review.
Overall, a terrific product from Britannia Miniatures, that I would thoroughly recommend. It costs £22.50, and is available online from the company itself.
Of course, if this boat is to ever land its complement of marines, I will also need a shore party of standing figures, so those will be my next task to paint up.
Now, I just have to figure out some scenarios to use this ship's boat in a game!
