Tuesday, May 26, 2020

Russo-Japanese War Fleets


I finally got a little painting mojo back and started to paint up the ships I got from War Times Journal for the Russo-Japanese War.  First up are the Russian fleets based in Port Arthur (upper left) and Vladivostok (lower right).  These will have the following paint scheme (all Vallejo paints)

Hull: Olive Drab
Deck: Deck Tan
Superstructure: Khaki Grey
Funnels: Ochre Brown
Life Boats: White

The ships will get a very thin black ink wash and then get based up.

The second picture shows the rest of the ships, well I picked up models for every ship involved in the conflict - On the right side is the Russian Baltic fleets that came over to reinforce their Pacific forces in the form of the 3rd and 4th Pacific Fleets.  These fleets will have a paint scheme of:

Hull: Black Grey
Deck: Deck Tan
Superstructure: Medium Grey
Funnels: Ochre Brown
Life Boats: White

Of course, if one has Russians, one also needs a Japanese opponent, which you can see on the left side of the second picture.  These have just been primed grey and had their decks painted (Iraqi Sand).  I used a different deck color form the Russians to make it easier for players to identify the two sides.  The Japanese paint scheme will be a medium grey for both the hulls and superstructures and white for the life boats.

In addition to the Japanese Warships, I purchased 8 freighters/transports which can be seen at the bottom of the line of Japanese ships.

These models are 1/2400 scale and are resin prints.  They are superb and paint up really well.  I highly recommend War Times Journal - these little ships are fantastic.

The WTJ line is extensive for this period and I have a model for every capital ship in the War.  I also have models for all the Destroyers and Torpedo Boats but those are still in their bags and will get painted when the bases arrive.

At 1/2400 scale, each capital ship is 2 - 2.75 inches long.  The destroyers and torpedo boats are .75 - 1.0 inches long and still have a lot of detail.

Once these fleets are done, I'll need to finish up the land armies - I'm a little over halfway there. 

My goal is to put on a Russo-Japanese War convention game with both land and naval engagements.  The next big convention here in the US is Fall In, which is scheduled to for October 22-25 of this year.  I've got hotel reservations set for the con but think it's a 50/50 chance it can be held.  I actually need two things to be true (1) The Convention can be held and (2) My lovely, yet fierce Dr Wife grants me the OK to attend for health reasons.  If Fall In isn't viable there's always Cold Wars in March'21.  The main point is I have a lot of time to both get ready and procrastinate.  I  wonder which one will be in the majority?

4 comments:

Peter Douglas said...

Looking forward to seeing this project evolve. Good luck with staying in your wife’s good books - stick to your diet! FYI I know your wife’s a sweetie and that the real problem is you!

caveadsum1471 said...

Good looking fleets, fascinating war,good luck putting it on(whenever you get to it!)
Best Iain

ColCampbell50 said...

Welcome to the wonderful world of pre-dreadnought naval battles.
http://colcampbell-shipyard.blogspot.com/search/label/Pre-Dreadnought

Jim

Miles said...

MB is a sweetie and my greatest fear in life is she’ll one day realize she can do A LOT better than me. After mastering Italian and Greek cooking she’s on a French tear right now. Life is good. She did have a really dark time in March treating patients and hopefully doesn’t get pressed into service again.