Small Scale Naval: Generic Dockyard

The recent successful construction of Fort Humpter had me thinking what else I could add in terms of scenics for the various Small Scale Naval projects that I currently have under my belt. Given that this is a range that now covers everything from 1/4800th Napoleonic to 1/3000th Pre-Dreds via 1/2400th Pacific War and now ACW Monitors, I wanted to have something that was generic enough to be of use to all, and whilst it might horrify scale purists, would make use of various buildings I had collected in scales between 1/3000th to 1/900th.

I decided to go for a Dockyard scene that eventually could sit on some coastline terrain pieces, and would allow the depiction of various eras in a general way.

The starting point, as always, was an amalgam of various bits of card and scraps, to be initially populated by some dock buildings that I obtained long ago from Navwar when ordering for the 1/3000th Boxer Rebellion Naval project, alongside some miscellaneous spars, timber and boxes, etc from Langton Miniatures in their 1/1200th range:

Navwar's 3MH5/5a Sailing Era strips of Store Houses and extensions, as well as the 3MH6/6a Workshops, made for a good base of various types of building, placed amidst the detritus provided from Langton's M47 Dockyard Misc. pack - overall not mixing too badly in purely visual terms.

These base pieces were then reinforced by the following motley crew:

In the foreground, we have three of Irregular Miniature's IKS10 2mm single house models, here with a 'Tudorised' paintjob that was originally for the 2mm ECW project.

In the centre, from Navwar's 1/3000th Harbour Pieces, the 3MH7/7a 20th Century Factory or Warehouse, and the Oil Tanks Group, which are somewhat basic, but paint up well; and finally in the rear, some of the smaller items from Langton's 1/1200th buildings range, I think here a combination of his M5 and M7 packs.

Adding in these in different combinations, then allows the 'feel' of the Docks to change with the era......

From Sail and Steam:

via Steam:

to Coal, Oil, and the dawn of the 20th Century:

At least that is the plan!

I've also got some small Dockyard cranes and a Coaling Dock from I forget exactly which manufacturer, (Scotia?) and these also might see the light of day once I can extract them from the depths of the Lead Mountain, which should really ensure a good span of possible uses for this scenic base.

2mm buildings comparison: Part 2

A late entry, now, into the debate on suitable buildings for use with 2mm minis, and a somewhat unconventional idea on what to use. Yes, you've guessed it, 1/3000th scale ones!

"What!" I hear you cry, "we thought he was going a bit too far when he started talking about 1/12ooth for use with 1/900th figures - now he's really lost the plot...."

Well, in typically unmathematical fashion (Scale purists should look away now), I'm throwing away all the various zeros, and putting down a few more comparison photos of some buildings I've just got hold of, concentrating on the 'look' of them when next to 2mm figures.

In the photo above, we have, from the right, 1/1200th Rod Langton, in the middle foreground, Irregular's IKS10, and at the rear and extreme left, the new bee in my bonnet, Navwar's 1/3000th Harbour Pieces.

These were, of course, obtained in order to put together some terrain for my '55 Days at Sea' naval project, and as you can see below, consisted of a pack of 3MH5 Sailing Era strips of Storehouses & 3MH5A Extensions, and one of 3MH6 Sailing Era Workshops & 3MH6A Dockyard House.

The casting and sculpting definition on these pieces is not that great, although it is certainly no worse than the IKS10 from Irregular, and the proportions overall are quite nice. The strips of storehouses measure some 40mm long, and come with two extension pieces that have an overlapping dormer roof, (That unfortunately does not have a high enough pitch, so will need some creative basing to get it to fit), two of each in the pack at £1.10, so if you're searching for look-alikes for terraced housing, these will compare very well with the single row IKS4 available from Irregular themselves, which retails at £1.50.

That depends, of course, on whether you're sceptical about such small scale buildings fitting with 2mm minis, but bear with me....

We see below Langton, Irregular and Navwar 1/3000th next to two blocks of Soldados from Santa Anna's Mexican Army, so i think that, scale differences aside, the 'look' of the real estate is not too much out of synch:

These buildings are designed to replicate ones that are extremely large in real life, so punch above their weight when up against these 2mm giants:

Compare their appearance with IKS10:

Not so very different, methinks, well, at least to my eye, anyway. My weapon of choice is still the Rod Langton 1/1200th, such as the cottages seen in the last picture, and I'll be using the Navwar ones for the 1/3000th scale project as planned, but for the money, the scale impostors from them are worth a shot to add variety to your choice of 2mm property stock:

http://navwar.co.uk/nav/default.asp?MMID=72

2mm Buildings comparison: Irregular and Rod Langton

I've had a bee in my bonnet for some time about the buildings and scenery currently available to match the 2mm (or should I say approx. 1/900th) scale miniatures from Irregular. As you can see in the photo above, we have the 47th Foot on an 80x40mm base about to attack Irregular's Large Town piece, (BG117), however, to my eye, the little redcoats have no chance of fitting through the door of the town tavern, although perhaps in terms of tabletop ground scale, the size of the town versus the battalion is about right.

I prefer the scenery, if possible, to scale more on a visual level with the miniatures, which I guess I find more aesthetically pleasing, rather than insisting on mathematically accurate ground scales (Each to his own...).

Now Irregular have started to produce their own individual houses, (IKS10), which I feel are closer to the size of the troops:

However, to be honest, the definition and sculpting on these new houses is a bit primitive, and as I'm not much of a painter, there isn't much I can do to make them as pretty as I'd like.

I therefore had a search around for some alternatives, and after dismissing Monopoly houses (too plain), I came across the range of buildings by Rod Langton to fit in with his 1/1200th Napoleonic naval miniatures:

http://www.rodlangton.com/napoleonic/frame.htm

Now these are truly the Rolls-Royce of 1/1200th Naval, and unfortunately come at Rolls-Royce prices, however to my eye they scale so well with the 2mm guys from Irregular, that if you have a special project, these are definitely worth a look. Here is the 47th again, on parade next to some of Langton's metal buildings:

We see here Langton M27, (which is 16mm high), M21 (15mm), M9 (14mm), M5 (13mm) and M3 (10mm). To my eye, these are spot on. Langton has useful measurements alongside each of his products on his site. Just for comparison, here is more of M3 and M5 next to Irregular's IKS10:

That is not to say, however, that the Irregular pieces are somehow sub-standard, or at fault; some of the accessories, such as BG123/BG124 walls and hedges, or BG133/134 tents and BG143 Poplars are great, as we can see below:

Furthermore, the larger pieces, such as the BG118 Castle Fortress, or the new BG160, Barbarian Village, are little masterpieces, and look stunning when painted up.

Honourable mention should go to the new range by PicoArmor in the 'States:

http://picoarmor.com/category.php?cid=12

although these are casts of the monopoly houses, they give the option of creating large towns at minimum cost, something we can all appreciate. There is of, course, scratch building, although I'm a bit clumsy for that at this scale, as can be seen at the start of my first post above in the picture of the Alamo in 2mm.

I guess if it's a case of wanting something a bit special, then looking at Langton's 1/12ooth is worth a try, although perhaps it's best to keep the building height to about 19mm, as some of the larger pieces definitely look too big, otherwise you can take your pick from the extensive Irregular range.

Tony Hughes' website, Gildas Facit, has an excellent summary, including measurements and pictures of the majority of the Irregular range, and this is the best starting point to deciding on what to buy.

http://www.gildasfacit.btinternet.co.uk/

Being a typical wargamer, of course, and not being able to settle on one thing exclusively, I've got examples from both manufacturers.....but then why buy one miniature, when two (or more), is always better!