Royal Marines Disembark Cold Stream Guards at Figuiera da Foz Portugal 1808 (1 Viewer)

[Flyboy]

I thought I would share a project that is definitely a work in progress. I have been trying to do a large ship display from the Peninsula Napoleonic Wars period for some time. The first vessel I went in to just was not what I wanted for Wellington's forces coming across the channel to disembark in Portugal. After a long search and research I came up with my British vessel and just completed the figurehead painted and all to go with it. The other vessel will be a continued work and become a French Ship.
I am intending to show a landing to disembark a detachment of the Cold Stream Guards to supplement Wellington in Portugal to remove the French and drive them across Iberia.
As I continue to develop the other ship I plan a table top display with the two ships firing broadside listing back with water and all. I need some French Navy figures for the other ship down the road.
This is going to take time so I thought some of you may be interested to see how the new Royal Marine figures look in a display such as this. Mike

 

[Flyboy]

You have to see these Royal Marine soldier figures. They are amazing works of art, Mike

 

[zblang]

Forget about my Chinese junk!!!! That thing is absolutely awesome!
Can't wait to see it as you work on it

 

[Jack]

Great ship!!

 

[marco55]

Mike are you scratch building this or is it a kit?Either way it is truly a work of art.Did you see John Reid's thread on the "HMS Victory" that he built.I think it took him over 20 years and is I believe 1/76 scale.
Mark

 

[Guy]

Flyboy, this is a real beauty !!!!!!very original . If you are the builder of that ship then you are a master
guy:smile2:

 

[Oberstinhaber]

Nice ship model. but where are the Sailors, and Naval Officers, they run the ship, not the Royal Marines. If you want to be historically accurate, the Coldstreamers would have been travelling on a "Merchant" ship. not a "Man-o-War". The horses would have been winched out of the hold into Lighters secured alongside, which would be rowed ashore. Your beautiful Royal Marine guys would have been on a Man-o-War; but not in excessive numbers, of the 1100 or 1200 men on Victory, only 100 to 150 would have been RM. The smaller the ship, the smaller the RM Contingent.

Sailor models for this period are not the easiest thing to come by. Nice figures available from Corgi "Forward March" Battle of Trafalgar sets, which you might be able to convert. Britains "Bi-Centenary" of Trafalgar sets also contain some very nice pieces (both RN and French) Problem is all of the above are 1/32 scale. The Del Prado set of Napoleonics contains a nice Royal Marine, Nelson and French Quartermaster, size wise these are more compatable with KnC etc. Valiant have nice kits of a Midshipman, Powder Monkey, Nelson and a Gunner. Tradition have several RN Napoleonic kits; both lots 1/32 scale. All of these regularly feature on eBay. A bit harder to come by these days are the "Ensign" kits by Bob Rowe of the History of the Dress of the RN. There are several "Napoleonics" in this range, and some that could be converted to Napoleonics. But all 1/32 scale. I am sure there are others, but that is all I can think of (Brad will know more, I am sure)

Lovely ship model, every bit as good as the Figarti "Shock and Awe" example. I hope you will share pics of the finished article.

Bob

 

[Flyboy]

Thank you for the compliments. Let me answer some of your questions.

Mark it started from a kit with some extra items ordered added and painted. With one of these ships it will never end. You will stumble on another cannon or ships bell in your searches and add it on or replace a less quality or less perfect scale one previously placed. The model ship market on this scale is amazing like soldiers and trains.

Zach your Hong Kong display is beyond my talents sir. Thank you for your kindness you do me too much honor.

Guy your compliment is well received and your work proceeds you. Yes I have built it, but from a kit. As with Zach you two honor me too much. I am good with models and painting but you’re diorama scene expertise is exceptional compared to mine.

Bob your write up is well received. As a former Naval Aviator flying off of flat tops I had my share of shipboard time. I am a shellback three times over the equator. I had a hand with sailing for a very short time years ago too. I have later on become a study of many different areas and the old tall ships is one that interests me. To answer some of your items. I have not searched out any Royal Navy figures yet that would be adequate for my display, which is the only reason there are none on deck. These King and Country figures are so detailed that it leaves very few makers that can stand up to the quality. The old K&C Trafalgar Nelson set is hard to come by and not quite detailed enough for what I want as they were more back before the extreme detail came in to play. I am hoping this Royal Marine series is continued and accompanied by a modern release of Nelson and some Navy figures from K&C as well as adversaries. I do appreciate your other information related to figures and I will search for them to evaluate. I have looked around and so far not found just the right fit but in time I will. It is fun looking for them. A friend very recently led me to the Figarti web site to see the special edition ship. It is awesome. It seems to have a set of figures you can only get with it. They are great. They have the shipboard hands doing tasks which is exactly what I have in mind. I have two sharp shooters in my crow’s nests but I want guys climbing the ropes and setting sails etc. I would love to get my hands on these figures or anything comparable. So in reality I have whom I have on the ship because they are all I have. The Marine’s will stay on the ship with future Navy figures and the Cold Stream figures will go back in a different scene. I loved your information on the horses and all historic items. Thank you for taking the time to critique my vessel.

As stated my plan is a two ship all out broadside battle. We are talking about a four by eight foot table top diorama. I am experimenting with a way to do the water. I purchased a small air brush system awhile back and I have been practicing with it. I saw a model that a guy used cotton like stuffing from plush stuffed toys and strewn it out like smoke. He then airbrushed it with black, red and orange to make it look like billowing smoke. The effect was so realistic that it got me thinking I could do the same with the ocean and waves. This way I could have the waves breaking off the bow and so forth as the ships stay on their stands shimmed over listing from the cannon blasts and covered from view with the same airbrushed billowing stuffing cotton stuff. Then to complete the French ship. This was the initial large wooden ship partially built that I acquired in the Bahama’s last year and shelved for the current British vessel in the pictures. I am close and need French Flags and a figurehead and it will be ready more or less. Then the French Navy figures. Once the ships are set with the ocean complete then the same billowing cotton airbrushed for cannon fire bombardment will be placed from ship to ship with blasts of wood shards and men here and there. I want the silver ware and candelabras flying across when they run out of shot! I want flotsam and jetsam! I want sharp shooters sniping from the main mast. I want boarding parties fighting every inch of the way with cutlasses! It will be a major undertaking. There was a post I stumbled on previously somewhere on here that had I think Alamo figures going up in a cannon blast utilizing K&C, Conte and some other figures I believe. It was so real I have pictured it for the degree of excellence I want from the ship to ship cannon fire for some time now. Then all that is left is for my Brits to send that French ship down to Davey Jones Locker deep sixed while I am enjoying a Captain Morgan Spiced Rum Toddy!! No offense intended to anyone!!

Well I have probably gone on too long and bored most of you to death so time to go. I am working on some more photos to post for later. Thanks to you all, Mike

 

[marco55]

He is a nice picture with realistic looking water.Many more pictures at www.dynamicdioramas.org .
Mark

 

[marco55]

Another good site.www.dioramadetrafalgar.blogspot.com .
Mark

 

[OldDragon]

Mike

Thank you for sharing pics of your beautiful ship and the new Royal Marines. I share your hope that K&C will release more Napoleonic naval themed figures in the future. :salute::

Bests
OD

 

[larso]

That is a cracker of a ship!

 

[Oberstinhaber]

Hi Mike,

Thank you for your generous reply. I'm still trying to get my head around the enormity of your project.

You certainly have aroused my curiosity, so, I decided to have a look around to see what was in the market for "HMS Victory" models, as close as possible to 1/32 scale. I first went back and rechecked the Figarti masterpiece. I too would love to have those 40 figures in my "Model Sailor Cabinet" (I'd settle for just the Sailors and Marines, because, as lovely as the ship is, I'd have no where to display it)

There were 10 pages of assorted Victory models, just on eBay alone. There were the "usual suspects" in the line up of kits, but I was surprised at the number of "finished" models available (major source: Vietnam) Some excellent "Cross Section" models, by, at least 3 different makers. Alas, all much smaller than 1/32 scale. There was one "Museum Quality" model from the UK in 1/38 scale for almost as much as the Figarti, but without figures. The conclusion I came to is that the Figarti model is, therefore, excellent value for money (based on my limited research) [but I still couldn't afford to buy it!]

What I did stumble upon, which may be of interest to you, was a report in the UK Daily Mail of 18 October 2012, of a pensioner who had taken 10 years to complete a model of Victory in 1/96 scale, I think. This was a hand built item with figures which he was selling.

I hope the link works, if not Google it. www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2219810/Magnificent-model-HMS-Victory-complete-Nelson-Captain Hardy-deck-took-pensioner-10years-complete

Not all of us could give up 10 years of our lives to achieve anything even remotely approaching the magnitude of this man's accomplishment. Look and be inspired.

Andy, I know you will read this! Perhaps we poor, deprived "Sailor" collectors could have, at least, a "cross section" model of the Victory in 1/30 scale to display some of the new RM's and the new Sailors we hope you are now planning?

Bob

 

[Flyboy]

Thank you for more and continued interest.

Mark that second web page you posted is exactly what I have in mind. WOW. Maybe I need to rethink this and go for something more silicone based like that appears. This just might need the assistance of Build-A-Rama or Mr. Miller. I shall contemplate this carefully. Thank you Mark that set up is beyond anything I have seen outside of a museum.

OD and Larso thank you both. I sure hope this line will continue and as stated previously include Lord Nelson and Royal Navy figures and adversaries.

Bob again great information on the subject sir. The enormity of it...you said it. Eye brows were raised when I brought home the one from the Bahama's. Then when I started building the second one I thought I would get the boot! However as it took shape everyone could just not help but like it. On those Figarti figures I am with you. I want them too. If there is any way to purchase them separately or at all anyone feel free to knock on my door. In the meantime let us hope K&C will keep Christmas coming early as usual!
On the different ships and manufacturers. Yes there are quite a few venues for these ships. You have these choices. You can buy a scratch built one from one of a few high end craftsman outfits for thousands of dollars, too rich for poor me. You can buy a kit for the high hundreds to low thousands from various high end makers which was my choice. Or you can buy a lower end copy assembled to some degree by new Vietnamese makers that have recently entered the market. The difference with the Vietnamese makers is they are not really a wooden ship as they advertise. The hull and other parts are resin. There scale is also a little smaller. You would need like 28mm figures to correctly pull it off. I chose a kit from an established maker. The two I would recommend to anyone would be "Caldercraft" or "Admiralty" both from the UK of course! Where else would one buy one from!?This way you get the feel the she was really laid down at Bucklers Hard.
The nice part about the kit is that you have so many choices and you can customize parts of your order. You have control over scale and parts and finishes that all of cannot do all by ourselves. You can add and subtract parts. You get the pride of laying down your keel and understanding how and why these ships were designed and built the way they were. You get the real thick double backed sewn canvas sails. Then probably the best part is the rigging. Well the best and the worst. It was lucky that I had already had a hand on the French Ship. These high end kits are rigged exactly like the real thing. It is amazing and you learn how and why every pulley and shackle and line works. It is amazing. But heed me, you must be patient or it can frustrate you to no end. My ship nearly became a football one day and another it nearly flew across the room in to the wall!! Lol! You need to get up off the table and walk away and live to fight another day. This went on for months but the outcome is well worth the work.
The ship that guy spent ten years on is just beautiful. 30 thousand pounds you betcha. I have nothing like that but I would not sell mine for anything. It will be passed down the ranks.
The cross section. Either you can read my mind or we are very much alike. I too would love to have one showing all the inner workings. I have a book that is like that that has had my interests for years. If K& C does one I will purchase it too.
Thanks again Bob for your interest it makes it so much worth while. Now you all know what I have been doing all winter. Untangling masts yards sails and cordage! Mike.

 

[Flyboy]

Well I have to get back to the taxes but I am hoping Andy and the gang liked how these great Royal Marines looked in this display. I would also like to know if we can expect a Lord Nelson? Mike