Heroscape Navy - Empress ship, 2 hour project Creating a Heroscape fleet.. one Popsicle stick at a time.



Intro

Spoiler Alert!

Recently I stumbled upon some pictures of converted mega blok ships turned into 28 MM warships and I was hooked! Couldn't wait to give it a shot.

I have been searching multiple forums and reading everything online I could find about converting toy ships into 28mm gaming "platforms" or terrain.



I have saved over 50 odd links and around 200 pictures, and have a word document of about 15 pages of saved tips, advice and suggestions I have found interesting and helpful.



I will try and summarize it here and make a tutorial of the ships I plan on converting. I have not done this before so I know it will be slow and huge learning process, so bear with me this is WIP so I will be updating this guide and filling the blanks as I learn new stuff.



Pre made ship kits are much more detailed and easy to find although very expensive, for the purpose of this guide I will only be talking about toys and play-sets.







Ships

Spoiler Alert!

In this section I will include several of the recommended toys and playsets used by others to convert into 28mm ships.



From what I have read, Mega Bloks are the best ones to use but require the most modification. On average I have seen them from $10 on Craigslist to around $35ish on ebay including shipping. Of course there are those who want to sell them to you for $150 but you only need a used hull with most of its big pieces, as you will be replacing most of the details any way.



Mega Bloks

Spoiler Alert!



Mega Bloks Pirates of the Caribbean



Captain Davy Jones

1012 Captain Davy Jones released in 2006 .

Can be used to make a 2-3 hexed rowboat





The Black Pearl

1017 The Black Pearl set released in 2006 .

1066 Black Pearl released in 2007 . – This version had torn sails.







The Flying Dutchman

1029 Flying Dutchman released in 2006

1067 Flying Dutchman released in 2006 .





Empress

1065 Empress released in 2006 .





Mega Bloks Pyrates



3660 Dread Eye's Phantom released in 2005 – Hull lights up an eerie blue when prisoners are “Fed” to the ship.

95524 Dread Eye's Phantom released in 2011 - The differences between this and the earlier set are that the sails are now black rather than white, and The Skeleton Crew insignia has gone. The throne has been removed, and the hull no longer lights up when 'fed'.

Dread Eye's Phantom pirate ship that looks like it was carved from the skeleton of a massive whale.





3619 Admiral Scathe's Predator released 2006 . – Lion figurehead





3620 Captain Cutlass' Stormstalker released 2006 – Shark Figurehead

95523 Captain Cutlass' Stormstalker released 2011 - The differences between this and the earlier set are that the ship now uses the same red sails and hull as the Black Pearl from the Pirates of the Carribean series, making it appear more of a galleon than a schooner. The new hull means that this set has now lost the Vault of Transformation.











Mega Bloks Legends King Arthur



96129 Attack Action Warship released 2008

Cool longboat perfect for Vikings, theres 2 of them Tan with double headed eagle figurehead and a dark brown one with monster figurehead





Mega Bloks Legend



9604 Viking Ship released ??





Mega Bloks Dragons



9545 Fyreskiff Warship released ???

Same hull as the Stormstalker and predator, just in red







9834 Fyren Sea Phoenix Warship released 2004 - The Sea Phoenix has a crystal powered bowspirit that electrionially lights up. Same hull as the Man O War





9895 Man O' War released in 2003





9879 Vorgan Ice Fang released in 2004

Half-finished boat being pulled by a dragon











Disney

Spoiler Alert!



There are 3 ships I have seen from disney, a Queen Anne playset, I do not know how good that is, some really small 15mm pirate ships, and a really nice Black Pearl RC ship that has been used quiet often in conversions ending up in amazing ships.





Black pearl Remote Control ship





Queen Ane playset - Fun looking ship, bought one, terrible for heroscape conversion, ended up just giving it away. All the sizes where just wrong.





There are 3 ships I have seen from disney, a Queen Anne playset, I do not know how good that is, some really small 15mm pirate ships, and a really nice Black Pearl RC ship that has been used quiet often in conversions ending up in amazing ships.Queen Ane playset - Fun looking ship, bought one, terrible for heroscape conversion, ended up just giving it away. All the sizes where just wrong.



Playmobile

Spoiler Alert!





Playmobil



I have never seen these ships before so I copied a bunch of information from other threads, it’s a little long but has a lot of interesting information, this is the short version.



By Warrenbruhn over at





There are five main types of Playmobil pirate ships that I'm aware of;



1. The dinghy . It's got deck room for about 20 to 25 figures depending on basing. It's deck is not level, but is molded as planks, so there really isn't much needed conversion other than replacing the oversized tiller.



2. The single masted sloop. This is a great ship that has been around for many years. It keeps getting rereleased in different colors.



3. The recent two masted ship. This new one sits a little lower in the water than the previous two masted ship. It has a skull for a figurehead, which could stand to be replaced. It generally has a good shape, although there is a wierd feature, cannon decks forward that recess to hide the cannons.



4. Slightly older two masted ship. This one is a big beast, with hull taller than the Flying Dutchman by Mega Bloks. This ship has a really great hull shape, and the decks are expansive, probably able to hold 55 to 60 men on deck.



5. Much older two masted ship. This one has been around for many years, even decades. It has enough deck space for perhaps 40 to 50 figures. It's the least pleasing of the lot in terms of realistic hull and stern castle shape. Most of the problem is that the stern castle is too high.



The hull typs I described above numbered 1, 2, & 4 are some of the most pleasing pirate ships I've seen.



And..



Some playmobil ships have rather high railings, and you would need to raise the deck a little to make this ship work for 28mm figures.



Decks are molded as planks.

By Warrenbruhn over at lead-adventure There are five main types of Playmobil pirate ships that I'm aware of;1. The dinghy . It's got deck room for about 20 to 25 figures depending on basing. It's deck is not level, but is molded as planks, so there really isn't much needed conversion other than replacing the oversized tiller.2. The single masted sloop. This is a great ship that has been around for many years. It keeps getting rereleased in different colors.3. The recent two masted ship. This new one sits a little lower in the water than the previous two masted ship. It has a skull for a figurehead, which could stand to be replaced. It generally has a good shape, although there is a wierd feature, cannon decks forward that recess to hide the cannons.4. Slightly older two masted ship. This one is a big beast, with hull taller than the Flying Dutchman by Mega Bloks. This ship has a really great hull shape, and the decks are expansive, probably able to hold 55 to 60 men on deck.5. Much older two masted ship. This one has been around for many years, even decades. It has enough deck space for perhaps 40 to 50 figures. It's the least pleasing of the lot in terms of realistic hull and stern castle shape. Most of the problem is that the stern castle is too high.The hull typs I described above numbered 1, 2, & 4 are some of the most pleasing pirate ships I've seen.And..Some playmobil ships have rather high railings, and you would need to raise the deck a little to make this ship work for 28mm figures.Decks are molded as planks.



Lego ship

Spoiler Alert!



We dont talk about over priced legos........







In this section I will include several of the recommended toys and playsets used by others to convert into 28mm ships.From what I have read, Mega Bloks are the best ones to use but require the most modification. On average I have seen them from $10 on Craigslist to around $35ish on ebay including shipping. Of course there are those who want to sell them to you for $150 but you only need a used hull with most of its big pieces, as you will be replacing most of the details any way.PlaymobileLego ship





Materials

Spoiler Alert!



For each section of the ship you wish to change you will need materials to do so. Most obvious is after you chop off the pegs is replacing the deck.



Decking materials -



This is the biggest change you will do to your ship to convert it from a toy into a cool looking 28mm Wargaming / Heroscape terrain ship.



First the easy but more expensive options;



Plasticard Planking -

Works great but super expensive around $6-$8 per sheet, and you need anywhere from 1-4 sheets per ship. Choose the one with the planks about 1/4th an inch wide. I have not had a chance to see it up close but by the pictures alone it is not very impressive.





Wills plastic sheeting -

specifically SSMP201 'Planking' about $7 per pack of 4 sheets. I have only found it on UK sellers and it took close to a month to arrive. I thought the sheets would be the size of normal paper sheets like the plasticard but they are actualy quiet small, like the size of an envelope. Looks great and has really defined texture. This is what most people online I have seen use, its quick, looks great and really expensive as you need around 3-4 sheets per ship.





Also not as expensive you can use;



V grooved sheets

The plastic is slightly cheaper, and can be given some grain and texture by scrapping it a bit with a piece of sandpaper. ( choose the size that is 1/4th inch wide).



" .040 thick styrene plasticard available from one of my local hobby shops'



He used the sheets with .25" spacing off the .040 list on this webpage.







Or you can use real wood'



Another option is to buy sheets of thin and fragile balsa wood and cut it into really thin strips to make your planking. It is a little more work ( although less than the popsickle sticks / coffee stirers). But the wood finish looks amazing. In this picture brown ink was used to give it the finished effect.



This example is from a really cool guy over at





Balsa Wood

It is very soft, whitish in colour, porous and just a very fragile wood. It also does not hold nails very well.







Basswood

An excellent all-around wood, readily available in hobby shops. White and very fine-grained. Easy to work with and bends freely, but too soft to turn.







You can either buy or make a small device to help you cut precise strips of carboard or balsa.



Here is the video on how to make your own DIY device;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWo2B...eature=related



Or you can buy one for $12 plus shipping



http://www.micromark.com/WOOD-STRIP-CUTTER,6625.html



It also has a 30 second tutorial and I am thinking of buying one to test it out.





But what I recommend for you to use initialy is



Popsickle sticks!! or rather coffee stirrers.



7.5" or 5.5" Coffee stirrers.





Free at your local Starbucks but a whole box of them of about 10k will cost you $15 ( if your fiance wont let you keep raiding the local Starbucks that is...)



Popsickle sticks can be used for alot of other parts of the ship, like support under the deck and trimmings and decorations but the thinner coffee stirrers give a better scale for the planks under the 28mm figures. I also have a bunch of much wider Tongue depressors, also very cheap ( especialy when your a paramedic) that I use mostly to create supports under the deck with.



The trick when using these are not to get glue smeared on the top as it wont hold the paint as well and shows up very easily. I have not tried yet to paint with wood varnish but I will soon to see how it looks.



Here is an unpainted deck







This is coffee stirrers laid out in 2 layers, first was a solid deck and second was an attemp to make the hexes stand out. This has been painted with light brown basecoat, brown ink wash and very light brown drybrush.









Also note;



Foam board is also used to fill out the space underneath the deck and heavy plasticard ( or substitutes) are used to give the deck firmness.





Plasticard - For building walls, decks, patching holes, building fore / stern castles



Plasticard are expensive sheets of plastic that come in different thickness. You will use a bunch of this stuff depending on how much customization you plan on doing on your ship. From building new rooms, installing walls, building a fore castle, patching holes in the deck to installing a first solid layer for your deck and then gluing on your planking or decking material to get a nice even look. You will need a couple of peices per ship but Plasticard is really expensive and you can find a lot of alternatives for a fraction of the price.



Plasticard can run you around $5 -$9 for just 3 sheets, and that will be used up pretty quick. You can go to any hardware store and buy a few signs for $1-$3 each. I suggest a few thin signs like the indoor EXIT signs and at least a couple larger really thick outdoor signs like HOUSE FOR SALE. Make sure you grab a few thick ones as you will use these sturdy sheets for your deck. Also, gift cards, and any plastic cards are usefull for odds and ends.









Rigging and Decorations - Optional



Rigging isn't really necessary but looks good on certain ships.It probably isn't the best idea for a ship used in wargaming as it might get in the way. But a few ropes here and there can really bring a ship to life and add amazing detail with minimal work ( but a ton of knots!)



It's not easy to find a perfect thickness in string / cord to look the right size on your ship but you can play around with some cheap alternatives untill you find one you are happy with.



I found this string in walmart, it was priced at $2.50 but underneath the sticker said it was originaly only $1.





Also make sure you check Crotchet cotton threads as these come in a lot of different thickness and colors.



I found this good advice over at modelshipworld.com when some one asked about what thread or string to use on a ship.







Just remember, before you use any string or thread, tie a section to something heavy and let it hang overnight to stretch it out. If not, once you install your "rigging" on your ship it might start to sag over time forcing you to take it apart and tighten it up again.



I thought twine might work, the colors looked great but it was just too thick. Here is a comparison between twine and that cheap walmart cotton thread use for Crochet.





To get rid of the threads sticking out from the string at first I was using a lighter to burn them off , really bringing my viking ship close to becoming a funeral ship before it was done, but then I read on Modelshipworld.com that normal people just rub some beeswax lightly over the line to smooth out the threads. ( Im guessing its the stuff people use to wax their surfboards, skate boards or make dreadlocks? I honestly dont know, just guessing here)



Here is the twine I used ( and later replaced) before and after burning, should have used the bee'swax I use for my dreadlocks instead.











Mast , Bowsprites and yards



If your lucky and you buy a ship that has all its parts then you might not have to worry about replacing the mast or other parts on your ship. If you wish to change the layout of the mast or wish to add more to it, dowels are the way to go. You can buy a bag of assorted sizes for around $4 at walmart or you can buy a larger set for around $9 in a hobby store.











When using dowels to replace mast and yards I wanted to give them texture so I just slid the blade of my hacksaw across them several times, at first I was timid with it then I found out the deeper you carved the lines in the better. ( Also the better the chances of causing some nice bodily harm, since when is a hobby supposed to be so dangerous???)







I had to sand the dowel rod with some very light sandpaper to get rid of the slivers of wood from gauging the dowel, but after priming , base coat and a wash, I liked the effect, it was very easy to do.







Sails

Cheap Linnen cloth in various brown shades are perfect for making replacement sails or making a whole new set. Most of these toy ships already come with sails but if you purchase them used, they might come with an incomplete set, or you might want to change the sail layout. In the case of the Black Pearl from Megabloks, you might just not like the plain limp sails that come with the ship and wish to give it a more traditional brown canvas look. Its actualy not that hard to make a set of sails if you have one as an example.



A few yards of cloth for making sails might cost you a full $3, and thats enough to make a few ships worth. You can also find the really thin nearly transparent cloth that comes with the "ghost " ships like Dread eye's phantom and Flying Dutchman pretty easy. Just take one with you so you can compare them while your at the store ( Walmart, or any store that sells cloth). You will find it at the far back near the curtain section.



And as a added boost, this is a great manly excuse to go look at fabrics. (Just make sure to use the word Fabulous often while searching)



Miscellaneous



Sand paper is usefull for smoothing out your deck if you make it from balsawood strips or from coffee stirrers. Also it is key for sanding down the dowels that you might use for mast and yards if you give them some texture like I suggested above. I know I have read that some people use a really thick sandpaper to give texture to some of the wood but I have not tried it, I have used sandpaper to smooth out my peices but It was the only one I found in my garage but worked great.











Accessories



Granny Grating ( The stuff used for stiching, looks like a plastic mesh) Used to create the bars and hatch covers in the middle of the ship.



Ships wheel - Will update soon with links and cost



Doors and windows - Will update soon with links and cost



Cannons - Lots and lots of cannons!! - Will update soon with links and cost





For each section of the ship you wish to change you will need materials to do so. Most obvious is after you chop off the pegs is replacing the deck.This is the biggest change you will do to your ship to convert it from a toy into a cool looking 28mm Wargaming / Heroscape terrain ship.First the easy but more expensive options;Plasticard Planking -Works great but super expensive around $6-$8 per sheet, and you need anywhere from 1-4 sheets per ship. Choose the one with the planks about 1/4th an inch wide. I have not had a chance to see it up close but by the pictures alone it is not very impressive.Wills plastic sheeting -specifically SSMP201 'Planking' about $7 per pack of 4 sheets. I have only found it on UK sellers and it took close to a month to arrive. I thought the sheets would be the size of normal paper sheets like the plasticard but they are actualy quiet small, like the size of an envelope. Looks great and has really defined texture. This is what most people online I have seen use, its quick, looks great and really expensive as you need around 3-4 sheets per ship.Also not as expensive you can use;V grooved sheetsThe plastic is slightly cheaper, and can be given some grain and texture by scrapping it a bit with a piece of sandpaper. ( choose the size that is 1/4th inch wide). Sinewgrab[/URL ] over at http://www.lead-adventure.de was really helpfull and recommended" .040 thick styrene plasticard available from one of my local hobby shops' http://www.evergreenscalemodels.com/Sheets.htm#V-Groove Siding"He used the sheets with .25" spacing off the .040 list on this webpage.Or you can use real wood'Another option is to buy sheets of thin and fragile balsa wood and cut it into really thin strips to make your planking. It is a little more work ( although less than the popsickle sticks / coffee stirers). But the wood finish looks amazing. In this picture brown ink was used to give it the finished effect.This example is from a really cool guy over at http://argad.forumculture.net , his user handle is Capt Frakass and he is teaching me how to imitate a few of his techniques. Also a very friendly and helpfull guy. This is his Balsawood and brown Ink WIP.Balsa WoodIt is very soft, whitish in colour, porous and just a very fragile wood. It also does not hold nails very well.BasswoodAn excellent all-around wood, readily available in hobby shops. White and very fine-grained. Easy to work with and bends freely, but too soft to turn.You can either buy or make a small device to help you cut precise strips of carboard or balsa.Here is the video on how to make your own DIY device;Or you can buy one for $12 plus shippingIt also has a 30 second tutorial and I am thinking of buying one to test it out.But what I recommend for you to use initialy isPopsickle sticks!! or rather coffee stirrers.7.5" or 5.5" Coffee stirrers.Free at your local Starbucks but a whole box of them of about 10k will cost you $15 ( if your fiance wont let you keep raiding the local Starbucks that is...)Popsickle sticks can be used for alot of other parts of the ship, like support under the deck and trimmings and decorations but the thinner coffee stirrers give a better scale for the planks under the 28mm figures. I also have a bunch of much wider Tongue depressors, also very cheap ( especialy when your a paramedic) that I use mostly to create supports under the deck with.The trick when using these are not to get glue smeared on the top as it wont hold the paint as well and shows up very easily. I have not tried yet to paint with wood varnish but I will soon to see how it looks.Here is an unpainted deckThis is coffee stirrers laid out in 2 layers, first was a solid deck and second was an attemp to make the hexes stand out. This has been painted with light brown basecoat, brown ink wash and very light brown drybrush.Also note;Foam board is also used to fill out the space underneath the deck and heavy plasticard ( or substitutes) are used to give the deck firmness.- For building walls, decks, patching holes, building fore / stern castlesPlasticard are expensive sheets of plastic that come in different thickness. You will use a bunch of this stuff depending on how much customization you plan on doing on your ship. From building new rooms, installing walls, building a fore castle, patching holes in the deck to installing a first solid layer for your deck and then gluing on your planking or decking material to get a nice even look. You will need a couple of peices per ship but Plasticard is really expensive and you can find a lot of alternatives for a fraction of the price.Plasticard can run you around $5 -$9 for just 3 sheets, and that will be used up pretty quick. You can go to any hardware store and buy a few signs for $1-$3 each. I suggest a few thin signs like the indoor EXIT signs and at least a couple larger really thick outdoor signs like HOUSE FOR SALE. Make sure you grab a few thick ones as you will use these sturdy sheets for your deck. Also, gift cards, and any plastic cards are usefull for odds and ends.- OptionalRigging isn't really necessary but looks good on certain ships.It probably isn't the best idea for a ship used in wargaming as it might get in the way. But a few ropes here and there can really bring a ship to life and add amazing detail with minimal work ( but a ton of knots!)It's not easy to find a perfect thickness in string / cord to look the right size on your ship but you can play around with some cheap alternatives untill you find one you are happy with.I found this string in walmart, it was priced at $2.50 but underneath the sticker said it was originaly only $1.Also make sure you check Crotchet cotton threads as these come in a lot of different thickness and colors.I found this good advice over at modelshipworld.com when some one asked about what thread or string to use on a ship.Just remember, before you use any string or thread, tie a section to something heavy and let it hang overnight to stretch it out. If not, once you install your "rigging" on your ship it might start to sag over time forcing you to take it apart and tighten it up again.I thought twine might work, the colors looked great but it was just too thick. Here is a comparison between twine and that cheap walmart cotton thread use for Crochet.To get rid of the threads sticking out from the string at first I was using a lighter to burn them off , really bringing my viking ship close to becoming a funeral ship before it was done, but then I read on Modelshipworld.com that normal people just rub some beeswax lightly over the line to smooth out the threads. ( Im guessing its the stuff people use to wax their surfboards, skate boards or make dreadlocks? I honestly dont know, just guessing here)Here is the twine I used ( and later replaced) before and after burning, should have used the bee'swax I use for my dreadlocks instead.If your lucky and you buy a ship that has all its parts then you might not have to worry about replacing the mast or other parts on your ship. If you wish to change the layout of the mast or wish to add more to it, dowels are the way to go. You can buy a bag of assorted sizes for around $4 at walmart or you can buy a larger set for around $9 in a hobby store.When using dowels to replace mast and yards I wanted to give them texture so I just slid the blade of my hacksaw across them several times, at first I was timid with it then I found out the deeper you carved the lines in the better. ( Also the better the chances of causing some nice bodily harm, since when is a hobby supposed to be so dangerous???)I had to sand the dowel rod with some very light sandpaper to get rid of the slivers of wood from gauging the dowel, but after priming , base coat and a wash, I liked the effect, it was very easy to do.Cheap Linnen cloth in various brown shades are perfect for making replacement sails or making a whole new set. Most of these toy ships already come with sails but if you purchase them used, they might come with an incomplete set, or you might want to change the sail layout. In the case of the Black Pearl from Megabloks, you might just not like the plain limp sails that come with the ship and wish to give it a more traditional brown canvas look. Its actualy not that hard to make a set of sails if you have one as an example.A few yards of cloth for making sails might cost you a full $3, and thats enough to make a few ships worth. You can also find the really thin nearly transparent cloth that comes with the "ghost " ships like Dread eye's phantom and Flying Dutchman pretty easy. Just take one with you so you can compare them while your at the store ( Walmart, or any store that sells cloth). You will find it at the far back near the curtain section.And as a added boost, this is a great manly excuse to go look at fabrics. (Just make sure to use the word Fabulous often while searching)Sand paper is usefull for smoothing out your deck if you make it from balsawood strips or from coffee stirrers. Also it is key for sanding down the dowels that you might use for mast and yards if you give them some texture like I suggested above. I know I have read that some people use a really thick sandpaper to give texture to some of the wood but I have not tried it, I have used sandpaper to smooth out my peices but It was the only one I found in my garage but worked great.Granny Grating ( The stuff used for stiching, looks like a plastic mesh) Used to create the bars and hatch covers in the middle of the ship.Ships wheel - Will update soon with links and costDoors and windows - Will update soon with links and costCannons - Lots and lots of cannons!! - Will update soon with links and cost



Modding / Converting



Spoiler Alert!

Decking



Some people layed out the deck one "board" at a time directly on the ship, I first made a template, then glued on the planking material on this template, trimmed as needed then glued on the ship when I was done painting both deck and ship. I might consider making a second deck, and have them removable, one for a normal 28mm wargame and one that is marked with hexes for Heroscape.



Knots



When tying your "ropes" to your mast or hards, this is a really easy knot to do and looks good once you figure it out, its actualy used for tying the ends of ropes to keep them from fraying but looks great on a mast.







And here is how its done.





Some people layed out the deck one "board" at a time directly on the ship, I first made a template, then glued on the planking material on this template, trimmed as needed then glued on the ship when I was done painting both deck and ship. I might consider making a second deck, and have them removable, one for a normal 28mm wargame and one that is marked with hexes for Heroscape.When tying your "ropes" to your mast or hards, this is a really easy knot to do and looks good once you figure it out, its actualy used for tying the ends of ropes to keep them from fraying but looks great on a mast.And here is how its done.



My Ships



3Am Docks

Spoiler Alert!



Page 3 has the full story, here is just the pictures of my dock while I work on my fleet.











South Guard house





Middle Guard house



Might make a light house on top of it



North guard house and smaller pier, needed something lower to the water for smaller skiffs, rowboats and smaller craft, so made a kind of rock outcropping





One of the two boxes that arrived today had my Ebay Weapons and Warriors Pirate battles. Brings 2 ships and 2 boats, they can be turned into skiffs and rowboats.





Dread Eye's Phantom showed up today, looked like a hurricane had hit her bad, was missing second top half of the mast and rear deck is missing the corner. And missing 3 of her sails.



Sails are really thin material and move and wave with the fan so it looks creepy!





Shes a big ship, took up most of the table / dock





Captian Cutlass's Stormrunner, a beautiful ship, she will take a lot of work to turn her into a 28mm ship. But she looks great as is right now. She had some broken mast, missing second top mast, missing sail and a few tiny bits. Nothing major as I was planning on replacing the mast and possible the sails too any how.



The Captain cutlass stormrunner, has the same hull as Redbeards Predator, and the Fireskiff. Taller but lower in the water than the Dread Eye's Phantom.









And my incomplete but almost there Viking wanna be , think I will name her Odin's spear or something. Not sure yet, she looks TINY now compared to the other 2 monsters that arrived.





And here are the ships at the dock / peir ( seriously I need to learn which is which).







Still missing the peirs between the ships and populating the docks per-se not sure if will use fantasy or historical troops.



Page 3 has the full story, here is just the pictures of my dock while I work on my fleet.South Guard houseMiddle Guard houseMight make a light house on top of itNorth guard house and smaller pier, needed something lower to the water for smaller skiffs, rowboats and smaller craft, so made a kind of rock outcroppingOne of the two boxes that arrived today had my Ebay Weapons and Warriors Pirate battles. Brings 2 ships and 2 boats, they can be turned into skiffs and rowboats.Dread Eye's Phantom showed up today, looked like a hurricane had hit her bad, was missing second top half of the mast and rear deck is missing the corner. And missing 3 of her sails.Sails are really thin material and move and wave with the fan so it looks creepy!Shes a big ship, took up most of the table / dockCaptian Cutlass's Stormrunner, a beautiful ship, she will take a lot of work to turn her into a 28mm ship. But she looks great as is right now. She had some broken mast, missing second top mast, missing sail and a few tiny bits. Nothing major as I was planning on replacing the mast and possible the sails too any how.The Captain cutlass stormrunner, has the same hull as Redbeards Predator, and the Fireskiff. Taller but lower in the water than the Dread Eye's Phantom.And my incomplete but almost there Viking wanna be , think I will name her Odin's spear or something. Not sure yet, she looks TINY now compared to the other 2 monsters that arrived.And here are the ships at the dock / peir ( seriously I need to learn which is which).Still missing the peirs between the ships and populating the docks per-se not sure if will use fantasy or historical troops.





Different ships and their Hulls





Viking Longboat - No name yet -Stuck on rigging

Spoiler Alert!



Part one



I found a Mega Bloks Legends of King Arther Attack Action Warship ( the name is longer than the toy!! )

This one arrived with just the hull and nothing more. I paid $18.52 for it.





It showed up as a pile of pieces so I had to download the manual to figure out how to assemble it to see what was missing.







It was actually pretty complete except for the sails, the oars, the figures, the mast and a few tiny odds and ends but nothing that wasnt going to be replaced any way.



I had not seen this ship converted before so I was not sure what I would do with it. I loved how it had a figure head and tail that looked like a viking long-ship even though it was the mother of all long-ships because it looked to be 2 decks high and much wider. It even had the motor that worked for rowing 4 oars.

I knew I would try make some sort of viking -warship hybrid. I know this will be a perfect ship for the Tarn Vikings, all 3 of them.. in a ship that sits 15... all 3 of them and their 2 heroes... sooo 5 people in a huge boat...



Ok Maybe it will go to the Elves, not sure yet.



Now to figure out the deck, It had 3 levels,







First one was too high, the side ( railing?) was about knee high, the middle deck was up to mid chest and the last one was pretty much covering the whole mini I used as a test. I decided to keep the mid-chest level for the center and for the bow and stern of the ship I would leave it knee high. I loved the ballista or crossbow looking thing on the ship but it was huge for 28mm and looked like a siege engine or something to hunt dragons with.



The figure head looked too big and kinda goofy so I decided to replace it with a mega blok dragon head from a dragon I should receive in the mail in a few weeks.





The two halves of the eagles heads did look like something that could be salvaged to decorate a bigger ship, maybe a Black Pearl.



I had to figure out how I would mark the hexes on the deck after the ship was done. I first wanted to see how many hexes I could fit on to the deck. 15 hexes if I cut off half of the base that connected the figurehead. Also I wanted to keep the cage to hide an item to use in a scenario during a game. So I painted red everything I would cut and black for everything that would stay the same height.







As soon as I tore apart the motor and removed the batteries I regretted it, I could have left it alone and made 4 new oars and had a "magic" viking boat that rowed it self, didn't know if it would look cool or goofy on a game board but it was too late since I had already ripped off the pieces and the button. I was using my dremel to cut off all the pegs and cut off everything that I had marked red to create the 2 decks. I spent at least 2 hours cutting and grinding and made a huge mess in my room, I should have done this outside.







I knew I wanted to fill in the holes in the railing where the oars had been on the original toy, so I made some quick molds using instant mold and cast a few pieces using Aluminite casting plastic. They came our more or less decent but it wouldn't matter I thought because I would cover them with a line of shields to make it look like viking type long-ship.







I finished gluing on the railing , now I need to greenstuff all the spaces between and then sand them down to make them look like one solid piece instead of a jigsaw. I spent a while with the dremmel sanding sharp corners and all the pegs to try to leave 2 flat surfaces for when the plasticard planking arrived. I made a template of the decks first to have them ready for the plasticard. Also I double checked to make sure the 15 tiles would fit.











I imagine a boat this size should have more that one sail, but all the viking ship pictures I have found online all show a single mast and sail. In fact the bottom bar on the sail might be removed just leaving the top bar and the main mast. I forgot the sizes of the dowels I used as I was lucky to find a $10 tube filled with 6 dowels of each size, I am not sure yet how I will secure it to the hull, either cutting a hole into the toy motor and placing a magnet on the mast and hull, or making a fitting for it. Not sure yet.



Also I was able to find some shields on ebay for under $10 shipped for 32 of them.





I plan on running a line from the base of the figurehead to the top of the mast and both corners of the sail to the rear of the ship. Also I plan on making a tiln I think its called? a type of rudder.







Been a few days since had a chance to update.



I have recieved a few other ships but I plan on finishing this viking ship first so I can figure out the best way to customize the other ships.



I used a dremmel to grind off the pegs, or cut them with a cutting disk, but after I spent a while finishing this ship, I found out it was much easier to use clippers to remove the pegs then just sand down the rest. I spent about an hour and a half doing this with the dremmel but with clippers it might have taken me like 20 minutes.











I coated the ship with a dark brown, wasnt sure how I was going to repaint it, but I decided to do the same color as it was originaly, a dusty tan, or kind of the same color as the popsickle sticks









I could see the edges and all the imperfections now that it was a dark color from the peices I had cast. I filled up any holes with greenstuff and didnt worry to much about the outside as I knew I wanted to make a row of shields on the outside like the original viking funeral ship that has been used as a model for most viking ships in movies.







When it comes to materials, I bought the for sale signs instead of plasticard and a few peices of balsa strips for making door ways, ledges and windows. On the viking ship I pretty much just used 2 signs, the really thick one ( House for sale $2.50) to make the deck and the very thing one ( Office $.79) To glue the coffee stirrers and make removable floors.









First, I did it the hard way I used crazy glue and kept glueing my finger tips. Also I had not first sorted out the bent sticks.



Now I know in the future, to use very tiny amounts of crazy glue , or better yet use UHU, it gives you more time to adjust the sticks, you can use a very tiny amount and it doesnt keep gluing your finger prints off.



So I cut up a bunch of sticks about 3 inches, and when I glued them on my templates I made sure to stack them.









I made 2 templats one that I would glue the sticks too and another to save just in case I ever do another one of these ships again. I started in the middle and worked my way out.







Once I had finished covering my entire template, I just trimmed the excess off with scissors, and test fit on the ship. This was a pretty easy step to do.









Using an hobby knife I just trimmed any corner or edges I needed to make a decent fit on the ship.







I made sure to keep a spare set and place directions on them its easy to mix them up and turn them over.



I liked the look of the popstickle stick pattern, its kind of messy and not as pretty as plasticard wood plank sheets, but this cost me about $1 and the sheets each cost me around $7 each, thats why I have not used them yet. I could have sanded down these popstickle stick deck to make it smoother but it did not occur to me untill I drybrushed them and saw how irregular they where.



Also another mistake was I thought I could keep the wood grain look by just painting with dark brown wash, I tried several times and ended up just painting over the deck and using dark brown, light tan, then very light almost white tan.







I test fit the decks a few times to see if they where flush. I have seen a few threads by other people who decked their ships straight to the ship, but that seems like way to much work, this way I could just overlap the sticks, and trim off the excess, if I would have done it right on the boat I would have had to make a ton of precise cuts.



I didn't take a picture of it but first the ship was decked with the thick plastic from the outdoor FOR SALE sign. Then I cut out templates ( exactly the same as from the thick plastic ) But with a very thin plastic sign ( OFFICE) and once the sticks where glued on them I just glued it on top of the plastic deck once I was done working on the inside.





Once the deck was done, I know this would have looked tons better as a simple wood deck but since Heroscape uses hex movement, I decided to add the hexes. Kind of kills the boat to be used in other games but next time I might do a second removable deck, or maybe paint the hexes on the main deck. This time I wanted an elevated hex base. So first I tried to fit as many figures as I could on the deck.







I enjoy using magnets so I wanted to try and use them here. I cut some of the thin metal strips of metal you find in file folders in half and measured it the length of the middle of the ship. I glued 2 small magnets on the hull so I could glue the row of shields on the sides and be able to remove them when I stored the ship to avoid them being ripped off.



Shields on the original funeral ship are a straight line and overlap, but since this boat is so big in comparison and the 28mm shields are tiny, I was going to do 2 rows to help cover up the patchjob on the gunwhale. I spaced out the shields on the thin metal strip. Later when I finish painting them I will glue on the second row. Plus I plan on making a set of oars sticking out, also pin them to a thin metal bar and place them under the shields and I can remove them when I dont want them in game.

I made half an oar with a tiny dowel and popsickle stick.



I used a tongue depressor to make the rudder. I looked for tons of examples online and more or less came up with this imitation. Also I attached it to the ship with a magnent, they are pretty strong and helps store the accessories.

































I wanted a mast that didnt wobble. I didnt have the base that came with the original mast so I installed 2 items into the motor of this toy before I glued on the deck. First a bolt on the bottom so that the mast would sit snugly inside ( Plus an over kill, wasnt not needed but I glued a magnent to both the dowel and one to the nut. ) It was tight enough that the magnets made no difference. Also just under the deck, there is a washer that lines up the * mast* with its seat on the bottom. They are very cheap and fit the dowel perfectly. The mast slides in and out of the hull very snug and does not wobble at all. First try so kind of an over kill.













I greenstuffed all the corners, next time though I will not waste this much greenstuff. Tons of glue, or superglue or GOOP. Sand it down then either order online some magic sculpt, fix it sculpt or apoxie sculpt or ANYthing other then sticky expensive greenstuff. ( worked great on the outside for connecting the celtic looking knots).









When I was drilling the middle of the toy motor to install the mast it cought on something metal inside and shot my drill to the side where it went right though the boat. Im glad it didnt destroy the side wall ( Oh and that it didnt go through my leg too)









I could have sworn I did a good patch job, untill I primed it to look for imperfections.



Wow... just wow. why did I even try?



I am sure this wasnt the best fix but I used WOOD filler , and just rubbed it in with my finger to give it a pretty flat surface. Painted it again after it dried to double check the finished effect.







I plan on making a bar with the oars each so I can remove all 6-8 oars per side, just like the shields depending on how I want the ship to look, I decided againts drilling holes into the side of this ship.



Once that was done, and I was satisfied it didnt look like a frankenstien ship, I decided to try and start painting



Also I am dying for the mail to arrive to see if I got my megablok dragons so I can rip a head off and make my replacement figurehead!!





I wanted a dark color for the trim, so that what ever color I used would stand out. I did a few coats of tan on the rest of the body and lots and lots of brown washes to try and get the original toy's sandy color ( and to look like the popsickles all over it ).

I know I will mod a few more ships and I wanted those to be really dark so I want this one to be light and stand out from the others. ( Plus shes my first ship!!)









Before and after picture, and testing out the mast. What I really want to do is get a toy I can destroy for a figurehead AND start playing with the rigging. I cant do the rigging untill I finish painting so that I can give it a clear coat, and If I start adding the rigging the clear coat will ruin it.







I want this ship to belong to Jandars, so his main color is blue, with the very dark background I chose a very bright blue to stand out. I first started doing this via drybrush and it was working great, but the background had a lot of blueish dusting and it didnt look sharp, so after an thirty minutes of painting, I gave up and re-primed it dark brown and this time decided to try it the old fashion one.



One line at a time.









I liked how it looked so much better, doing all the lines took me just under an hour but the effect turned out pretty cool. I really like how the blue stood out.



Also while I was at it, I gave the finished hexes and deck a light tan coat, a dark brown ink wash then a very very light drybrush.



I guess vikings didnt holystone their decks and there wasnt a need to make it lighter, but I wanted to really make the hexes stand out. Not sure if I will keep it this light or darken it later. Like I said this is really my testing ground so playing around with several ideas so when I start modding the other ships I wont waste so much time.



So far in this ship I think I have put well over 10 hours so far, 8 of it was wasted time , or if you prefer, my learning curve ( still wasted time but fun wasted time)











I liked how the front and back looked ( bow and stern?) Cant wait to get that figurehead dragon!

I used boltgun metal for the trim, I might make it look faded with a black ink wash later. I read some viking ship models that people did tin bitz for their metal parts but I didnt because I cant find my tin bitz paint









Sorry for the crappy shots but some of these where taken from my phone and I am working under a desklamp 80 watt daylight bulb here at work.







I tried those cheap $1 craft store magnets and I will never use them again, instead I will keep using my ebay magnets , although not too cheap they can be used for almost anything. I needed space for one more hext so I cut down the base for the tail by half, it only had 4 pegs to hold it and it kept falling out, so I trimmed 2 pegs off, glued a tiny plate from the metal strip from the file folder and added a magnet. Now it sticks on very well and is easy to remove.









The front I left as is, since it had the whole section and felt pretty secure, if it ever becomes loose, I am not sure what I might try here :P











This is a cool trick I found out. I am replacing mast with dowel rods. I wanted to give them texture so I just slid the blade of my hacksaw across them several times, at first I was timid with it then I found out the deeper you carved the lines in the better. ( Also the better the chances of causing some nice bodily harm, since when is a hobby supposed to be so dangerous???)



I had to sand the dowel rod with some very light sandpaper to get rid of the slivers of wood from gauging the dowel, but after priming , base coat and a wash, I liked the effect, it was very easy to do.











I know there must be a lot of threads that can be bought from model kit online stores, but I wanted to try this twine to give it a very rustic rope look. I cant wait to start working on rigging so I just did a test set up first. This mast has already been clearcoated and I used the little circles you find at the very end of the guitar strings to make a little pully so I could have a main mast that I could raise and lower. I placed a * pully* on the top and bottom of the mast. Also I will wrape them up with a section of twine to hide the shiney metal bits.











Here the guitar string loop has not been hidden yet, I'll wait untill I get home where I have hidden some black dental floss i will use to wrap some of the rigging sections with to break the same twine colors.







The bar that runs across the top of the sail is called a Yard ( I think) and the one on the bottom is also a yard or a boom ( not sure if boom is for a different type of sail)



Either way on all the viking ships I saw on google, none had a bottom yard, the sail was always being blown in the wind and had ropes keeping them back. I got rid of my bottom yard and replaced it with a peice of wire to give the sail a curved look, like if it was being blown.

And on the page are the sizes of the dowels used for the yard and mast.

One thing about the multi-purpose twine, after you wrap it around what you want, you need to burn it very quickly to get rid of the stray threads.









Here is my first mock up. The rigging is temporary. I want it to run in such a way it doesnt keep figures from fitting on the hexes. Also the Sail can come up or down depending what the scenario is. Also I saw every single viking ship on google had a stay? ( the rope going from the top of the mast to the front of the ship, or bow)



I added a fore stay and a aft stay in addition to a rope to bring up the sails, another rope going across the top of the sail, and both ending up to where the rudder is and two more on the bottom of the sails to pull them back. I opted not to place 2 more ropes on the side of the mast as that would have just been to much in the way of moving the miniatures durring a game.







This ship is still missing alot, oars, painted shields, second row of shields, A FIGURE HEAD, and of course a decent looking rigging. I need to work with a better quick release system for the rigging for when I want to remove the ropes and remove the mast, I am thinking of using hooks, I have loops right now but I have to thread the rope through it, I think a hook will allow me to have pre-tighted but adjustable rigging I can just hook up and remove quickly with no fuss.









Looks messy but thats because the ends are not tied down, will use black dental floss to make the rigging stand out, and make the ropes adjustable.



Here is a picture of the mast down, all I did was release the ropes from their loops, folded all the ropes ( that are still attached to the sail) In the middle and roll it up, I like how this looks and I migth use this when I deply the oars.







And the key feature is that this ship fit into a toolbox or something similiar for when I need to pack it up and not worry about it breaking apart.

















Still have alot to go on this ship but its starting to take shape





Next step, the rigging and standing by the mail box waiting for my dragon victims for a figurehead!!!!



Update !! ( May 2012)



I recently ordered some decals for the shields, I think its Flagship games, they look amazing and are already weathered and stained. Easy to use and very durable. You need to base the shields white first for the colors to stand out. Although they where worth every penny ( british pound?) They where expensive.



I paid 11 pounds plus shipping for a total of about $19 for these decals. Next time I will paint the shields some simple designs instead, the decals alone cost the same as the original ship cost me. Wasn't a smart purchase. They are pretty though.. I keep telling my self that...









Next the Longship Figurehead-



During a trade with Fi Skirata he sent me a ton of Mega Bloks dragons, some really cool looking ones.











From all of them this was the one I liked best, but I didnt want to ruin the dragon by leaving it headless so I decided to make a copy using the Aluminite plastic casting kit from Auggies.







Took me 2 tries with the instant mold, the first cast came out hollow, also while its still white I cant see the imperfections so I sprayed it brown and then fixed what was missing with greenstuff.







I carved out the front post a little bit then fixed the head in place with pins ( chopped up paperclips) and also fixed the upper jaw to the lower jaw to give it stability)











Once the head was fixed in place, I filled in the gaps with greenstuff and sculped it to look like scales to try and make it a little more seamless. I plan on painting it with shades of blue in the same way the toy was painted as it looked cool as it was.











Any one have suggestions for this Jandar viking ship? I was thinking Jandar's Spear or Odins spear, or the norse word for Spear but it sounded really hard to say.



Any suggestions?





Update ( May 2012)



Last night I spent around 3 hours tying knots. Good thing I still remembed what I learned in camping merrit badge!



First thing was to find a new thread to replace the twine as Porkins had suggested



Found this one at Walmart and decided to give it a shot.









Took off the Walmart sticker to see what the name of the string was, and noticed it was a big $1 on the label... Walmart had charged me $2.50 for it.....













Not crazy about the color but looked a lot more detailed and defined than the twine.









I liked the twine's color more.



I tried not to use glue as it would change the color of the thread, plus since I was doing rigging I wanted to have some fun and use as many knots as I could remember to give it a nice detailed effect. I cant remember the name of this knot but its used to keep ropes from fraying in the end. I used it on the main mast several times.







I was able to give this dowel a nice wooden grain by rubbing a hack saw blade up and down it a few times trying to get deep gauges, then used sandpaper to get rid of the little strips of wood that stood out. One base color, a dark brown wash and a very light tan drybrush.





And I used the little circle thats found on the end of guitar strings as part of my rigging.



Its starting to come together. Still not crazy about the color.







Also a few decorations on the top yard.





The top of the main mast I kind of went overboard with the " rigging" I included a Forestay and a back stay ( a rope going from the top of the mast to the front of the ship and one to the back to hold the mast in place) Its just for looks as it is not really needed as the main mast is very stable.







Again a little top heavy on the rigging but I was having some fun with it.







Its rigged in such a way that I can raise or lower the sail as needed. I can remove the mast and the rigging if it gets in the way of gameplay.







This is how the longship is starting to look with out the rigging in place







This is just a test, I will make new clips ( hooks) and stream line the taught line hitch knots ( a sliding knot to tighten the ropes) or I might just make smaller knots and much smaller hooks.







I like how the color of the figurehead matches the sail but I will paint it blue like the decorations.



Also added another line across the top of the sail to make it look like it is holding the sail in place.







It seems like a lot of rigging and it might get in the way of gameplay but this was more for fun then actual functionality, plus it takes seconds to remove the rigging and mast if they get in the way.







I also have it set up so I can lower the sails and roll up the lines inside the sails they are not in the way. Break out the oars!!!







The shields are way to small, so this just doesnt look right but I kept them since I had already made them plus they cover up the imperfections of the sides I casted to fill in the gaps.



( And I already used the decals on them....)









Update May 2012



First few coats of paint on the figurehead



















Update - (Oct 2012)



I learned after spending hours creating the rigging that first, this is the wrong size thread, and second I should have pre-stretched it all to avoid it sagging after time. So I untied every single knot, tied a hammer to the thread and let it hang over night then tossed it all in a corner for a few months untill I could get back to start the rigging over again.











Part oneI found a Mega Bloks Legends of King Arther Attack Action Warship ( the name is longer than the toy!! )This one arrived with just the hull and nothing more. I paid $18.52 for it.It showed up as a pile of pieces so I had to download the manual to figure out how to assemble it to see what was missing.It was actually pretty complete except for the sails, the oars, the figures, the mast and a few tiny odds and ends but nothing that wasnt going to be replaced any way.I had not seen this ship converted before so I was not sure what I would do with it. I loved how it had a figure head and tail that looked like a viking long-ship even though it was the mother of all long-ships because it looked to be 2 decks high and much wider. It even had the motor that worked for rowing 4 oars.I knew I would try make some sort of viking -warship hybrid. I know this will be a perfect ship for the Tarn Vikings, all 3 of them.. in a ship that sits 15... all 3 of them and their 2 heroes... sooo 5 people in a huge boat...Ok Maybe it will go to the Elves, not sure yet.Now to figure out the deck, It had 3 levels,First one was too high, the side ( railing?) was about knee high, the middle deck was up to mid chest and the last one was pretty much covering the whole mini I used as a test. I decided to keep the mid-chest level for the center and for the bow and stern of the ship I would leave it knee high. I loved the ballista or crossbow looking thing on the ship but it was huge for 28mm and looked like a siege engine or something to hunt dragons with.The figure head looked too big and kinda goofy so I decided to replace it with a mega blok dragon head from a dragon I should receive in the mail in a few weeks.The two halves of the eagles heads did look like something that could be salvaged to decorate a bigger ship, maybe a Black Pearl.I had to figure out how I would mark the hexes on the deck after the ship was done. I first wanted to see how many hexes I could fit on to the deck. 15 hexes if I cut off half of the base that connected the figurehead. Also I wanted to keep the cage to hide an item to use in a scenario during a game. So I painted red everything I would cut and black for everything that would stay the same height.As soon as I tore apart the motor and removed the batteries I regretted it, I could have left it alone and made 4 new oars and had a "magic" viking boat that rowed it self, didn't know if it would look cool or goofy on a game board but it was too late since I had already ripped off the pieces and the button. I was using my dremel to cut off all the pegs and cut off everything that I had marked red to create the 2 decks. I spent at least 2 hours cutting and grinding and made a huge mess in my room, I should have done this outside.I knew I wanted to fill in the holes in the railing where the oars had been on the original toy, so I made some quick molds using instant mold and cast a few pieces using Aluminite casting plastic. They came our more or less decent but it wouldn't matter I thought because I would cover them with a line of shields to make it look like viking type long-ship.I finished gluing on the railing , now I need to greenstuff all the spaces between and then sand them down to make them look like one solid piece instead of a jigsaw. I spent a while with the dremmel sanding sharp corners and all the pegs to try to leave 2 flat surfaces for when the plasticard planking arrived. I made a template of the decks first to have them ready for the plasticard. Also I double checked to make sure the 15 tiles would fit.I imagine a boat this size should have more that one sail, but all the viking ship pictures I have found online all show a single mast and sail. In fact the bottom bar on the sail might be removed just leaving the top bar and the main mast. I forgot the sizes of the dowels I used as I was lucky to find a $10 tube filled with 6 dowels of each size, I am not sure yet how I will secure it to the hull, either cutting a hole into the toy motor and placing a magnet on the mast and hull, or making a fitting for it. Not sure yet.Also I was able to find some shields on ebay for under $10 shipped for 32 of them.I plan on running a line from the base of the figurehead to the top of the mast and both corners of the sail to the rear of the ship. Also I plan on making a tiln I think its called? a type of rudder.Been a few days since had a chance to update.I have recieved a few other ships but I plan on finishing this viking ship first so I can figure out the best way to customize the other ships.I used a dremmel to grind off the pegs, or cut them with a cutting disk, but after I spent a while finishing this ship, I found out it was much easier to use clippers to remove the pegs then just sand down the rest. I spent about an hour and a half doing this with the dremmel but with clippers it might have taken me like 20 minutes.I coated the ship with a dark brown, wasnt sure how I was going to repaint it, but I decided to do the same color as it was originaly, a dusty tan, or kind of the same color as the popsickle sticksI could see the edges and all the imperfections now that it was a dark color from the peices I had cast. I filled up any holes with greenstuff and didnt worry to much about the outside as I knew I wanted to make a row of shields on the outside like the original viking funeral ship that has been used as a model for most viking ships in movies.When it comes to materials, I bought the for sale signs instead of plasticard and a few peices of balsa strips for making door ways, ledges and windows. On the viking ship I pretty much just used 2 signs, the really thick one ( House for sale $2.50) to make the deck and the very thing one ( Office $.79) To glue the coffee stirrers and make removable floors.First, I did it the hard way I used crazy glue and kept glueing my finger tips. Also I had not first sorted out the bent sticks.Now I know in the future, to use very tiny amounts of crazy glue , or better yet use UHU, it gives you more time to adjust the sticks, you can use a very tiny amount and it doesnt keep gluing your finger prints off.So I cut up a bunch of sticks about 3 inches, and when I glued them on my templates I made sure to stack them.I made 2 templats one that I would glue the sticks too and another to save just in case I ever do another one of these ships again. I started in the middle and worked my way out.Once I had finished covering my entire template, I just trimmed the excess off with scissors, and test fit on the ship. This was a pretty easy step to do.Using an hobby knife I just trimmed any corner or edges I needed to make a decent fit on the ship.I made sure to keep a spare set and place directions on them its easy to mix them up and turn them over.I liked the look of the popstickle stick pattern, its kind of messy and not as pretty as plasticard wood plank sheets, but this cost me about $1 and the sheets each cost me around $7 each, thats why I have not used them yet. I could have sanded down these popstickle stick deck to make it smoother but it did not occur to me untill I drybrushed them and saw how irregular they where.Also another mistake was I thought I could keep the wood grain look by just painting with dark brown wash, I tried several times and ended up just painting over the deck and using dark brown, light tan, then very light almost white tan.I test fit the decks a few times to see if they where flush. I have seen a few threads by other people who decked their ships straight to the ship, but that seems like way to much work, this way I could just overlap the sticks, and trim off the excess, if I would have done it right on the boat I would have had to make a ton of precise cuts.I didn't take a picture of it but first the ship was decked with the thick plastic from the outdoor FOR SALE sign. Then I cut out templates ( exactly the same as from the thick plastic ) But with a very thin plastic sign ( OFFICE) and once the sticks where glued on them I just glued it on top of the plastic deck once I was done working on the inside.Once the deck was done, I know this would have looked tons better as a simple wood deck but since Heroscape uses hex movement, I decided to add the hexes. Kind of kills the boat to be used in other games but next time I might do a second removable deck, or maybe paint the hexes on the main deck. This time I wanted an elevated hex base. So first I tried to fit as many figures as I could on the deck.I enjoy using magnets so I wanted to try and use them here. I cut some of the thin metal strips of metal you find in file folders in half and measured it the length of the middle of the ship. I glued 2 small magnets on the hull so I could glue the row of shields on the sides and be able to remove them when I stored the ship to avoid them being ripped off.Shields on the original funeral ship are a straight line and overlap, but since this boat is so big in comparison and the 28mm shields are tiny, I was going to do 2 rows to help cover up the patchjob on the gunwhale. I spaced out the shields on the thin metal strip. Later when I finish painting them I will glue on the second row. Plus I plan on making a set of oars sticking out, also pin them to a thin metal bar and place them under the shields and I can remove them when I dont want them in game.I made half an oar with a tiny dowel and popsickle stick.I used a tongue depressor to make the rudder. I looked for tons of examples online and more or less came up with this imitation. Also I attached it to the ship with a magnent, they are pretty strong and helps store the accessories.I wanted a mast that didnt wobble. I didnt have the base that came with the original mast so I installed 2 items into the motor of this toy before I glued on the deck. First a bolt on the bottom so that the mast would sit snugly inside ( Plus an over kill, wasnt not needed but I glued a magnent to both the dowel and one to the nut. ) It was tight enough that the magnets made no difference. Also just under the deck, there is a washer that lines up the * mast* with its seat on the bottom. They are very cheap and fit the dowel perfectly. The mast slides in and out of the hull very snug and does not wobble at all. First try so kind of an over kill.I greenstuffed all the corners, next time though I will not waste this much greenstuff. Tons of glue, or superglue or GOOP. Sand it down then either order online some magic sculpt, fix it sculpt or apoxie sculpt or ANYthing other then sticky expensive greenstuff. ( worked great on the outside for connecting the celtic looking knots).When I was drilling the middle of the toy motor to install the mast it cought on something metal inside and shot my drill to the side where it went right though the boat. Im glad it didnt destroy the side wall ( Oh and that it didnt go through my leg too)I could have sworn I did a good patch job, untill I primed it to look for imperfections.Wow... just wow. why did I even try?I am sure this wasnt the best fix but I used WOOD filler , and just rubbed it in with my finger to give it a pretty flat surface. Painted it again after it dried to double check the finished effect.I plan on making a bar with the oars each so I can remove all 6-8 oars per side, just like the shields depending on how I want the ship to look, I decided againts drilling holes into the side of this ship.Once that was done, and I was satisfied it didnt look like a frankenstien ship, I decided to try and start paintingAlso I am dying for the mail to arrive to see if I got my megablok dragons so I can rip a head off and make my replacement figurehead!!I wanted a dark color for the trim, so that what ever color I used would stand out. I did a few coats of tan on the rest of the body and lots and lots of brown washes to try and get the original toy's sandy color ( and to look like the popsickles all over it ).I know I will mod a few more ships and I wanted those to be really dark so I want this one to be light and stand out from the others. ( Plus shes my first ship!!)Before and after picture, and testing out the mast. What I really want to do is get a toy I can destroy for a figurehead AND start playing with the rigging. I cant do the rigging untill I finish painting so that I can give it a clear coat, and If I start adding the rigging the clear coat will ruin it.I want this ship to belong to Jandars, so his main color is blue, with the very dark background I chose a very bright blue to stand out. I first started doing this via drybrush and it was working great, but the background had a lot of blueish dusting and it didnt look sharp, so after an thirty minutes of painting, I gave up and re-primed it dark brown and this time decided to try it the old fashion one.One line at a time.I liked how it looked so much better, doing all the lines took me just under an hour but the effect turned out pretty cool. I really like how the blue stood out.Also while I was at it, I gave the finished hexes and deck a light tan coat, a dark brown ink wash then a very very light drybrush.I guess vikings didnt holystone their decks and there wasnt a need to make it lighter, but I wanted to really make the hexes stand out. Not sure if I will keep it this light or darken it later. Like I said this is really my testing ground so playing around with several ideas so when I start modding the other ships I wont waste so much time.So far in this ship I think I have put well over 10 hours so far, 8 of it was wasted time , or if you prefer, my learning curve ( still wasted time but fun wasted time)I liked how the front and back looked ( bow and stern?) Cant wait to get that figurehead dragon!I used boltgun metal for the trim, I might make it look faded with a black ink wash later. I read some viking ship models that people did tin bitz for their metal parts but I didnt because I cant find my tin bitz paintSorry for the crappy shots but some of these where taken from my phone and I am working under a desklamp 80 watt daylight bulb here at work.I tried those cheap $1 craft store magnets and I will never use them again, instead I will keep using my ebay magnets , although not too cheap they can be used for almost anything. I needed space for one more hext so I cut down the base for the tail by half, it only had 4 pegs to hold it and it kept falling out, so I trimmed 2 pegs off, glued a tiny plate from the metal strip from the file folder and added a magnet. Now it sticks on very well and is easy to remove.The front I left as is, since it had the whole section and felt pretty secure, if it ever becomes loose, I am not sure what I might try here :PThis is a cool trick I found out. I am replacing mast with dowel rods. I wanted to give them texture so I just slid the blade of my hacksaw across them several times, at first I was timid with it then I found out the deeper you carved the lines in the better. ( Also the better the chances of causing some nice bodily harm, since when is a hobby supposed to be so dangerous???)I had to sand the dowel rod with some very light sandpaper to get rid of the slivers of wood from gauging the dowel, but after priming , base coat and a wash, I liked the effect, it was very easy to do.I know there must be a lot of threads that can be bought from model kit online stores, but I wanted to try this twine to give it a very rustic rope look. I cant wait to start working on rigging so I just did a test set up first. This mast has already been clearcoated and I used the little circles you find at the very end of the guitar strings to make a little pully so I could have a main mast that I could raise and lower. I placed a * pully* on the top and bottom of the mast. Also I will wrape them up with a section of twine to hide the shiney metal bits.Here the guitar string loop has not been hidden yet, I'll wait untill I get home where I have hidden some black dental floss i will use to wrap some of the rigging sections with to break the same twine colors.The bar that runs across the top of the sail is called a Yard ( I think) and the one on the bottom is also a yard or a boom ( not sure if boom is for a different type of sail)Either way on all the viking ships I saw on google, none had a bottom yard, the sail was always being blown in the wind and had ropes keeping them back. I got rid of my bottom yard and replaced it with a peice of wire to give the sail a curved look, like if it was being blown.And on the page are the sizes of the dowels used for the yard and mast.One thing about the multi-purpose twine, after you wrap it around what you want, you need to burn it very quickly to get rid of the stray threads.Here is my first mock up. The rigging is temporary. I want it to run in such a way it doesnt keep figures from fitting on the hexes. Also the Sail can come up or down depending what the scenario is. Also I saw every single viking ship on google had a stay? ( the rope going from the top of the mast to the front of the ship, or bow)I added a fore stay and a aft stay in addition to a rope to bring up the sails, another rope going across the top of the sail, and both ending up to where the rudder is and two more on the bottom of the sails to pull them back. I opted not to place 2 more ropes on the side of the mast as that would have just been to much in the way of moving the miniatures durring a game.This ship is still missing alot, oars, painted shields, second row of shields, A FIGURE HEAD, and of course a decent looking rigging. I need to work with a better quick release system for the rigging for when I want to remove the ropes and remove the mast, I am thinking of using hooks, I have loops right now but I have to thread the rope through it, I think a hook will allow me to have pre-tighted but adjustable rigging I can just hook up and remove quickly with no fuss.Looks messy but thats because the ends are not tied down, will use black dental floss to make the rigging stand out, and make the ropes adjustable.Here is a picture of the mast down, all I did was release the ropes from their loops, folded all the ropes ( that are still attached to the sail) In the middle and roll it up, I like how this looks and I migth use this when I deply the oars.And the key feature is that this ship fit into a toolbox or something similiar for when I need to pack it up and not worry about it breaking apart.Still have alot to go on this ship but its starting to take shapeNext step, the rigging and standing by the mail box waiting for my dragon victims for a figurehead!!!!Update !! ( May 2012)I recently ordered some decals for the shields, I think its Flagship games, they look amazing and are already weathered and stained. Easy to use and very durable. You need to base the shields white first for the colors to stand out. Although they where worth every penny ( british pound?) They where expensive.I paid 11 pounds plus shipping for a total of about $19 for these decals. Next time I will paint the shields some simple designs instead, the decals alone cost the same as the original ship cost me. Wasn't a smart purchase. They are pretty though.. I keep telling my self that...Next the LongshipDuring a trade with Fi Skirata he sent me a ton of Mega Bloks dragons, some really cool looking ones.From all of them this was the one I liked best, but I didnt want to ruin the dragon by leaving it headless so I decided to make a copy using the Aluminite plastic casting kit from Auggies.Took me 2 tries with the instant mold, the first cast came out hollow, also while its still white I cant see the imperfections so I sprayed it brown and then fixed what was missing with greenstuff.I carved out the front post a little bit then fixed the head in place with pins ( chopped up paperclips) and also fixed the upper jaw to the lower jaw to give it stability)Once the head was fixed in place, I filled in the gaps with greenstuff and sculped it to look like scales to try and make it a little more seamless. I plan on painting it with shades of blue in the same way the toy was painted as it looked cool as it was.Any one have suggestions for this Jandar viking ship? I was thinking Jandar's Spear or Odins spear, or the norse word for Spear but it sounded really hard to say.Any suggestions?Update ( May 2012)Last night I spent around 3 hours tying knots. Good thing I still remembed what I learned in camping merrit badge!First thing was to find a new thread to replace the twine as Porkins had suggestedFound this one at Walmart and decided to give it a shot.Took off the Walmart sticker to see what the name of the string was, and noticed it was a big $1 on the label... Walmart had charged me $2.50 for it.....Not crazy about the color but looked a lot more detailed and defined than the twine.I liked the twine's color more.I tried not to use glue as it would change the color of the thread, plus since I was doing rigging I wanted to have some fun and use as many knots as I could remember to give it a nice detailed effect. I cant remember the name of this knot but its used to keep ropes from fraying in the end. I used it on the main mast several times.I was able to give this dowel a nice wooden grain by rubbing a hack saw blade up and down it a few times trying to get deep gauges, then used sandpaper to get rid of the little strips of wood that stood out. One base color, a dark brown wash and a very light tan drybrush.And I used the little circle thats found on the end of guitar strings as part of my rigging.Its starting to come together. Still not crazy about the color.Also a few decorations on the top yard.The top of the main mast I kind of went overboard with the " rigging" I included a Forestay and a back stay ( a rope going from the top of the mast to the front of the ship and one to the back to hold the mast in place) Its just for looks as it is not really needed as the main mast is very stable.Again a little top heavy on the rigging but I was having some fun with it.Its rigged in such a way that I can raise or lower the sail as needed. I can remove the mast and the rigging if it gets in the way of gameplay.This is how the longship is starting to look with out the rigging in placeThis is just a test, I will make new clips ( hooks) and stream line the taught line hitch knots ( a sliding knot to tighten the ropes) or I might just make smaller knots and much smaller hooks.I like how the color of the figurehead matches the sail but I will paint it blue like the decorations.Also added another line across the top of the sail to make it look like it is holding the sail in place.It seems like a lot of rigging and it might get in the way of gameplay but this was more for fun then actual functionality, plus it takes seconds to remove the rigging and mast if they get in the way.I also have it set up so I can lower the sails and roll up the lines inside the sails they are not in the way. Break out the oars!!!The shields are way to small, so this just doesnt look right but I kept them since I had already made them plus they cover up the imperfections of the sides I casted to fill in the gaps.( And I already used the decals on them....)Update May 2012First few coats of paint on the figureheadUpdate - (Oct 2012)I learned after spending hours creating the rigging that first, this is the wrong size thread, and second I should have pre-stretched it all to avoid it sagging after time. So I untied every single knot, tied a hammer to the thread and let it hang over night then tossed it all in a corner for a few months untill I could get back to start the rigging over again.





Black Pearl



Spoiler Alert!



Update # 1 Spoiler Alert!



Mega Bloks - Black Pearl



One of the more common ships that can be found on ebay. Prices range from $20 shipped to $120. I was able to purchase 6 of them for around $25-$30 each pretty much intact. I wanted to share what I learned when buying these ships to help others choose what ships to buy since there are a lot of pieces that might be missing that help you save money and are not important as you will end up getting rid of them anyway.



Here is the basic hull of the pearl. You will need a few 6 pegged megablok peices to hold it together but this is not really critical as you can just glue it too. Make sure when you buy it you get all the hull parts as replacing them might force you to buy a whole new lot.











The mast are easy to replace with dowels, just takes a little more work.







This is a complete Black Pearl playset, with all the trimmings.







I am not a big fan of the limp black sails and might replace them with tan canvas custom made sails. This playset is the most frequently found converted mega bloks ship out there, followed by the predator ( capt cutlas's predator)













Everything is over sized, from the wheel, to the cannons to the skulls and rats. Even the anchor is unusable, but these pieces are easy to replace since there are a lot of ship model stores online. Trick is figuring out what the correct size is













These are the Black Pearl pieces I ended up ripping out and giving away. The flames and the barrels and even the chest can be converted to be used so I kept those parts at least.











Here is the stripped down pearl from where I will begin my conversion. This is the basic hull, with all of its parts.















She has some great details, but the most common missing parts on this ship include missing her rear lanters ( Aft castle lanterns? Not sure what they are called)





Mega Bloks - Black PearlOne of the more common ships that can be found on ebay. Prices range from $20 shipped to $120. I was able to purchase 6 of them for around $25-$30 each pretty much intact. I wanted to share what I learned when buying these ships to help others choose what ships to buy since there are a lot of pieces that might be missing that help you save money and are not important as you will end up getting rid of them anyway.Here is the basic hull of the pearl. You will need a few 6 pegged megablok peices to hold it together but this is not really critical as you can just glue it too. Make sure when you buy it you get all the hull parts as replacing them might force you to buy a whole new lot.The mast are easy to replace with dowels, just takes a little more work.This is a complete Black Pearl playset, with all the trimmings.I am not a big fan of the limp black sails and might replace them with tan canvas custom made sails. This playset is the most frequently found converted mega bloks ship out there, followed by the predator ( capt cutlas's predator)Everything is over sized, from the wheel, to the cannons to the skulls and rats. Even the anchor is unusable, but these pieces are easy to replace since there are a lot of ship model stores online. Trick is figuring out what the correct size isThese are the Black Pearl pieces I ended up ripping out and giving away. The flames and the barrels and even the chest can be converted to be used so I kept those parts at least.Here is the stripped down pearl from where I will begin my conversion. This is the basic hull, with all of its parts.She has some great details, but the most common missing parts on this ship include missing her rear lanters ( Aft castle lanterns? Not sure what they are called)



Update # 2

Sep/2012 Spoiler Alert!

HMS I have no name (Yet)





This will be my third ship I will start but it will be from start to finish since the other two are still in dry dock. I have more or less an idea now what I want to do and a couple of reference photos for this project.





I have a good idea about the basics for this project, her decks, her guns, her mast positions, what I do not have is her name. Her name will dictate her theme, her style, color of sails, figure head, decorations ect.



Since she is not mine, I will leave it to the owner to decide her name and build from there.



Untill a name is given to her I will call her Mer Ange until she is christianed to avoid back luck! The guys at Modelships.com also said its called a retrofit not a project. These guys love their hobby. Also its not a good idea to ask questions like a pirate..



Anyhow....







She started off as a $25 used Megabloks Black Pearl. Great ship very easy to find, lots of potential.









Stripped off all the added stuff, and you have a pretty good looking deck. What I have planned for her is a double deck, maybe a furnished Captains cabin, custom figurehead, and a lower deck for cannons. I am not sure on how I will position her middle mast but I want the most room possible for a deck battle so I will not be placing cannons on her upper deck.







First I will start with her lower decks, so I took her apart. I will work on her lower hull first. No need to cut off any pegs yet. I want her to have open gun ports with cannons inside that stick out.



I took off the gun ports that come off easly with a flat screwdriver once you push the side pins in.



Then I used my dremmel and with a bit to cut out the ports trying to avoid messing up the outside hull or carving up too much of the thin inner plastic.











I took off the gun ports that come off easily with a flat screwdriver once you push the side pins in.



Then I used my dremmel and with a bit to cut out the ports trying to avoid messing up the outside hull or carving up too much of the thin inner plastic.













Don'tforget before you ever paint you will need to wash her well to get rid of dust, oils and shredded plastic.









Cutting out the 8 ports was pretty quick and I used an Xacto knife to finish up details, here I tested the gun ports back on to see how she looked. I didn't want to have to make 4 more doors since the 2 ports on the Bow or stern are not removable so I left those alone.



Here she is with only about 40 minutes of work so far. I am considering gluing her together now but first I have to make sure no other work needs to be done.



And those messy gunport openings? They will each get a frame to cover up those imperfections.









Now as to the name and figurehead of this fine vessel!!



I liked the original Angel that came with the Black Pearl, from Wikipedia it says the pearl was originally called the Wicked Wench, but when she was burned with Capt. Jack on board she was raised by Davy Jones after they made a deal. When she arose pitch black she now had an Angel on her bow.





Angel Figurehead.



Either painted like wood for scary or creepy or full colors to make her a beautiful graceful ship.













Dragon Figurehead.



Why not go fantasy? I ordered 4 of these on eBay at around $3 each. I originally had them for my stormstalkers since I didn't like the over sized shark heads but they seem to fit well here. Great for a fantasy theme.











Seahorse Figurehead



Ok stop with the color jokes a second and allow me to explain. Ever since Yodaking mentioned using a chess peice knight, I wanted to find a seahorse for a figurehead, and this rubber eraser from office max was the best thing I found. I can make a mold out of it and recast as a solid piece of plastic with Auggies kit I bought. I think it might look pretty noble... or I can just make this a warship for the Navy of Rainbow Bright and her Magical Ponies...







I have more done but need to take some more pictures , will do so soon









(Yet)This will be my third ship I will start but it will be from start to finish since the other two are still in dry dock. I have more or less an idea now what I want to do and a couple of reference photos for this project.I have a good idea about the basics for this project, her decks, her guns, her mast positions, what I do not have is her name. Her name will dictate her theme, her style, color of sails, figure head, decorations ect.Since she is not mine, I will leave it to the owner to decide her name and build from there.Untill a name is given to her I will call heruntil she is christianed to avoid back luck! The guys at Modelships.com also said its called a retrofit not a project. These guys love their hobby. Also its not a good idea to ask questions like a pirate..Anyhow....She started off as a $25 used Megabloks Black Pearl. Great ship very easy to find, lots of potential.Stripped off all the added stuff, and you have a pretty good looking deck. What I have planned for her is a double deck, maybe a furnished Captains cabin, custom figurehead, and a lower deck for cannons. I am not sure on how I will position her middle mast but I want the most room possible for a deck battle so I will not be placing cannons on her upper deck.First I will start with her lower decks, so I took her apart. I will work on her lower hull first. No need to cut off any pegs yet. I want her to have open gun ports with cannons inside that stick out.I took off the gun ports that come off easly with a flat screwdriver once you push the side pins in.Then I used my dremmel and with a bit to cut out the ports trying to avoid messing up the outside hull or carving up too much of the thin inner plastic.I took off the gun ports that come off easily with a flat screwdriver once you push the side pins in.Then I used my dremmel and with a bit to cut out the ports trying to avoid messing up the outside hull or carving up too much of the thin inner plastic.Don'tforget before you ever paint you will need to wash her well to get rid of dust, oils and shredded plastic.Cutting out the 8 ports was pretty quick and I used an Xacto knife to finish up details, here I tested the gun ports back on to see how she looked. I didn't want to have to make 4 more doors since the 2 ports on the Bow or stern are not removable so I left those alone.Here she is with only about 40 minutes of work so far. I am considering gluing her together now but first I have to make sure no other work needs to be done.And those messy gunport openings? They will each get a frame to cover up those imperfections.Now as to the name and figurehead of this fine vessel!!I liked the original Angel that came with the Black Pearl, from Wikipedia it says the pearl was originally called the Wicked Wench, but when she was burned with Capt. Jack on board she was raised by Davy Jones after they made a deal. When she arose pitch black she now had an Angel on her bow.Angel Figurehead.Either painted like wood for scary or creepy or full colors to make her a beautiful graceful ship.Dragon Figurehead.Why not go fantasy? I ordered 4 of these on eBay at around $3 each. I originally had them for my stormstalkers since I didn't like the over sized shark heads but they seem to fit well here. Great for a fantasy theme.Seahorse FigureheadOk stop with the color jokes a second and allow me to explain. Ever since Yodaking mentioned using a chess peice knight, I wanted to find a seahorse for a figurehead, and this rubber eraser from office max was the best thing I found. I can make a mold out of it and recast as a solid piece of plastic with Auggies kit I bought. I think it might look pretty noble... or I can just make this a warship for the Navy of Rainbow Bright and her Magical Ponies...I have more done but need to take some more pictures , will do so soon



Update # 3 Sep - 2012



Spoiler Alert!

Thanks guys !! Its been great so far, shes really worth it and encourages me to spend time on my hobby when I can ( since she has a hobby of her own,, they kind of work well together, she does scrape booking and I do Minis, so we hunt for supplies in the same stores when state site)





As for the ship, she now has a name!! Fools Errand!



More on the story later! Its a good one too.





Here are some more before pictures, as you can see the depth of the hull is deep enough to have 2 decks, and it breaks apart into segments that make it easy to work with.







Top deck has some great possibilties but for now I want to make a deck that fits the most amount of figures. Alot of mods for this ship have multi-layered deck but it does not lend it self well to hexes. So for this ship I will try to keep it to just 3 elevations and the largest deck possible with minimal hex space lost due to decorations and Mast/rigging.



















And this is the layout I am planning on her upper deck, 5 elevations, keeping the hexes lost to decorations to a minimun ( or squeeze them between hexes)







Thanks guys !! Its been great so far, shes really worth it and encourages me to spend time on my hobby when I can ( since she has a hobby of her own,, they kind of work well together, she does scrape booking and I do Minis, so we hunt for supplies in the same stores when state site)As for the ship, she now has a name!! Fools Errand!More on the story later! Its a good one too.Here are some more before pictures, as you can see the depth of the hull is deep enough to have 2 decks, and it breaks apart into segments that make it easy to work with.Top deck has some great possibilties but for now I want to make a deck that fits the most amount of figures. Alot of mods for this ship have multi-layered deck but it does not lend it self well to hexes. So for this ship I will try to keep it to just 3 elevations and the largest deck possible with minimal hex space lost due to decorations and Mast/rigging.And this is the layout I am planning on her upper deck, 5 elevations, keeping the hexes lost to decorations to a minimun ( or squeeze them between hexes)



Update # 4 Oct -2012

Spoiler Alert!

Last night was able to work on the Fool's Errand for about an hour before I had to head to work to cover for some one ( plus I ran out of crazy glue !)





The hardest part in making a custom project is first trying figure out what you want to do, second is actualy figuring out how to get it done. With these ships, figuring out the deck hight and the layout is the first part the second is making the templates. Once those are done the next ship takes a fraction of the time since the templates are done.





After trimming off the pegs that I didnt need, and carving out the gunports, I crazy glued the lower hull together, plus another layer of GOOP ( another type of glue) on the inside to give it more strength.











These little clips help alot to keep them pressed tight and keep me from getting my fingers glued to the hull.



Now I needed to figure out how many hexes would fit and how the layout would be. In the lower deck I wanted the fool to have at least 4 cannons plus a middle row for units to be able to fight. More room if the cannons are removed.







Now test fitting figures and cannons to see if this will work for me.









I cant remember who made this, but it helped alot. I found this template on the downloads section and its a great tool for playing around with the layout.









I start making a template with paper, trimming off the corners and borders a little at a time with a scalpel. Then I make a second one with paper and using the first one as a mold , make a second cleaner one. Some times even a third paper one before I trace it onto my plastic sheet. ( A for sale sign I got for $4 at Kmart)











All in all this took me about 2-3 hours of trimming, tracing, trimming again, cursing because I cut too deep, then doing again. 4-5 paper decks and 2 plastic ones later I finally have my template. My next ship will only take me about 15 minutes to trace, and test fit its lower deck template since this one is already done.







I make sure to keep my best plastic deck as my template and write all over it to avoid using it by accident and gluing planks to it.



I started to glue on the planks on the first deck when I ran out of glue then I noticed I started my layout wrong, it just wasn't artistically adequate. In other words it just wasn't pretty...





Last night was able to work on the Fool's Errand for about an hour before I had to head to work to cover for some one ( plus I ran out of crazy glue !)The hardest part in making a custom project is first trying figure out what you want to do, second is actualy figuring out how to get it done. With these ships, figuring out the deck hight and the layout is the first part the second is making the templates. Once those are done the next ship takes a fraction of the time since the templates are done.After trimming off the pegs that I didnt need, and carving out the gunports, I crazy glued the lower hull together, plus another layer of GOOP ( another type of glue) on the inside to give it more strength.These little clips help alot to keep them pressed tight and keep me from getting my fingers glued to the hull.Now I needed to figure out how many hexes would fit and how the layout would be. In the lower deck I wanted the fool to have at least 4 cannons plus a middle row for units to be able to fight. More room if the cannons are removed.Now test fitting figures and cannons to see if this will work for me.I cant remember who made this, but it helped alot. I found this template on the downloads section and its a great tool for playing around with the layout.I start making a template with paper, trimming off the corners and borders a little at a time with a scalpel. Then I make a second one with paper and using the first one as a mold , make a second cleaner one. Some times even a third paper one before I trace it onto my plastic sheet. ( A for sale sign I got for $4 at Kmart)All in all this took me about 2-3 hours of trimming, tracing, trimming again, cursing because I cut too deep, then doing again. 4-5 paper decks and 2 plastic ones later I finally have my template. My next ship will only take me about 15 minutes to trace, and test fit its lower deck template since this one is already done.I make sure to keep my best plastic deck as my template and write all over it to avoid using it by accident and gluing planks to it.I started to glue on the planks on the first deck when I ran out of glue then I noticed I started my layout wrong, it just wasn't artistically adequate. In other words it just wasn't pretty...



Update # 5

Spoiler Alert!

Now that I finished with the rowboats and Canoes I can get back to the Fool's Errand!!



Rowboats & Canoes mini project







Making the first boat is always the hardest. I have a lot of ideas I have found online but making it work with heroscape rules is the trick. Once the first ship is finished it will be a template for the other ships and go much f