@Charles:
This is why France should have its own units :-D
Actually HBG… a war gaming online store is coming out with a French set! I always thought that the southern France naval units on AA Europe (cruiser and destroyer) should technically belong to the axis… to convey the strong Vichy France naval force in the med that Churchill ended up attacking in fear the germans would take over the ships.
@Charles:
Exquisite! :-D You ought to sell some of these no joke. I am sure you can get a lot of money for them on eBay for instance.
Thanks Charles, glad you think they are worthy enough for something like that. I just am a history buff and like the accuracy and historical reference of certain units! makes the game more fun.
wow man they way you have them photo’d its like they are being assembled painted and presented straight out of a factory! they look so impressive all in rows together this must have been a lot of work! did you just paint one color at a time per unit just cause of the sheer volume of units ? The british paratroopers and special forces look very cool! love the burgundy beret hats! hats off to you Spitfire! are we going to see you tackle the germans or americans next??
jwo, how long does it take you to paint and trick out one ship?
These ships are so impressive.
Superb job on these. :-)
Thanks John. some of the mod ships take the longest…usually about two evenings at home 3 hrs each…so 6 total. They may look like they take awhile with all the little accessories and stuff but its not that bad. Then just the regular painted pieces I can get done in a bout a hour or so. Back ends up going first as I’m sure you know to JB! hunched over a table long enough painting these little pieces haha. You resume any more work on your personal armies JB?
So I continue with my concentration on British carrier power. The brits sure had some ugly looking carriers lol. The two carriers I have painted are the Hermes and Illustrious. This one I found interesting, the HMS Hermes. It was commission during ww1 but wasn’t finished till after the great war. Was later refitted for ww2 but was still considered “out dated” but necessity dictated her action! She had a MASSIVE super island structure…which almost looks like she will tip over by a strong gust of wind.
My construction for the Hermes was again built off a OOB US carrier Wasp class. I used some puddy filler to build up the side walls of the haul, and sanded the front to a nice tip at the bow of the ship as it has more of a boat shape for a carrier deck. The island was a extended glued island from the wasp class carrier, and the top tower I snipped off the back of a Royal oak british BB. I also added the sea plane retrieval crane which is quite a dominate feature on the back of the ship tower. Finally snipped off some county class cruiser turrets to add as the ships forward and rear AA guns. Was a fun mod to play with and I am happy with the result. Hope you guys enjoy!
Woah those f4f wildcats early war really turned out sharp! They look like you weathered them too with some shadowing over the blue! Looks awesome. US infantry colors are nice too. Do you plan to do anything with the Amerika board ? Like file it print it out and magnatize it ??. Also what state do you live in? I’m still waiting on my Amerika game but I live up in Canada. Should I try emailing HBG you think? Seems like they get a ton of emails, not sure if it’s cause I’m up in Canada or something. Thanks! great work and fast turn around on your pieces !
thanks Bravehart and Charles de Gaulle, glad you guys enjoyed the work here I am showing :-)
You’ve outdone yourself! These are wonderfully detailed. I don’t think the variety would be quite as useful without the name placards; they really help keep the carriers good for play while allowing for customization.
For the HMS Furious, did you mod the actual piece off of an old cruiser piece?
thanks for your comments spitfire! Yes I like using place cards for all battleships and carriers ive painted! I like to add the little bit of history and variety of unit types. I agree the furious wouldn’t me the same without the designation underneath it.
No, the o.o.b crusiers in AA aren’t really big enough to mess with and make into a carrier that could hold on two aircraft (would be cool tho just like the brits did in history) . Â my mods were all done off a OOB US wasp class carrier. The HMS Eagle was the obb wasp as well. Â If you couldn’t recognize it was a US carrier then I did my job correctly!
Are those brown blocks magnets for weight?
Your hand painting looks great, some of your kitmods look very fragile (but very true to life).  May want to buy some 1:100+ naval models (they are really cheap and too small to be interesting to me) just so you can re-purpose some of the small parts.  Great efforts!
The magnets are there for the aircraft. I glue small magnest onto the bottoms of the fighters and dive bombers so they don’t slide off the carriers during the game. Its alittle outdated and a bit of a eye sore I know. There are customizers on here that have magnetized there pieces and the game board! Which is the coolest more practical customization I have seen on the forum!
Thanks I know GHQ has dye cast metal ships and tanks with ultimate detail and features. I try to stick with the feel of A&A by not straying too far away from the obb pieces and details. HBG expansion sets are about as detailed as I like without it getting to crazy.
Thanks a lot for the feedback guys I sure do appreciate it!
Here’s the ship yard where I took a wasp class US carrier and carved out the front end. Cut off the island of that carrier, used the island off a HBG ark royal ship. I also notched two holes on the front sides of the flight deck and cut of two guns from a destroyer and glued in for some added AA gun defence.
Hello fellow painters. Just wanted to post some pics of some british AC’s been working on with some mods to recreate some historical carriers. Yeah I was alittle bored, and this would have been easier with a 3d printer but im a poor hobbiest lol.
So I have three carriers I wanted in my global games. The HMS Furious, HMS Victorious and HMS Eagle. The Furious has the most mods. What’s cool about that ship is it was converted to a carrier from the base of a old cruiser warship. Hence why you can see the bow of the ship with the flight deck up top. They also kept one of the big crusier guns at the bow for defence which I had cut off a battle ship and glued one to represent. I also noticed the brit carriers had these crane like features on the side of the decks. I cut those strips out of plastic, folded the tops and glued onto the sides for a added detail. Hope you guys enjoy.
I’d second that acrylics are the better option. Just remember they dry fast so if you mixing them adding water helps them last longer in your paint tray. Also, acrylics can chip or peel easily too so its good to spray over them when your done with a lacquer clear coat for protection.
Have fun!
@C_Strabala:
This is HBG’s best set yet! The detail is incredible & the actual units selected are excellent!
The only thing I would like to see is an Iowa class Battleship get the detailed treatment that HBG did for the South Dakota & Yamato
Oh no… can you elaborate abit on this?? the yamato mould was fantastic in terms of the detail. I assumed the iowa class would get the same??
