Monday, 21 January 2019

War of 1812 British Flatboat


As a mean Scotsman, I cannot bring myself to part with the best part of $NZ100 to purchase and fully crew one (or more) of the beautiful Perry models - so I decided to have a go at creating my own.

Following are a few images of the first result - I am reasonably happy with this and I think it should come up looking quite nice once painted. I have plans to purchase rowing sailors from Brigade Games to crew it and then I just have to figure out how to come by marines or soldiers as the passengers...I may end up using the Perry models for these!



First I drew up a plan based on research on the web

The initial base and stern

Left over cannon barrels from the Victrix Napoleonic British Artillery set

The woodwork is constructed from wooden tea/coffee stirrers
The planks were made from stiff "scrap booking" card (appropriated from my wife) cut in a single strip about 200mm long and 5mm wide - 4 or 5 were layered one over the other to give the effect of caulked timber. A small howitzer was added to the prow and tiller from card to the stern.



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12 comments:

  1. Jonathan Freitag22 January 2019 at 03:42

    This is a fine example of scratch-building and ingenuity! Looks great!

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    1. rross22 January 2019 at 20:49

      Thanks Jonathan - I have only tried this once before - with Viking longboats - I might stick a [picture of them up too. Made about half a dozen ten years ago and they may have been on the table twice!

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  2. Mark Strachan22 January 2019 at 09:46

    Excellent stuff Keith. I have a game for that...but I have to say that as a former law enforcement officer I am concerned that you should be condoning the looting behavior of those marines at the head of the post.

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    1. rross22 January 2019 at 20:52

      Thanks Mark - now I just need the crew! As for the marines, they are simply repossessing Crown property illegally obtained 30 years previously!

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  3. Lawrence H22 January 2019 at 14:16

    Really well done Keith. I ended up purchasing three of four of the Perry boats, so it will be great to see yours in action for inspiration.

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  4. rross22 January 2019 at 20:55

    Thanks Lawrence - I look forward to seeing your Perry boats on your blog in due course. I just cant justify the expense for what in reality are really just scenic pieces - but they do look wonderful!

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  5. Phil23 January 2019 at 20:41

    Clever, creative and wonderful job rross!

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  6. rross23 January 2019 at 21:44

    Thank you Phil - hope to get it painted and crewed but don't know how quickly!

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  7. caveadsum147124 January 2019 at 11:08

    Lovely bit of scratch building! Perry plastic for crew or do you need the distinctive hats? Weren't some infantry units used as marines,Im pretty sure the Middlesex regiment were and I think there were others,every penny counts!
    Best Iain

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  8. rross24 January 2019 at 20:28

    Thanks Iain - yes, I have been toying with the idea of Perry plastics for this purpose - even if I wanted marines, that would not be an insurmountable problem - its more around creating "sitting" legs!

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  9. IronDuke5963 February 2019 at 06:55

    You are quite the intrepid scratch builder. A very good flat boat...well done!
    I concur with your choice of Brigade Games rowers and sailors. They are excellent sculpts. I have used them for my long boats, gun boats, flat bottom boats and landing parties for my Chesapeake battles.
    BTW, it is nice to see more and more people gaming the the War of 1812.

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  10. rross3 February 2019 at 07:59

    Thanks Rod - "gaming" might be over stating it at this stage - I have been "collecting" for 18 months but only a few of the figures have actually made it onto a table so far!

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