HMS Goliath Rigged

[Moideeb]

Following Jim's lead with HMS Terpsichore, i decided to have a go at rigging and painting HMS Goliath. I decided to wash the sails in a light brown wash. I then paint the spars black. I'm considering painting the spars black on all the british ships and leaving the french spars white for easy identification during gameplay.

I don't have any suitable material for ratlines, so i decided to leave them out. All in all its not perfect, but I'm reasonably happy with how its come out. The only problem i have discovered from rigging these ships, is that they no longer fit in their boxes, which makes transporting them much harder.

[The Mad Hatter]

Looking good Chris! That looks like a ship that's actually been at sea! I find the single shade paint on the sails to be a little "lacking life" from the pictures I've seen. For anyone who has ever spend anytime around sail boats, sails go from white to brownish and dirty fairly quickly. I would imagine that would be even more the case in the a warship in those times.

I think you've taken a ship that has a great starting point and brought it to life with the work you've done, excellent!

[Nightmoss]

Hey Chris, that looks really sharp!! The paint and rigging really does bring the ship to life.

As you mentioned, an issue with the rigged ships is storage and transportation. Here's hoping Keith or others come up with some viable solutions. I know he's been working on storage for the ships, but I don't know if that includes 'rigged' ships.

Thanks for posting the pics. She looks great!

[Coog]

Very nice job of rigging!

[7eat51]

Very nice, Chris.

I think the enhancements I have seen, thus far, transform the ships from very nice game pieces to war-game minis. In one way, the ships without the enhancements look a little bare, a little naked. These look more finished. I realize those might not be the best terms for capturing what I mean.

[kelsith]

Very impressive work, I am loving the way the rigging really makes these ships pop.

I like the idea of having black/white spars too. I think that might make things easier. Although I guess that makes how to handle future countries interesting, maybe Brown for Spain or US, but then what?

[GrouperKicker]

Just wondering: Did you use a Langston book as your guide?

[mt1ss bob]

that looks awesome think I am going to give it a try!!!

[The Royal Hajj]

As you mentioned, an issue with the rigged ships is storage and transportation. Here's hoping Keith or others come up with some viable solutions. I know he's been working on storage for the ships, but I don't know if that includes 'rigged' ships.

The only way to store these ships to account for rigging is to store them top down (as in my Wings of Glory Hangar Trays) or to store them on their sides with a much larger than needed cutout. I've opted to go with the top down method with the ships attached to their bases. The plan is to have a very snug fit on the base with a finger hole(s) to help pull it out. That way, so long as any of your modifications to the ship stay within the footprint of the base, they will be safe in storage.

Following Jim's lead with HMS Terpsichore, i decided to have a go at rigging and painting HMS Goliath. I decided to wash the sails in a light brown wash. I then paint the spars black. I'm considering painting the spars black on all the british ships and leaving the french spars white for easy identification during gameplay.

I don't have any suitable material for ratlines, so i decided to leave them out. All in all its not perfect, but I'm reasonably happy with how its come out. The only problem i have discovered from rigging these ships, is that they no longer fit in their boxes, which makes transporting them much harder.

Looks great man! The black spars really do finish it off. I'll have the solution for ratlines in the next couple of months hopefully.

I like the idea of having black/white spars too. I think that might make things easier. Although I guess that makes how to handle future countries interesting, maybe Brown for Spain or US, but then what?

I think you could use different colored browns for different fleets if you wanted to go this route. It might not be completely historical, but it would work and look just fine.

[Nightmoss]

The only way to store these ships to account for rigging is to store them top down (as in my Wings of Glory Hangar Trays) or to store them on their sides with a much larger than needed cutout. I've opted to go with the top down method with the ships attached to their bases. The plan is to have a very snug fit on the base with a finger hole(s) to help pull it out. That way, so long as any of your modifications to the ship stay within the footprint of the base, they will be safe in storage.




Looks great man! The black spars really do finish it off. I'll have the solution for ratlines in the next couple of months hopefully.

Thanks for the update on storage plans and the ratlines. Looking forward to both as soon as possible.

[Moideeb]

Many thanks for all the comments.

Just wondering: Did you use a Langston book as your guide?

Sort of, I already built langtons 1:300 HMS victory, which had rigging instructions. I very loosely followed what i had already done on the victory, though somewhat simplified being a gaming piece rather than a model. I deliberately left off some rigging on the bowsprit, and all running rigging. I don't want to be worrying every time someone handles one of these.

Very impressive work, I am loving the way the rigging really makes these ships pop.

I like the idea of having black/white spars too. I think that might make things easier. Although I guess that makes how to handle future countries interesting, maybe Brown for Spain or US, but then what?

I think this idea is great, to be honest i hadn't even thought about Spain and America. Dark Brown for Spain like you suggest and a light brown like Keith suggests for America would work well.

Very nice, Chris.

I think the enhancements I have seen, thus far, transform the ships from very nice game pieces to war-game minis. In one way, the ships without the enhancements look a little bare, a little naked. These look more finished. I realize those might not be the best terms for capturing what I mean.

I agree, though i can imagine that painting and rigging might seem like to much work for some as it does take time to do. Im not going to rig anymore ships until Keith has his storage solution ready, as i need to be able to transport them all. For now i'll just paint them, though having said that i may rig one french ship so the two rigged ships could act as flagships in larger engagements.

The easiest thing to improve these models quickly is to add a wash to the sails, I washed the sails of 12 ships in a couple of hours while watching television in the evening. It makes the biggest difference to the look of the ships in the shortest time in my opinion. I used a citadel Earthshade wash to do the sails, it looks pretty harsh when its wet, but dries quite subtle but effective. Like Ryan noted earlier almost any ship thats spent some time at sea has sails that start to go a little brown and dirty.

[DeRuyter]

The only way to store these ships to account for rigging is to store them top down (as in my Wings of Glory Hangar Trays) or to store them on their sides with a much larger than needed cutout. I've opted to go with the top down method with the ships attached to their bases. The plan is to have a very snug fit on the base with a finger hole(s) to help pull it out. That way, so long as any of your modifications to the ship stay within the footprint of the base, they will be safe in storage.

That's how I store my 1/1200 Langtons. I put them in a box with a flex steel sheet on the bottom and attached magnetic sheet to the bases. Not sure how well this would work with the SoG bases though.

[GrouperKicker]

The easiest thing to improve these models quickly is to add a wash to the sails, I washed the sails of 12 ships in a couple of hours while watching television in the evening. It makes the biggest difference to the look of the ships in the shortest time in my opinion. I used a citadel Earthshade wash to do the sails, it looks pretty harsh when its wet, but dries quite subtle but effective. Like Ryan noted earlier almost any ship thats spent some time at sea has sails that start to go a little brown and dirty.

The sails really do look great with the wash. What color did you paint the sails prior to applying the Earthshade wash?

[The Royal Hajj]

That's how I store my 1/1200 Langtons. I put them in a box with a flex steel sheet on the bottom and attached magnetic sheet to the bases. Not sure how well this would work with the SoG bases though.

I thought about sourcing magnets that would fit under these bases as well... but the metal sheet is a little more difficult to do with a foam style tray.

The sails really do look great with the wash. What color did you paint the sails prior to applying the Earthshade wash?

If I read everything correctly, he did not paint them first... just applied the wash directly to the Ares painted sails.

[Moideeb]

The sails really do look great with the wash. What color did you paint the sails prior to applying the Earthshade wash?

As Keith spotted I didn't paint them first. I simply painted the wash directly onto the sails. Quick and easy, and almost no skill needed, because if you acidently run onto any darker areas with the wash, you can't see it anyway.

[jnewell68]

Miniature Newbie Alert....how do you do that rigging?! it looks amazing!

[kelsith]

Miniature Newbie Alert....how do you do that rigging?! it looks amazing!

Hehehe don't feel too bad same way here, the more I keep looking at the customizations here the more likely I eventually buy a wave 1 ship with the intent of trying not to screw it up too badly.

[Bellerophon]

Fantastic Job!

[AlyssaFaden]

Yeah, seriously impressed here. I'd love to get a simple guide on how to do this rigging. I'd totally give it a go, but have no idea what links to what. I'm sure I'd end up with a ship that looked like spiderman had been jumping all over it.

[The Royal Hajj]

Yeah, seriously impressed here. I'd love to get a simple guide on how to do this rigging. I'd totally give it a go, but have no idea what links to what. I'm sure I'd end up with a ship that looked like spiderman had been jumping all over it.

Alyssa, you may find this thread helpful. I knew nothing about sailing ships when I started this site 2 years ago and I found that info very helpful so posted it for the rest of us landsmen! I should state that I still know nothing, but it shows a little less these days.

[AlyssaFaden]

Thank you!

[Moideeb]

Yeah, seriously impressed here. I'd love to get a simple guide on how to do this rigging. I'd totally give it a go, but have no idea what links to what. I'm sure I'd end up with a ship that looked like spiderman had been jumping all over it.

If it would be helpful, I could put together a quick how to video for rigging this. I was planning on rigging one french ship anyway. I certainly won't rig anymore than that though until I have a storage solution for them. If it would be useful let me know and I'll do one this weekend.

[AlyssaFaden]

It could be useful, yes (although I am going to get that book referenced above!)

[Moideeb]

It could be useful, yes (although I am going to get that book referenced above!)

No worries, it's probably better to learn how to rig properly, then you can choose to ignore what you want to, rather than learning it wrong from someone who is already ignoring bits. Do post some pictures once you have rigged a ship it always great to see what others are doing.

[AlyssaFaden]

Oh I absolutely will and I am quite looking forward to it!

[Beowulf03809]

I too really love the work with these. Since we're looking to move shortly I don't want to dive into rigging (I need to keep storage in original boxes between play) but I think I'm going to need to do some painting and washes really soon...

[Hobbes]

That is really impressive. Just got my stuff and previously when looking at pictures like this I always though "Well, I can give it a try!". On seeing how small the actually ships are in real live, I got more than some doubts.

[Пилот]

Rigging distinguishes this ship from the others. It looks great, and it's worth of effort. Bravo! Which method and materials did you use?

[djbar]

Very nice! After seeing this, I might have to try rigging. I inadvertently ordered an extra Bollona/Goliath so I have a suitable victim.

[spike]

Chris,

You can get brass etched rat-lines from Langton, although you may have to experiment as to which size, as the scales are not identical.
(see my Langton pirate brig on the left, which is fully rigged with rat-lines)

Regards

Steve

[The Royal Hajj]

Steve, the Langton ratlines are very hit or miss as to fitting these ships. There are non that fit the larger 74s and for the frigates and smaller 74's you can use a couple of ratlines off each of their sets, but not many. You will also have to do a bit of trimming to get some to fit. All of that was the reason I decided to product ratlines made specifically for each of the SGN ships.