1/2400 Tumbling Dice First Rate Ship - War Artisan Graphics

I was pretty happy with the way the War Artisan graphics look on 1/2400 Tumbling Dice models, so I have gone ahead and done up a second ship in that manner.

This is Tumbling Dice's 1/2400 1st rate ship of the line, with War Artisan graphics rescaled for application directly to the hull. Again, it's not quite as simple as scaling down from 1/600 to 1/2400, because the War Artisan graphics are more accurate in their proportions than the Tumbling Dice models. The two dimensions had to be scaled independently of each other to fit the miniature correctly. But once that is done the process is pretty straightforward.

Again I have replaced the topgallant masts and bowsprit with brass wire, so that they are much thinner than the cast metal. And I have rigged with nylon paintbrush bristles, just as I would for a 1/1200 model.

Again, you can find the War Artisan graphics at the address below. Definitely worth checking out, and you can download a free sample kit to try your hand at them first.
http://www.warartisan.com/

The stern graphics, visible here, have their own separate scaling. The Tumbling Dice models are rather chunky in the stern...

And here she is alongside the 74 gun 3rd rate, done in the same manner.

1:2400 Tumbling Dice 74 Gun Ship - With War Artisan Graphics

Every now and then I return to a scale I've only dabbled in so far. 1:2400 scale ships are a great gaming scale, but Ive never really been satisfied with my attempts to paint them in the past. It's always frustrated me that I couldn't create a nice looking checkerboard pattern at that scale, no matter how I've tried.

But recently I was working on some of War Artisan's excellent paper ship kits, when it occurred to me that they might be the solution to my frustrations in this scale. The kits are purchased as digital files, ready to print, which means you can scale them however you like in whatever graphics software you use.

I scaled the 74 gun kit down to 1:2400, then cut out the side panels and glued them directly to a Tumbling Dice model. Actually, I had to first alter the length and width ratios of the graphics, as War Artisan's kits are much more accurate in their dimension than the Tumbling Dice models. The stern pieces needed a totally different set of ratios, as they are very oversized on the metal miniatures.

I've been much more pleased with these results than any I have achieved with my own brushwork in this scale so far. It was a simple process to scale, cut and mount the graphics on the miniatures, and I'll definitely be doing this on more 1:2400 models.

I'd encourage anyone interested in the subject matter, whatever scale you may enjoy using, to check out War Artisan's catalogue of ship kits. They are extremely well designed, and very reasonably priced. When you purchase a kit you can print up as many models as you'd like, which makes them economically very efficient. And each kit comes with multiple color schemes, letting you add a lot of variety to your fleets. You can find them here:

http://www.warartisan.com/

And here is the Tumbling Dice 74 gun ship with War Artisan graphics. Rigging is done with nylon paintbrush bristles, just like with the 1:1200 scale kit's I've done. I also cut off the uppermost masts and the bowsprit and replaced them with brass rods, which are more in scale.

Santissima Trinidad: Tumbling Dice 1:2400

Here's a small post about a small subject - Tumbling Dice's 1:2400 model of the Santissima Trinidad, a massive warship rendered in exceedingly tiny form.

1:2400 scale doesn't produce models with the same visual appeal as, say, 1:1200, but what it's great for is gaming the larger fleet actions without purchasing extra dining room tables - a great benefit when you live in the city and don't have anything like a dining room. I've done a relatively quick and simple treatment on the hull, in the interest of time. If I'm going to build up fleets of these things I don't want to take forever on each individual model. I'll indulge my passion for detail on the larger models.

Rigging this model was actually not too tricky. Yes, the spaces involved were very small, but the miniature is made of strong metal and the shrouds/ratlines are cast on, so the masts are very resistant to bending. That helped a lot. I didn't bother to add the majority of the standing rigging, concentrating instead on running rigging just to give a basic impression.