Disabled Frigate - Langton 1:1200

Out of curiosity, I tried my hand recently at a Langton Miniatures 1:1200 disabled frigate - and found the model to be a very enjoyable one, a fun change from doing the pristine versions of these ships. As you can see below, the ship has had its main mast shot away, the driver sail boom is hanging, the fore stay sail is awry and the fore topsail is blowing free. The main mast and its sail lie partly covering the deck.

To add to the decrepitude of the vessel I gouged and painted some shot holes in the hull, painted some of the quarter gallery windows to look broken, and added in broken rigging. For this I used some electrical wiring stripped from a broken down appliance, so that I could get it to hang limp in a convincing manner. The mono-filament thread I use for intact rigging wouldn't hang well at all. I painted the wiring to the appropriate colors depending on whether it was to represent standing or running rigging.

I tried painting shot holes in to the sails, which are cast metal, not photo etched brass, but the look was not convincing and I painted over the attempts. I was thinking that if I were to do another disable ship like this I might use lead foil to create sails, which would crumple very easily and be thin enough to have holes punched in to it easily. I don't think it would be very hard to take any given ship model in this range and convert it to a disabled vessel. You'd have to sand down the hull to make it list to one side, chop up masts and damage sails to your liking. But this kit was indeed a lot of fun.

And here are a couple comparison shots with a much healthier, happier looking ship, another forty gun frigate.