Basing Ships

[hyndridge]

I am looking at the options for basing my Italian fleet and am thinking of gluing them to the ship counters provided with VaS.

I would then attach some magnetic sheet to the bottom to stiffen it up and help stop them sliding about in transport.

Has anyone else tried this way of basing your ships?

If not what do you use?

Roland

 

[Wulf Corbett]

I am looking at the options for basing my Italian fleet and am thinking of gluing them to the ship counters provided with VaS.

As I'm using 1/3000 ships, I'd find the official counters way too big for bases. I'm using GW bases - Closed Cavalry bases for subs & Destroyers, Small Regimental bases for Cruisers & Large Regimental bases for the big ships. I will (eventually) base a couple of aircraft on the 20mm square bases too, but I'm still dithering over what scale to use... Print the ship names out on 6 pt font and they fit (just) on the edges.

None of this is original or my idea, I picked it all up from others on this forum.

Wulf

 

[hyndridge]

I am looking at the options for basing my Italian fleet and am thinking of gluing them to the ship counters provided with VaS.

As I'm using 1/3000 ships, I'd find the official counters way too big for bases.
Wulf

My battleships fit nicely on the counters and just cover the image of the ship printed on them.

The cruisers are a little too big for the counters and overhang a little!

Roland

 

[Wulf Corbett]

My battleships fit nicely on the counters and just cover the image of the ship printed on them.

The cruisers are a little too big for the counters and overhang a little!

It's more the width that bothers me. You'd need a very long hose for RAS...

Wulf

 

[hyndridge]

What's RAS?

 

[Wulf Corbett]

What's RAS?

Sorry, Replenishment At Sea. A tanker or supply ship sails along next to your warship, transfers supplies by breeches bouy (no idea how to spell that), and connects a hose over to refuel it. My father used to be in the merchant navy on a tanker in the Pacific. Keeping at a decent speed makes you less of a target...

With the width of the counters, ships can't get very near one another...

Wulf

 

[Ostmann]

Hi

I use thin plasticard, I used the ship counters as a template, I made the aircraft carrier and some of the battleship bases a little longer to stop the overhang. and the sub counters smaller (all mine are 1/3000th Navwar ships

I hand painted the bases, but I have some Valejo "Atlantic" Water effect on order, I have seen Capt Kremens ships which use this and they look effective, he painted the base a medium blue then coated it in the water effect, looks cool

Thanks
Ostmann

 

[pbeccas]

I use Litko wooden bases for my 1/3000. 20mm x by what ever the length of the ship. 15mm x 50mm for destroyers. I use 1.5mm thick bases but you can go down to .8mm if you want them really thin. They look good and are strong.

www.litkoaero.com

 

[Soulmage]

We're using the GW bases too, although we are at 1:2400 scale so there is a little more work involved.

Small regimental bases for destroyers and subs. Large regimental bases for most cruisers and battlecruisers. Then an extended regimental base for the big battleships!

 

[Bob Hume]

I use 2mm thick plasticard. I cut it 1 inch wide and the length of the ship with about 1/4 inch more to the front and back. My light cruisers are 3/4 inch wide and destroyers are 1/2 inch wide. I found some 1mm thick flexible magnet sheets at a hardware store. (They call it vent cover magnet sheet and has 3 sheets per package about 7x10 inch.) I cut this to the size of my bases and glued it to the bottom. It only took one sheet for about 25 ships. I then glued one of the sheets to the bottom of a box. I now have a magnetic carrying and display box. I can turn it upside down and my fleet dosn't move. The three sheet package cost me about 10 USD.

 

[Bob Hume]

Oh, and I'm using GHQ 1/2400 ships.

 

[Leadman]

I'm using 1/2400 ships from Superior, GHQ, CinC, and Eisenwerk. I'm mounting them on mat board. It's relatively inexpensive (some framing shops will give you their scraps) and easy to work with (exacto knife and straight edge). Lengths vary according to ship size, but I add 3/8 inch to the back for a tag that has the ship's name and class. Widths are 1/2" for destroyers, 3/4 " for cruisers and some small escort/light carriers, and 1" for battleships and carriers. Mix a little water with concrete patch (also inexpensive) and brush it on the mat board ( but not on the 3/8" at the back where the tag goes). Let it dry (usually no longer than 15 minutes). Paint dark blue or whatever sea color you want. Let dry, dry brush white. Glue the ship model on to the base and add the tag. If you want to get fancy, after the glue has dried, you can mix a small amount of concrete patch with a little more water than was used for the base and apply it around the ship and form a bow wave. When it dries, paint it white.

Dannie

 

[Gunbird]

1/3000 ships and 1.5mm plasticard so I can base them on a thin sheet of magnetic sheeting at a later date.

And it looks like this:

Fishingvessel is just a bit higher then double the thickness of the card, hence that card looking a bit thick

I don't use specific measurements, I have precut a lot of strips of plasticcard and I just cut off what I need for certain ships, some room at the bow and stern and a tab for the flag and the name.

Cut plasticcard to size, file off the sharp edges, round off 1 side, glue ship, add scenic effects water, basecoat, paint ship, paint sea, gloss varnish, add flag and name, gloss varnish, matte varnish ship and tab. Done.

Though I work with substantially smaller ships like fishing ships, fleet trawlers, Vorpostenboats and what not, I use the same process on my modern supertankers, and those quite a bit bigger then most of the WW2 fleet I'm building.

Johan

 

[hangdog]

I'm still on the fence about basing my IJN fleet. I like the way the ships look without the bases, but then I see other bases that look just awesome. One big advantage I see with basing is making ship identification a no-brainer. But I see downsides also. Like keeping a based squad withing 4" of each other. And affecting your movement based on the extra space taken up by the base.

So I'm looking for other creative ways for ship identification and labeling that is pratical and functional on 1/2400 scale ships. Ideas?

 

[Chernobyl]

My battleships fit nicely on the counters and just cover the image of the ship printed on them.

The cruisers are a little too big for the counters and overhang a little!

It's more the width that bothers me. You'd need a very long hose for RAS...

Wulf

over here we call it UNREP for underway replenishment or VERTREP for vertical replenishment. Sometimes you're doing both at once!

Chern

 

[Jammybee]

I use 1:6000 ships based on FOW plastic bases. (Thin and tough)