Colours show Newbury.

[Colonel Kilgore]

Yes indeed, Martin. The phone does all the hard work - all I have to do is press the button 

[martin goddard]

Sounds a bit "technical" to me. Can it be made easier?

[Colonel Kilgore]

Sounds a bit "technical" to me. Can it be made easier?

I could help you wire it straight into your brain, if you like, Martin - would that be helpful? I have a drill and chisel somewhere...

[FifteensAway]

Now, now, less worry about Mr. Goddard's cerebellium and more about those ships.  From Peter Pig?  Say what?  Did I read that wrong?  These are 15 mm ships?  In plastic?  Not those smaller items PP sells, 4 mm are they?  Are these not on the web site for those of us a bit far from Blighty - like about 5,000 miles?  More information, please?

[Colonel Kilgore]

FifteensAway: it was something of an ironic post. Martin did indeed make up those ships - but they're by Revell, in 1:150 scale. The pity was that people were so taken with the ships that they detracted from their interest in the Pirate game, the PP figures and the buildings!

There's more on these larger pirate ship models in this thread:

https://rulesforcommonman.uk/smf/index.php?topic=1586.0

You can of course use Peter Pig cannon and crew for them!

[martin goddard]

Just to be informative.

One ship is the black falcon by Zvezda.1/120th ?
The other is the Revell ghost ship   1/150th ?

I cut them down to waterline.
Then built them up in height by 2cm each (and base) in order to give them more "lower width" and height.
Then i changed all the masts for brass rod in order to strengthen them for show handling.
Then i made furled sails for the masts (from milliput and duro) because the ships are parked.
Then i added PP 15mm guns in order to change the "visual scale" to 1/100th.
Then a few wooden barrels and a flag stay with a nice flag on it.

I am flattered that people like them, but they are for decoration only.

The main problem with 15mm ships is that hulls are easy to manufacture, but no one has been able to do the masts well enough. Too many companies use bits of wooden dowel rather than a mast with sail and cross members (spars) to a realistic proportion.   (just a thought)

[FifteensAway]

Colonel Kilgore, thank you for the clarification.

For my own 15 mm Pirate Fleet - I went with mantle piece ships, those models on a wooden base with either two screws or two nails sticking up into the hull.  I remove the base and the screws/nails and then - very carefully using a sharp chisel - remove the keels.  This leaves me with what I call semi-waterline models.  While not necessarily properly rigged, the ships do come rigged.  I used to find them all the time for $16 - $24 US, these days I only rarely see them and often for $80 US (though I only buy them if half off at that price).

Knocking on a half dozen years ago now, I ran a couple of 32 player games - with a lot of Peter Pig pirates but a lot of other 15 mm pirate figures as well - that had at least 16 ships.  If there is interest, I can post a link to the blog I kept going while preparing the game.  Be warned, it might distract you for a few hours.

By the way, the primary way for attracting attention is ultra-simple: photographs.  Yes, better quality helps but just plain painted figures on reasonable terrain works, too.

[John Watson]

How about a pirate ship article for "15 Mill"?

[Colonel Kilgore]

That sounds like a great idea - over to you, FifteensAway!

Simon