Blazing Brushes: Brigantine from Firelock Games

The Blood and Plunder pirates game by Firelock Games included these amazing waterline resin ships and ship-to-ship combat from the golden age of piracy. 

It was thse ships in connection with the wonderfully detailed models that drove my desire to get this game system and put it on my game table. 

I had a desire to do pirates before, using 15mm minis by Peter Pig, the difficulty was the lack of ships - back in the '90s we had to cut up plastic model boats and re-form them for the tabletop. 

My skills were never up to the task. 

Now? No need as these boats are fantastic and simple to work with. 

finished and with crew aboard

On to the working: 

everything came in one box

all the parts were present

after basic cleaning of obvious molding marks

into the only water this boat will ever likely see
the kitchen sink for a dish-soap bath

I let it sink slowly ...

allowing me some picture moments

the point of the dish-soap bath is to remove any
mold release or dust from the surface
that will affect the base coating process

 After the basic cleaning and removal of some resin edging in places like the gun ports and anchor chain holes, the model was ready to have the gunport covers put on and the gun barrels (for the aft deck) glued into place.

swivel guns cleaning

hatches and guns were assembled and glued into place
the swivels were not glued on.

the foresail hole in the deck was very thin and almost
went through the model, so before base coating
I covered the bottom hole with some
plasticard that I have to give the mast
better support.

Base coating with grey spray base, and some black on the bottom of the boat (though none will see it, the darker base will prevent any light from 'accidentally' showing through.

all base coated
next step is to do a dark brown undercoat

this can be done wet and messy

the idea is to create the deepest, darkest color for the wood recesses

this will permit the wood grain on the models to really stand out

not much to look at in these early stages

the carved details stand out well in this photo

next step is a 'damp' drybrush

using a pulling or drybrush like technique the paint goes on damp

yet not so much that it fills in the deep recesses

this photo shows the wood detail now starting to stand out from the
background after the 'damp' brushing

then the 'under-color' - I wanted a weathered wood
final color, so that means some variation of yellow to
orange  (flash on camera this shot)

the color layer is applied similar to the 'damp' brush
of the white layer (flash off)

the damp 'pulling' effect will continue to permit the
dark lowest layer to still show through (flash off)

you can see the color variations starting to form
in this flash on photo

the wood patterns on these models are great and I wanted
to paint them to permit that work to show (flash on)

by keeping in mind that all paints are semi-transparent and
permit the colors to form via thin layers rather than
one heavy layer is the key to showing off these
great sculpts

the ink layer starts the real transformation process

I use a thinned out mix of brown and black ink

going on in a wet mess

the ink will re-enforce the dark under layer zones
and make correction for some of the color and light
layers, again the details on the model really start
to jump out in the pictures

now the dry-brush (proper) starts
(flash on)

the ink layer fully dry now really shows off the
wood grain sculpted on to the deck
(flash off)

now the colors start to come onto their final layers

flash off

I used a dull green under the planned yellow layer

after painting blonde hair I have learned that green
is a better 'shadow' color for yellow

these layers go on very thin (flash on)

allowing them to dry fully before checking on the color
(flash off)

more of the white gets a layer

the idea being to permit the model sculpting to show

the windows and the hull combination just sing out for
ornamentation ... so I had decided to do them up with
metallic work

the cannons were done at the same time

so the colors would be similar

I included the paints and inks I used in the images

so that folks could know more about what I use

the weather cleared, then it was time to matte coat

this same rack is the one I use for all my spray work

then came masts assembly

I again used the brown sharpie to create a texture on the sails

this time I wanted the foremast to have the sails
in a 'not fully set' or furled condition

this image was my inspiration for the sails settings

With my experience from the sloops (click here) I was ready to jump into the rigging for the Brigantine.

It was at this stage that I found the bowsprit hole was just a bit too large, it was obvious that the bowsprit was not going to stay just wedged into the hole with the tension of the rigging line attached.

I needed to re-set the hole with my dremel to better fit the mast and glue it into place, unlike the two sloops which are all just set and can be fully de-masted without damage for better transport.

a nice shot of just the boat
showing off the partly furled sails

when the crew got put on things really start to look great

I played around with lighting

the way the sails worked out I am happy with

I really like the way the decks are easier to see

even a low angle shot looks good

with the flash on the water effect takes on a different appearance

details really look great

sailing away to the first sea battle ...

This March was set aside for this project and I am pleased with the results.

What painting or games have you been at this spring?