Galleys & Galleons: Gun boats

It's handy to have a few smaller, cheaper ships for making up points, so I decided to create some gun boats by cannibalising Peter Pig rowing boats. I didn't have any contemporary illustrations to work from but I've seen pictures of later gunboats and used those for inspiration.

The starting point: light gun and rowing boats from the Peter Pig Pieces of Eight range.

The clipping begins.

Roughly clipped. Some filing and patching to be done.

The cannibalised bits are stuck down and I begin to model the new bows with Green Stuff. Working Green Stuff is like prodding chewing gum.

Bows completed. It's difficult to add or remove Green Stuff. You have to start off with the right amount and hope it works.

Sterns added. It's also difficult to get the sides really thin. Maybe I should have used card!

Rudders and helmsmen added. I'm in awe of those who can sculpt properly in this scale.

The new gun boats with original rowing boats for comparison.

To finish off, filler is added to level off and hide the original rowing boat bases.

Thick gesso is applied with a cocktail stick to model waves.

I found this quite difficult and time-consuming, though I think the result will be adequate once I've finished painting them.