This was 2019!

30. December 201919. December 2019 thomasriepe 1/300 ships, 2019, after action report 2019, Crisis, Cruel Seas, Empress miniatures, Gringo 40, Salute, Vietnam war

So the year 2019 has past nearly. It went so quickly indeed. But I think the older you get the more time flies by. When I had a look at all the pictures I took this year I thought it might be a good idea to do something like a photo revue of the year 2019 .

The year started with lots of games of cruel seas and the scratch building of a lot of ships for that game:

I build the steamer Rheinland:

In February I went to a local convention , the Kiepencon in Münster. I hosted a cruel seas participation game there:

Until this years Salute I build a lot more ships for cruel Seas. Like the S.S. Bellota and the S.S. Green Island:

Then I started on the Hunt II escort destroyer:

Then came one of the main hobby events for me this year Salute 2019 at Excel London. Here are a few of the over 200 pictures I took. If you want to see more have a look here

After coming back home with a bag full of goodies I resumed building ships for cruel seas. Next were the coastal colliers. Three little ships with different loads:

The last ship I build for Cruel Seas so far was a VII C submarine , Das Boot

Then I stoped building ships for now as two companies started to release miniatures for a conflict I was always keen on building and gaming. The Vietnam war . Empress miniatures and Gringo 40 both released wonderful miniatures. Here are a few of the Gringo 40 Miniatures I painted this year:

And a few of the Empress ones:

After my summer holiday i got myself a 3d printer and started on doing terrain for my Vietnam war project:

Then I thought about doing the jungle terrain I would need . I figured out that I would need a lot off scatter material to do the jungle pieces . so I went to a friend who has a upholstery shop and got some old foam upholstery pieces to make my own scatter flock . If you want to know how I did it go here

In November I went to Antwerp like every year for Crisis run by the tin soldiers of Antwerp. For all the pictures go here.

After returning from Crisis I build some jungle terrain pieces with plastic plant pieces , plastic palm trees and the scatter I did myself:

After Crisis i decided that I would drop one line of Vietnam miniatures as the size of both Empress and Gringo 40 don’t fit properly. I decided to go with the Empress miniatures.

The last thing I did this year was to start on some elefant grass for my set up. I used some offcuts from artificial grass to build these:

So that’s it for this year. There are a lot of projects in the pipeline for next year . Especially concerning my 3d printer. Expect to see a lot of vehicles for mt Vietnam project, trucks, gun trucks and even a huey! So have a wonderful new year 2020 and keep up the hobby. Hope to see a few of you at Salute 20 or Crisis 20!

“Das Boot” on the first ” Feindfahrt”

26. August 201926. August 2019 thomasriepe 1/300, 1/300 ships, 1/300 ships for sale, Cruel Seas, German Submarine, U Boat Typ VIIC

I managed to paint up the VIIc U Boat at the weekend. I am rather proud on how it came out. Hope you like it.

An authentic picture:

A size comparison with the warlord E boat:

And with my Hunt class destroyer:

The boat will be available for purchase here. Next will be a diving and a surfacing as well as a submerged U Boat. I think these could be useful in games.

The first cast of “Das Boot”

20. August 201920. August 2019 thomasriepe 1/300, 1/300 ships, battle for the atlantic, Coastal war, Cruel Seas, Das Boot, narrow seas, U Boat Typ VIIC

Here is the box for pouring the silicone mould:

The poured silicone not jet cured:

The cured mould and the first cast of “Das Boot”:

The cast next to the Revell 1/350 VIIc:

You can clearly see the difference between 1/300 ( in the background) and the 1/350 model now.

pictures of the finished model soon! I will put up a notice when the VIIc U Boat is available for purchase.

Das Boot ready for the mould

14. August 201914. August 2019 thomasriepe 1/300, 1/300 ships, atlantic convoys, Coastal war, Convoy war, Cruel Seas, Das Boot, World War II

The next ship or boat is ready to go into the silicone. I will do the mould today.

I am really a bit frightened about how the air vents will show up on the resin cast. We will see tomorrow.

If all works out well “Das Boot” will be available next week.

Ships for Cruel Seas

13. August 201913. August 2019 thomasriepe 1/300, 1/300 ships, 1/300 ships for sale, Coastal war, Cruel Sea, Lewis Morgan, narrow seas

Here are some pictures of a Cruel Seas game in progress, showing a ship provided by me build and painted by Lewis Morgan.

If you want the ships done by me can be purchased here.

Das Boot in 1/300 for Cruel Seas

25. July 201925. July 2019 thomasriepe 1/300, 1/300 ships, Coastal war, Cruel Seas, Das Boot, narrow seas, naval wargaming, U-Boat

I did some more work on the Typ VIIc U-Boat lately. added the deck and the conning tower. now only a few little bits like the diesel exhausts and the deck fittings and the anchor are missing then it goes into the moulding process.

More to come!

Auxiliary Gunboat finished

22. July 2019 thomasriepe 1/300, 1/300 ships, 1/300 ships for sale, auxiliary gunboat, Cruel Seas, east coast convoys, narrow seas, naval wargaming, Warlord

I finished the coastal freighter as a auxiliary Gunboat. The weapons are as always from the Warlord and Heroic & Pos weapons sets. VP 1037 is a Vorpostenboot as it was very often used in the channel , north sea and the baltic during the second WW. It was used for escort duties for small convoys , or for escorting U boats back to base through the biscay sea.

And a size comparison with a E boat:

You can get a Auxiliary Gunboat here.

U-boat typ VII C for Cruel Seas in 1/300

18. July 201918. July 2019 thomasriepe 1/300, 1/300 ships, Coastal war, Cruel Seas, Das Boot, narrow seas, naval wargaming, U Boat Typ VIIC

The Type VIIC was the workhorse of the German U-boat force, with 568 commissioned from 1940 to 1945. The Type VIIC was an effective fighting machine and was seen almost everywhere U-boats operated, although its range of only 8,500 nautical miles was not as great as that of the larger Type IX (11,000 nautical miles), severely limiting the time it could spend in the far reaches of the western and southern Atlantic without refueling from a tender or U-boat tanker. The VIIC came into service near the beginning of the war and was still the most numerous type in service when Allied anti-submarine efforts finally defeated the U-boat campaign in late 1943 and 1944.

Type VIIC differed from the VIIB only in the addition of an active sonar and a few minor mechanical improvements, making it 2 feet longer and 8 tons heavier. Many of these boats were fitted with snorkels in 1944 and 1945.

Armament was 5x Torpedo tubes ( 4 to the front 1 facing aft), They carried 14 torpedoes. 1x 88mm naval gun with 220 rounds and various anti aircraft guns ( depending on conning tower typ).

Why, do you probably think, a submarine for Cruel Seas? the rules don’t include real submarine warfare as written. And Yes you are right but the “Boot” is so iconic for WWII naval warfare that i had to do one. I use rules proposed by David Manley in his rules for coastal warfare ( Action Stations). They can be incorporated or combined with Cruel Seas.

So there are quite a lot of U Boat models in 1/350 ,like the one below made by Revell, but they are not waterline and basically to small for my taste.

So I started building one from a 1/400 paper model. I enlarged the size with a photocopier to 1/300 and started cutting and gluing strengthen it at the same time to make casting resin copies possible.

The basic hull parts

the skeleton glued

adding the deck

and the sides. Here alongside the waterline 1/350 model by Revell.

You can see clearly how much longer and wider the model is in comparison .

Next step is to do the upper deck and the conning tower. I will build the tower version as on the Revell model but there will be other types of conning tower later ,too. There will be a Typ IX Boat too in the future!