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This site shows how I constructed pre-dreadnought ship models made out of foam to use with Bob Cordery's Gridded Naval Wargames: Naval Wargaming In The Age Of Steam, Iron, And Steel rules. They could of course be used with other rules.
The models are approximately 1/5600 scale. Due to the small size and construction method these might better be seen as game tokens rather than any sort of representative models.
Building the Models
Building the Models
The basis of the models are foam craft shapes available from craft and hobby stores, or children's toy sections in shops. The foam pieces I used are about 1.5mm thick. It cost me about $10 AUD for a packet of foam pieces made by Colorific Educational.
Most of the shapes in the packet were too large for my purposes, however there are a number of smaller ellipse, tear drop, circle and oblong shapes in the pack that formed the basis of the models. I was able to construct -
12 Pre-Dreadnoughts,
12 Armoured Cruisers, and
12 Destroyers (could be used for Protected Cruisers instead),
with shapes to spare. This gave me 2 fleets.
The Pre-Dreadnought Model
The Pre-Dreadnought Model
The 23mm ellipse shape was used for the pre-dreadnoughts. 2 shapes were glued together with PVA glue to form the hull. This made the hull 3mm thick. I found gluing a lighter coloured piece on top of a darker piece helped align the two shapes.
The superstructure was made from the circle piece with 2mm sliced off each side. I uses scissor to do this.
I put 2 funnels on the models. These were made from very small glass beads I got at a hobby shop. I think these are known as seed beads. These come in various sizes. I was able to get some very small ones which were about 2mm tall.
The model was too small to incorporate turrets and guns. It might be possible to draw these on when the models have been painted up. I didn't try doing this.
The final step is to base the models and paint them (I painted the hulls first then glued them using PVA to painted bases before completing the painting). The bases I made were 25mm long.
My paint jobs are a bit rubbish I'm afraid :-(
The Armoured Cruiser Model
The Armoured Cruiser Model
The armoured cruiser models were constructed in the same fashion as the Pre-Dreadnought model. The 20mm ellipse shape was used. Again 2 shapes were glued together with PVA glue to form the hull. I put 3 funnels on the armoured cruiser.
The Destroyer Model
The Destroyer Model
The destroyer models were constructed in the same fashion as the Pre-Dreadnought model using the 17mm tear drop shape. However instead of using a truncated circle for the superstructure I sliced a 4mm strip off the oblong shaped and used that instead. Destroyers were given 2 funnels.
In scale terms these destroyers are too long so perhaps you could use them for Protected Cruisers instead.
Afterthought
Afterthought
The foam absorbed the paint a bit so I ended up having to put down multiple layers of paint. The final paint job was a bit thick and "lumpy". If I did this again I would consider sealing the model before painting - either with watered down PVA glue or with a coat of PVA varnish (for acrylic paints).
The Game Board
The Game Board
The Gridded Naval Wargames rules uses a hex grid for movement and firing. Other naval wargames rules similarly use a hex grid. I put together a basic game board based on a hex with 15mm sides. The models, with their bases, fit snugly onto this hex size.
I put the game board together using MSPAINT. The final size I chose was A1 paper size which I had printed off at the local print shop. This gave a game board of 32 x 26 hexes.
April 2021
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