Missile Corvettes

While I have been working on my backlog of unpainted lead and resign miniatures I felt I was missing an important element in my micro-naval fleets. I was lacking in Soviet missile boats (also know in my club as targets). This is not an issue if playing in 1/1250 or 1/600, but my navies are in the 1/6000 scale at the small end up to 1/2400 scale. At these sizes we are taking about small boats with no miniature company willing to spend the time make them.

Along comes Shapeways were gifted armatures design these missing vessels. So I ordered a pack of eight Osa and eight Nanuchka class boats. I was surprised at the quality. I have based the Nanuchka class boats and you can make at the detail showing that they are what they are.  In the past white metal miniatures could just look like a blob.

Armed with the SS-N-2 or latter the SS-N-9 these are dangerous boats if used properly. Their track record has not been outstanding as they are often forced into situations were they do not have proper air cover. An example being the Libayan Ain Zaquit was sunk in the Gulf of Sidra by an A-6E on the 24th of March 1986. I hope my boats will do better.

Fleet Additions

I have added seven ships to my micro-naval fleets. These are in 1/6000 scale adding four Charlie class, two Knox and a Farragut.

While they are planned for a North Atlantic Cold War battle I am sure I can get a lot of use out of them.

Painting 1/6000 scale ships is relatively easy. It is the basing and naming that has been the most difficult. I have tried a number of ways for naming the warships; ship name, class name and project number. While I liked the idea of using the project number for the Soviets most gamers are not aware of the nuances of the Soviet naming conventions. So back to NATO class names for now.

Also applying the names to the ships has been hard. I have tried label makers and MS Excel tags. I ended up going with the Excel tags and white glue. The glue works better than the tape less of a shine. Live and learn.