I have written plenty about my wedding to the Tiny Ships project. I’ve really enjoyed collecting the mostly Navis and Hai ships, but they are quite expensive and honestly they aren’t very available right now due to restrictions on postal services because of the Covid crisis.
While I initially balked at the idea of building and painting ships, I’ve purchased, painted and assembled ships both from War Times Journal and Brown Water Navy (Shapeways) and really enjoyed the experience.
I’ve been pretty good at sticking with my Americans, with just a few minor treks down the side roads of the Chileans and Germans. But I’ve avoided any full-scale excursions into the Great War or major hypothetical conflicts between the U.S. and European powers.
But I confess, the Spanish have a lure. There is that whole Spanish- American conflict thing. I’ve finished my Philippine project and that’s just an outgrowth of that conflict. It’s a hard one to ignore.
Because none of my fellow members of the The Order of the Tiny Ships has claimed them, I am going to step up and do so. There are some 25 or so Spanish vessels of this era available in 1/1250th scale and I intend to get all of them, hopefully by the end of the year. To put a point on this, it doesn’t seem that there are many of these Spanish ships available in metal, so I’ll be doing that modeling I rejected a few months ago. Works fine for me.
Now mind you, there are plenty of versions of the Tiny Ships out there. There are Richard Houston’s lamented and forever passed away 1/1000 scale versions that form the Pretty Darn Small Chapter of the order. Then there are the 1/2400 scale versions that are the Itty Bitty Chapter. Then there are any 1/3000 and 1/6000 minis that form the Microscopic Chapter of the Order of Tiny Ships. All have their virtues, but I can only stick with one scale. Sorry.
As motivation Dave Schueler, John Gee and are going to play David Manley’s Splendid Little War mini-campaign. We’ll stick with Fire When Ready to do the combat resolution, but I’m hoping I may acquire enough Spaniards to make it all interesting.
Your Spanish fleet is taking shape nicely. I still have several of the Houston Span-Am War ships unbuilt. I should work on them sometime although I think a number of them are actually duplicates to ships already built. I wonder what became of Great Endeavors that took over the Houston line of ships?
The fellow at Great Endeavours who bought the Houston’s range said he wouldn’t improve or update the molds, and then he went out of business. I’m afraid that range is just lost. It’s sad. They were such distinctive ships. I built the Spanish for Manila Bay many years ago and sold them, thankfully to a friend who still has them. But I wish I’d held on to them.