Blue Nixie and Sea Wyvern, Image

[Carl Cramér]

I posted in another thread that the Blue Nixie is much larger thanthe Sea Wyvern from the maps we are given in the scenario. One of my players is into modeling, and has made models to use for these two ships. The models are to scale with the maps in Dungeon, and you can really see the difference.

http://hastur.net/gallery/v/SavageTides/ship/IMG_0250.jpg.html

[Gold Katana]

Very cool! Thanks for sharing. Now my players will have a complex (caravel envy).

[smashthedean]

It's pretty crazy how much larger the Nixie is really. I'm not nearly as fancy and talented as your friend so I just made cardboard cutouts with grids on top of them to function as scale representations of the ships and the difference is pretty huge. You would think that the Nixie would count as some sort of ship other than a caravel at this point, but whatever.

[Jib]

Your friend is VERY good! Those are beauts! I love to pick his brain on how he made them.

[Guy Humual]

A how to guide would be awesome. Your friend has got some talent.

[seekerofshadowlight]

very nice job..but were did he get the size for the SW i didnt see them any where maybe im over looking them .

[LonePaladin]

The Blue Nixie is mapped out in There Is No Honor, issue #139. The Sea Wyvern's map is the insert in issue #141. The latter ship is definitely larger than the Nixie, and would be much more suitable for a trading vessel. The Nixie would probably do better as a fast warship, something made to skim around a battle and harass the enemy.

(I spent WAY too much time playing Ancient Art of War at Sea as a kid.)

[seekerofshadowlight]

i missed that i thought that had a diff name not the SW

[seekerofshadowlight]

just dug it out i was wrong lol silly me .and the nixi is a lot bigger but not as deep. we use broadsides for are navel stuff and the sea wyven is just about right size for one.the nixi is more of a small carrack in size and depth and would be a little slower then the wyven and hold a lot more corgo 135 tons instead og 60. so im glad i seen this now to male some changes.

[Jib]

Carl pass on our praise to your friend.

[Dag Hammarskjold]

wow

[James Jacobs]

Awesome! I wish there was a way we could have bundled ship models like that with the magazine! :)

[MarkB]

I printed out the Blue Nixie deckplans at miniatures scale for TinH, but it never occurred to me before this thread to compare the two maps. The difference is startling - though, as pointed out, the Sea Wyvern does have an extra deck to compensate for the smaller size.

[TexaS]

Guy Humual wrote:

A how to guide would be awesome. Your friend has got some talent.

Hi. I'm the guy who made them. Thanks for the kind words.

I followed an old article in a Wargames Illustrated on how to build them. The templates from that article is online here:
http://www.wargamesfoundry.com/library/pirateship/PLANS.jpg

As you can see the SW is very much influenced by the article above (only two masts) but I tried to get a little earlier look to it and ended up about seventeenth century. When building the Blue Nixie I just looked at the size and designed a ship with more decks than it's supposed to have, a lot bigger quarter deck and a poop deck thats not supposed to be there at all, but I thought it would look cool and go well together with the smaller ship in style and period. The gun ports is also wrong for the campaign, but it makes the ships more generic pirate ships. The rudder on the nixie is actually moved by the wheel.

Even though my very nice GM let me get a sneak peak at the map of the Sea Wyvern beforehand to get the models done before needed, I wasn't finished as you can see if you look closely. I decided against topmasts on the nixie to make it easier to handle miniatures on deck, but I might make them anyway later.

/Jonas

[Guy Humual]

TexaS wrote:

Guy Humual wrote:

A how to guide would be awesome. Your friend has got some talent.

Hi. I'm the guy who made them. Thanks for the kind words.

I followed an old article in a Wargames Illustrated on how to build them. The templates from that article is online here:
http://www.wargamesfoundry.com/library/pirateship/PLANS.jpg
/Jonas

You're welcome, and thanks for the link, that will help greatly if I ever take on a project like this myself. Can I ask if you built these ships out of balsa wood?

How long did it take?

Again great work. I for one would love to see more pictures.

[oji040870]

I can't link the image? Help me!

[Sir Kaikillah]

James Jacobs wrote:

Awesome! I wish there was a way we could have bundled ship models like that with the magazine! :)

I wish you guys could do that as well.

[TexaS]

Guy Humual wrote:

Can I ask if you built these ships out of balsa wood?

I used foamboard for the structural pieces and cardboard for hull sides. Some of the detailing is out of balsa, but not much. The wood on the deck is actually small wooden planks I "found" at McDonald's that you're supposed to stir your coffee with. For the blue nixie I had found out a lot of tricks. I cut those wooden sticks so that they meet at the edges of squares. It defines squares, but not very obvious ones. You might see them better on this rather large picture. I have tried to mark the grid all over the ship. The doors, stairs and masts are used to help define them. The railings have small knobs that mark the corners of the squares too. Even the ropes around the main mast help keeping track of height.

oji040870 wrote:

I can't link the image? Help me!

The urls wasn't linked. You'd have to use copy-paste, or the link below:

http://hastur.net/gallery/v/SavageTides/ship/

/Jonas

[Jib]

TexaS they are fantastic. I hope you got bonus exp's for making them (I do that with my PC's if they create something to enhance the game).

Questions: What did you make them out of?

Any chance you will be at Gen Con in Indy this year?