Wednesday, January 27, 2016

1:1200 10 Gun Schooner - Langton Miniatures

Langton Miniatures' 10 Gun Great Lakes schooner is small even by the standards of 1:1200 miniatures. Many such vessels were built on both the American and British sides in their race to achieve domination of the land locked waters so important to their strategies in the War of 1812. Their size and firepower were diminutive, but they were a step up from the flotillas of gunboats that plied the waters in such numbers, and were not likely to encounter the powerful frigates seen on the open seas.

Langton offers several different versions of this ship, the other carrying fewer carronades but a large pivot gun mounted in the center of the deck (see below in the picture with three vessels).

I've sanded down the hull a great deal to make it sit more realistically in the water, and built masts from brass tube. Rigging is done with nylon paintbrush bristles. The model has Langton brass ratlines, a Langton metal sea base, and is mounted on a plastic sheet with a magnetic layer on the bottom for ease of transport and storage.







The mode is seen here with Langton's 6 gun Great Lakes Schooner with Pivot Gun, and a kit-bashed 32 gun Xebec frigate, also Langton.