1/1200 Langton HMS Caesar 80-Gun Ship

HMS Caesar was an 80-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was laid down at Plymouth in 1786 and launched in 1793 when the wars with France began. The Caesar and the Foudroyant were the first British 80-gun warships to be built for nearly a hundred years, and no more would be ordered for two decades.

Designed by Sir Edward Hunt, HMS Caesar was measured at 2,002 tons, 181 feet in length, with a 50 foot beam. Mounting 80 guns of varying caliber, including a main armament of 30-32pdrs. Her initial compliment consisted of 719 officers and men. Her completion - as the first such English warship in a century - even inspired a contemporary play "The Launch of the Caesar, of Trip to Plymoth Dock" to celebrate the event.

• Gundeck: 30 x 32 pdrs
• Upper Gundeck: 32 x 24 pdrs
• Quarterdeck: 14 x 9 pdrs
• Forecastle:4 x 9 pdrs

The ship participated in several battles during the Napoleonic Wars, including Lord Howe's victory over the French on June 1, 1794, the first naval engagement of the French Revolution, known as the Glorious First of June. Caesar's captain, Anthony James, face a courts marshal after the battle, accused of not doing his best to pass through the enemy line on May 29 and failing to take up his proper station on June 1. He was dismissed.

Caesar was the flagship of Vice-Admiral Charles Edmund Nugent (promoted to Admiral in 1822), operating in the Channel from 1795 until 1797.

Caesar was the flagship to Sir James Saumarez's squadron blockading Cadiz when the The Battle of Algeciras Bay ocurred on 6 July, 1801. The losses on both sides were heavy. The Caesar had 9 killed and 33 wounded or missing.

Six days later on the morning 12 July the combined French and Spanish squadron put to sea, followed closely by the British squadron. What followed was the Second Battle of Algeciras, sometimes referred to as the Gut of Gibraltar. 

On 30 April, 1802, near Gibraltar under command of Sir James Saumarez, Caesar made contact with USS Constellation on her way to Tripoli. 

On 4 November, 1805, a remnant of the fleet that had been destroyed several weeks earlier at the Battle of Trafalgar spotted by a British squadron under the command of Captain Sir Richard Strachan in Caesar. He gave chase and captured the French and Spanish squadron under Rear Admiral Perre Dumanoir le Pelley.

The Model:

Scratch Built 1-144 18th-19th C. Spanish Privateer Xebec

 Here is my latest build, an 18th-19th century xebec, modeled as a Spanish privateer.

I have used foam, cereal box carboard, wood skewers and toothpicks, steel wire, TP for the aft awning, cotton thread for rigging, and cloth for the sails. The only 3D prints are the 16 guns, deck boat, and anchor. This one took a while since I only worked on it for a short time in the evenings.

Getting the basic shape with foam and cardboard decks

Sides built up with card and the deck extended a bit

All guns are mounted now

Sizing the masts

putting in the hoops for the aft awning cover

TP awning cover strengthened with PVA/water, then painted

Beauty Shots

Two Scratch Built 1/144 scale 15th Century Ships

I haven't posted in quite a while, not since August of last year. I haven't been idle, I just haven't built or painted anything I felt would interest anyone following this blog. The projects I have completed since I last posted have been of a book nook or diorama display nature. But spring arrived and summer is here. There is the seasonal work outside to be completed, so I started on smaller projects that I can work on in the evenings for an hour or so each day. 

I picked a couple of 15th century type ships to try scratch building. For the first one I thought I would try a simple type, a caravel like the Nina but not the Nina. I didn't take any early pics because I wasn't sure of what I was doing. The base is plywood. The sides are card from a frozen food box. Ribs and rails are also card. The masts and yards are wood skewers and toothpicks. The furled sails are TP soaked in a PVA water mix then tied to the yards.

The next ship was a bit more complicated. It is a Portuguese carrack of the mid to late 15th Century.

for this one I used a foam base, card decks and sides, struts and rails. Wood and metal masts and yards. And some plastic bits like the crows nest and anchors. Cloth sails and paper flags. The furled sail is TP like on the caravel. The guns have foam carriages, toothpick barrels, and bead muzzles.  

That's it! Hope you like. They were fun and I learned a lot.