Naval Crew, Part II

These men were seen crewing the deck of the Dred Hawk, but I wanted to give you a closer look. Again, these models are Foundry Swashbuckers with Boarding Pikes (sans pike). This leaves their hands in the best positions I could find to be handling lines and actually sailing their ship.

These were a lot of fun to paint up; I have always enjoyed painting Foundry faces. The crew was painted in a limited pallet to look a bit more like a naval crew rather than pirates (though I dare say they could be serviceable as the latter).

This is by far my favorite model of the set. I love the short jacket, common among sailors until the introduction of the Pea Coat in the 19th century. As in all the bases, his is done with deck planking courtesy of my local Starbucks. The coffee stirs were glued to the base, then trimmed and sanded to fit the round edges. The coil of line on the deck in front of him is hemp twine that i untwined and then twisted into a rope of the proper scale, and glued to the deck. The metal base that extends between his feet was carefully trimmed off, and the completed, painted figure was then pinned to the finished decking with a cut-down sewing pin (the type that comes in men's shirts at Christmas time...) from underneath.

This one was fairly straightforward, with the same finishing as the above figure. I don't think this photo does justice to the subtlety, but his shirt is painted closer to a stark white, to look like a linen work shirt, while I gave his slops a more yellowish tinge to look more like cotton sail cloth.

This one really needs a swab, either for a gun or for the deck. This particular scuplt reminds me of a friend of mine from the San Diego Maritime Museum.

The last man of the group, with grey slops, and a straw hat. I painted it flat black, as a tarred sailor's hat.
I have always liked painting nautical figures, and hope to add more to my crew soon. These men will also crew my HMS Sophie until I am able to acquire some Napolonic British Sailors, likely also Foundry, unless I discover something I like more.