Miniature Gaming Hobby
Product Review Series

Valiant 1/2000th scale
Fighting Sail

Reviewed by Craig Martelle

From Division after Division

Division After Division now owns the rights and are producing the old Valiant 1/2000th scale Fighting Sail line of ships. The samples they sent were a 100 gun ship of the line and a 74 gun ship. NICE MODELS! The instructions for putting them together claims you can put them together in 5 minutes. I don't know why anyone would want to hurry that much. I took my time cutting the masts & sails from the sprue and attaching them to the hulls. Very little flash and it came off quite easily. Included with each pack of ships is a guide for painting, assembly, and pennants. I read through the instructions completely as they made for a good read.

I didn't think I needed assembly instructions, but they did shed some light on things like the rigging (which I hadn't planned to do on a ship of this scale, but will now, because the instructions make it sound pretty easy). As for painting them, I think they came out super! Very good detail that took the paint well. I painted with a sharpened toothpick to eliminate paint overflow and to make perfect small dots of highlight. I primed the ships with a light tan then painted them with a golden oak, using kind of a heavy dry-brush technique. This gave a real nice weathered wood look. Using the toothpick, I put a tiny red dot over each gun port which greatly enhanced the look of the broadside (each cannon received its own tiny dot of black). Also, it helped to paint them before putting them together. The sails might interfere with your ability to paint the details on the deck (and those details are there to see and look super). And talking about the sails, I painted the two sets differently trying to achieve the best look.

One I primed in gray, the other in black. The gray primed flag took "Bleached Bone" (a GW Paint for Warhammer) quite well. The black primed required almost a complete repainting using the bleached bone to give the aged silk sail look. All in all, I did like the black primed version best, although it took a little longer to paint. Of course I did a light dry-brushing using a tan to highlight the ropes hanging off the sails themselves. This is a nice touch on Valiant's ships. The detail of the masts/sails really makes them stand out on the table. All this for $7.95 (gives you three each of the big ships or four of the smaller ships). These models are highly recommended!

For the future, Division after Division (Valiant) also plans on re-releasing the Spanish Main, Ancients, and Space Fleet early in 1998. Please note that Division after Division carries AIM 10mm ACW, Napoleonics, ECW, ancients, full line of Heroics & Ros, and all kinds of other figures! For a complete catalogue, send $3 (or $5 to include a sample ship) to Division after Division, 16710 Bradbe Rd., Fisherville, KY 40023 or phone (502) 267-8146.

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© Copyright 1998 by HMGS South
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