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Model Guide: War of the Pacific
The long awaited pack, War of the Pacific is out now, which means its time to assemble your Peruvian and Chilean squadrons for battle!...
Mike at SBS
Jan 8, 20233 min read
403 views
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Making Civil War Pilings for Naval Wargames
In this video, I walk through how I made some piling fortifications for my American Civil War naval wargame battlefields using resin...
Mike at SBS
May 19, 20221 min read
220 views
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Making & Painting Flags for Miniature Models
In this video, I walk through my method for making miniature flags from scratch for my 1/600 American Civil War ships and boats. I've...
Mike at SBS
May 1, 20221 min read
217 views
1 comment


Making Small-Scale (3-6mm) Water Hazards
Last month I talked about making small-scale trees for my riverine battlefield table. This month, I've added some hazards that I can add...
Mike at SBS
Mar 17, 20227 min read
451 views
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Making Small-Scale (3-6mm) Woods
When I set about to create some battle reports for Dawn of Iron, I realized quickly that I don't have a lot of terrain to use with 3-6mm...
Mike at SBS
Feb 6, 20223 min read
1,085 views
1 comment


How to Paint Model Ship Decks
I've had a few requests for a quick tutorial on how I paint the wooden decks of my ships. I should note that, as usual, this is my method...
Mike at SBS
Jan 6, 20223 min read
1,958 views
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Pook's Turtles
The American Civil War produced some of the strangest ship designs I've ever seen. Among the most odd were the river gunboats known...
Mike at SBS
Dec 22, 20218 min read
680 views
2 comments


Building Mortar Boats
One of the interesting little innovations of the US Navy during the Civil War was the mortar boats (sometimes called rafts). These were...
Mike at SBS
Jun 12, 20212 min read
471 views
2 comments


Building Erebus & Terror
A big part of my inspiration to finally make Lonely Cairn came from my little scratchbuild project to make HMS Erebus and Terror. After...
Mike at SBS
Mar 16, 20212 min read
511 views
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Making Splash Markers
When developing Dreadnought, I became fascinated by splashes...
Mike at SBS
Jan 16, 20212 min read
634 views
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Tiny Flags
Adding flags and banners is a big part of making ships or rank-and-file troops look the part on the battlefield. Not only do these add...
Mike at SBS
Nov 26, 20204 min read
301 views
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Building Ellet Rams
After the City-class ironclads, I moved on to the Ellet rams. These were a bit tricky to build. Owing to the civilian origins of Ellet's...
Mike at SBS
Aug 2, 20204 min read
643 views
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Ironclads
SBS embarks on a new naval wargame project...
Mike at SBS
Apr 27, 20206 min read
859 views
1 comment


Merchant Ships
After reading E. Keble Chatterton's The Sea Raiders, I found myself wanting to add some civilian merchant ships to my scratch-built navy.
Mike at SBS
Oct 19, 20191 min read
180 views
2 comments


Destroyers: Weapons of Mass Production
One of the more difficult things about my Jutland project was knowing that the "Destroyer Problem" was lurking just under the surface...
Mike at SBS
Apr 29, 20193 min read
222 views
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Scratchbuild Shipwright Tools
After posting my tutorial on building my 1:1500 scale ships, I got a request to quickly go over the tools that I used...
Mike at SBS
Mar 31, 20194 min read
215 views
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Masts!
Its probably a bad idea to keep experimenting with mast solutions still half-way through the Jutland project...
Mike at SBS
Feb 9, 20192 min read
247 views
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50 Shades of Battleship Grey
Once the scratch build ships for my Jutland project are built, it's time to throw some paint on them...
Mike at SBS
Feb 3, 20193 min read
231 views
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SCRATCH BUILDING 1/1500 WWI SHIPS
For most wargamers, metal and resin models are the way to go. But for me, the journey of making my own ships out of wood is worth the effort
Mike at SBS
Jan 31, 20195 min read
822 views
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