From PeterD Dutch Ships from 1666 (1/2400)

I've been working away on these ships for a few weeks and finally got them finished last night.  I have 8 ships from the Dutch Admiralties from the Second Anglo-Dutch Wars.  These are 1/2400 castings from Tumbling Dice.  They are nice models, but pushed my limited assembly and painting skills considerably.

First up is the 80 gun of 1665 Zeven Provincien, which served as DeRuyter's flagship during the 2nd and 3rd Anglo-Dutch Wars, and the Franco-Dutch War.  DeRuyer was killed on her quarterdeck at Syracuse in 1676, but the shipped served until 1694 until she was so badly damaged at Barfleur that she was broken up.  She was operated by the Admiralty of the Maas (Rotterdam) although DeRuyter was a Zealander who served with the Admiralty of Amsterdam (confused yet?).  I've given her a probably anachronistic green and white Rotterdam flag.  

Next in line is the 60 gun Geloof from the Admiralty of Amsterdam with the triple X flag, which seems appropriate after watching Baptiste on Monsterpeice Mystery!  At the Four Days Battle in 1666 her gunfire sank the British ship Black Spread Eagle formerly the Friesland Admiralty ship Groningen captured at the Battle of Lowestoft in 1665).

A couple of smaller ships, both would be 5th rates in the English Navy but no rating system existed in the Netherlands at the time.  The Middelburg was an Amsterdam ship of 38 guns and was considered a fast ship.  The Harderwijk was from the Maas and carried 36 guns.  The Amsterdam Admiralty also had a similar sized ship named Harderwijk at the same time.  Got forbid they could make this easy!

Finally we have four smaller ships, three small ketches or cromsters plus a single masted yacht.  I've given them generic Dutch names so the they can serve as fireships, advice vessels or small merchants as required.  I tried rigging flags on one of them but gave up in the end!

Ships of tis age had elaborate decorations at the stern, those from the Dutch Admiralties normally included paintings of biblical scenes, or coats of arms related to the regional names they carried.  Luckily in 1/2400 one doesn't need to replicate these.  I went for the tried and true method of small multicoloured blobs that might represent these!

I've had a lot of fun researching this period and working on the ships. Assembling rigging is beyond my little sausage fingers and paint work is messy in places, but overall I'm good with he results and at 1/2400 the details all blur anyway.  I've got some English ships to post in the next day or so, and then hopefully a solo game will be underway.