Sunday, January 31, 2016

ACW Naval Week Five Status Report

okay, it's been a busy, hectic week for a number of reasons, so this week's update is moe of a photo montage of what's been going on. Progress is being made, some models are nearing completion while a couple of new ones made it out of the box and onto the construction table. So without futher ado...

What's almost done...

The Yazoo Monster is done. Based up and ready for gaming. To be honest, I'm having doubts about the base coloration.



CSS Patrick Henry is almost done! Just need to work on the guns and get the rigging done. (groan...rigging.)


CSS Selma based up and just needing a flag to be finished.

Sassacus salvage project almost done. Just a little rigging and a flag and I'll call it done.


What's getting there...

CSS Florida from Bay Area Yards. This one's been sitting for years. It's stuck at the stage of needing it's rigging completed. So that's the task at hand. The foremast has most of the rigging installed. Then it's work aft to the end.

Close up of the rigging. I think the stacks need to be painted a darker color, but the raiders often went 'low visibility'.

Another model from the Bay Area Yards stable - USS Varuna. Got the masts installed and the formast has it's standing rigging in place.






What's new to the queue...

I pulled out the model for CSS McRae this week. A Confederate gunboat that fought at New Orleans,  it's model that has only been available from Bay Area Yards. It's been in the box for about 18 months since it came home with me from a trip to California.

Sorting out the parts, the masts got a bit bent in transit coming home.

The masts were pretty easy to straighten out.



It's a relatively small model compared to many other ships.
The hull with the bowsprit installed.
Overhead view of the hull.


Another new project to reach the table is USS Lackawanna. It's a near sister to USS Hartford (in the middle). The Bay Area Yards model has more of a fighting rig for the masts.
Here's an overhead view of the Lackawanna hull. These screw sloops saw extensive service on both the coasts and the Mississippi River campaigns.


USS Kearsarge is in the process of being assembled. This is a Thoroughbred Figures model that's been in the box since - ahem - 2007. Assembly has gone well so far. The outstanding items are the chain armor boxes and the bedding rolls along the tops of the gunwales.


























4 comments:

  1. Great work on that backlog! Your work inspires folks like me with a mountain of ships yet to build.
    Doug Frank

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  2. Thanks Doug! Glad you are enjoying it. To borrow a phrase from Capital One - "What's in YOUR mountain"?

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    1. Oh geez, where to start? I started collecting 1/600 back in 1999, got quite a bit of riverine stuff. I had a long dry spell (children!) from 2001 up until about two years ago, and since then have picked up enough to do Mobile Bay and the federal side of New Orleans (need to figure out what models would best make up the Confederate side there, I have a few already.

      Also have some good stuff for the James River, and bizarrely in a mash of second hand stuff the New Ironsides. Focus right now is Farragut's Mobile Bay fleet. Monitors are complete, have a few if the smaller sloops done, Hartford, a Sassacus, and Monongahela are on the table now. Thanks for asking!

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  3. LOL! Mobile Bay? Go big or go home, eh? I know how you feel. Once I get past the construction stage, I need to add a couple of pages that showcase all the models in my collection. I *may* yet reach the level of Dave Manley's huge fleet of ironclads and gunboats.

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