Back to Civil War Naval...

...but did I ever really leave?

Even more 1/600 models added to the backlog of ship models to be assembled, painted and brought to the gaming table.  This time, it's a batch of models from Bay Area Yards with a smattering of Thoroughbred tossed in.

First up, I've had a recurring itch to game the naval action(s) of the 1867 Haitian Civil War. It's an easy stretch goal for the ACW naval gamer as many of the ships models are all surplus US Navy vessels. The most impressive ship in the war would have been the ironclad ex-CSS Atlanta, which was purchased and on the way to intervene in the civil war when the vessel sank off the East Coast of the United States.

A challenge though is modeling two stalwart ships of the former US Navy - the Mount Vernon and the Quaker City. These side wheel steam ships were former blockaders in the American Civil War. In Salnave's War, these ships were practically battleships and key vessels in the handful of naval actions waged in the war. Unfortunately, neither ship is currently modeled in 1/600 scale. I'm hopeful that I can use these Bay Area Yards models as the basis for creating conversion that will capture the look and feel of the actual ships.

Hull of the Confederate gunboat Varuna. No upper works or fittings. But a great hull! 

Model of the French Gassendi class sloop. Another conversion candidate.

Fore and aft of the Gassendi models

Hull of  the Star of the West. Another prime conversion candidate.

The Star of the West will assorted parts mocked up for sizing.

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Hull of USS Mississippi

USS Powhatan model. On the large end of a a conversion candidate. 

Second item - a model of the USS Harvest Moon. A nice little sidewheeler that I've never added to the fleet. Helps to round out the collection.

The model is in roughly three parts. I'll need to model the stack. 

The parts stacked together.

and lastly - two nice additions: Forts Jackson and St. Phillip from the New Orleans campaign.

St. Phillip

Fort Jackson. That's a LOT of fort!