The ACW Naval building project 2015 - 2016. The final posting.

It's done.

I've completed the assembly and painting of all the ACW naval models in my collection. If took more than half a year, but it's done.  The last two models - USS Kearsarge and USS Minnesota were stubborn. The standing rigging on Minnesota took the better part of a month. I don't want to think about how many feet of wire are on the model.

Port beam of the Minnesota from Bay Area Yards. Stripped down for combat with her boats lowered away. 

 Bow quarter view of the model. The steel wire really helps stiffen and support the masts - just like the real standing rigging! 

USS Kearsarge from Thoroughbred Models. Ready for action! 

Now I can do two things - reorganize the painting table for the next project and start playing some games using these models!

ACW Naval update - week 21

No update last week for multiple reasons. This week has some good progress.

USS Kearsarge has the rigging installed.

Last task here is to paint the rigging and call it a day...


USS Minnesota - work continues on the rigging. As indicated earlier, this thing is a beast. About 2/3 done with a little bit of the main mast and the the mizzen mast rigging remaining.

Trying to finish this in the next two weeks.

ACW Naval status update - week 19

Work continues on the USS Minnesota and USS Kearsarge models. The Kearsarge had the duffel bags along the railings painted and the stays and back stays for the foremast are installed.

Work continues on rigging the foremast of USS Minnesota.

Port quarter view of USS Kearsarge

Kearsarge, again

USS Minnesota from the starboard beam. The stays are installed for the foremast working on the back stays.

The lower back stays are installed. Still need the middle and upper back stays.

It's eating up a lot of wire!

This is hard, fiddly work. The glue won't always keep the wire in place. During a game it may start shedding wire on the table.

ACW Naval - status update week 18

Making good - but slow - progress on the remaining ships in the queue.

Basically down to rigging the last few models. This is going to take a couple of weeks and may require additional wire. The Minnesota is going to require several feet of wire for the stays and back stays. But the end is in sight!

Before starting the rigging, I googled "USS Minnesota rigging". Which gave no results for the Minnesota, but did return a nice schematic of USS Constitution. That schematic - when printed - accidentally scales out well with the Minnesota model and became a good guide for the stays and backstays. Pat David posted the original which you can find here.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/patdavid/4409524942

The Bay Area Yards model of the USS Minnesota before starting on the rigging, but basically done with painting.

Added the stays for the foremast. Lots of work to do here!

This is a LOT of wire!

Added the first back stay on the starboard side of the foremast.

The assembly on Kearsarge is complete. I was going to complain about how the instructions should tell you to install the guns before adding the railing. It turns out the instructions do say that, I'd just forgotten or not read that section. My bad.

Before adding the guns.

The Thoroughbred Figures model of USS Kearsarge.

After the guns are installed and the stays for the foremast are installed.

These pictures do help. Just realized I have to paint the bedding rolls on the railings.

Here's a secret - the broadside guns are from Bay Area Yards. It's because I screwed up and didn't mount the TB guns before putting the top of the railings in. The BAY guns are small enough to fit in the hole.

ACW Naval status update - week 16

Week 16?  Seriously?

This plan is seriously working. Much progress was made this week. So much so that the end of the project can be visualized. But enough of that, get to the models!

What's done! 

CSS McRae and USS Miami are done and join, the fleet!

USS Miami

USS Miami quarter view. Fine model from Bay Area Yards.

But, wait, there's more!  USS Lackawanna and her sister are completed as well!

Beam shot of USS Lackawanna

Lackawanna, again.

What's in progress? 

So what's in progress? Basically what is left in the queue - USS Susquehanna, USS Kearsarge and USS Minnesota. Susquehanna is close to complete needing just a little touch up on the paint.

Nice beam view of Susquehanna.

So much wire...

Seriously, that's a lot of wire. Several feet at least.

Overhead view of Susquehanna.

 

USS Kearsarge.

USS Minnesota with  the early 1862 armament. (Plus the full gun deck under the spar deck.)

10" pivot forward with 8" guns on the spar deck. Guns are mostly from Bay Area Yards, but there are four Thoroughbred guns mixed in on deck.

What's Next? 
Get cracking on finishing this project up! Install the last of the guns, touch up the paint and get busy installing the rigging for Minnesota and Kearsarge!

ACW Naval week 13 update

13 weeks! 

When I started the ACW Naval blog updates 13 weeks ago, the objective was to hold my feet to the fire and get the 1/600 models assembled and painted. After a quarter of a year, I can see that great progress has been made and that a fair bit of work remains. Time to take stock of the achievements and lessons learned and outline what remains to be done.

One achievement is that all the ship models have been assembled. Items that have languished in boxes since 2007 are assembled and based! Given that it was a 9 year backlog, this alone is cause for celebration. 

New models have joined the tabletop fleet and are ready for play. This includes a salvaged Sassacus model, two Patrick Henry models, USS Varuna, USS Calhoun, USS Pawnee, USS Eastport, CSS Florida, CSS Selma, the Confederate Yazoo Monster, Battery Buchanan and assorted gun batteries. Not bad work for a quarter of a year! 

Lessons learned

You don't have to do a lot of work all at once. A little work, when you can do it adds up over time. Don't feel like you can't tackle the project because you can't set aside enough time to do it all at once. Break the task into small parts and take each as time allows. It's surprising how quickly the results build up! 

Sharing the results along the way has helped improve the finished work. Knowing that someone else will view these models pushes the quality bar higher and results in a better product than just a 'table ready' model. 

Sweat the details. You'll be happier knowing you've giving the model the best effort you can muster. But don't drown in sweat - at the end of the day these are tabletop gaming models. Remember the 3 foot rule!


On to week 13 results! 

What's done...
Two models join the fleet this week - USS Pawnee and USS Calhoun. Pawnee served on the Potomac River flotilla in 1861 and remained in service for the rest of the war. 

Ready for action!

Seriously? Two wires are missing from the foremast? 

This quarter view showcases the amount of standing rigging present on the model.

USS Calhoun from Bay Area Yards.

 Calhoun has the distinction of starting service with the Confederacy before falling into Union hands. For such a small vessel, Calhoun was in the thick of the action through the war.  


What's coming along...

Work on the squadron of Union sloops continues Kearsarge moving through the paint queue while the two Lackawanna class sloops have received their armament and await touch up painting and rigging. 

 

USS Kearsarge from Throughbred Models.

USS Lackawanna from Bay Area Yards.

"Are we not the baddest sloops in the fleet, Lackawanna?"

"Yes we are Other Lackawanna. Yes we are."

 

USS Susquehanna is coming along with painting almost finished on the masts and the hull touched up after the recent red lead incident. 

 

The model in the rear is an old TCS casting of a blockade runner in "not-1/600" scale. a fellow gamer cut off the deck fittings using industrial equipment. The conversion was done way back in the day before Bay Area Yards existed and was far beyond the current range of Thoroughbred models available. Given the limitations of the model and the modlellers skill the result continues to serve in Ray's fleet filling in for whatever large sidewheeler  is required.

With the TCS model in the foreground. The masts are very simple posts. The mizzen mast was scrounged from a Throughbred Sassacus kit that as sacrificed for parts (but which was recently resurrected and refit - see earlier post)

USS Susquehanna and USS Miami.

Both models are from Bay Area Yards.

 

USS Miami is about ready to receive armament and rigging as well. 

Apparently Miami only has the single mast forward. This might be unique as I cannot point to another double ender with the same configuration.

What's in the queue...
 Finishing up the above project really leaves one big project in the queue with a couple of minor tasks to finish off the project. The big project is indeed big - Bay Area Yards USS Minnesota model. There's a bit of painting to do, then mount the formidable spar deck armament...and then the rigging.

That's A LOT OF MAST!

USS Minnesota in broadside, the masts tower over the hull.