ACW Naval Week three status report

Good progress was made this week!

The CSS Selma model from Bay Area Yards is cruising to completion awaiting a bit of touch up to the paint and the completion of the painting of the 'water' effect on the base. The - of course - the four cannon have to be glued to the deck. A protective gloss/flat coat finish is preferred, but the wintry weather make that unlikely. (Though to be honest, this winter's weather is all over the place thanks to "El Nino".)

Here's CSS Selma out for a shakedown cruise

Port bow quarter view.

Ship is painted in Vallejo paints. Basalt Gray on the hull, stack and hogging beams. Light gray on the deck and
 superstructure fore and aft faces. Moss green over the tan primer for the 'sea' effect (still a work in process).

 

What's wrong? Never seen the hand of God before? Okay, I admit it. I don't know what happened here.

CSS Patrick Henry getting closer to completion. Her sister model CSS Thomas Jefferson is in about the same state.

The USS Minnesota from Bay Area Yards. Still a lot of work to do here before it's ready for the table.

 Many years ago, I bought a Thoroughbred Models kit of USS Sassascus for the purpose of turning it to parts for other shipbuilding projects.  I'm working on finishing the ship using a variety of parts includes styrene and masts from Bay Area Yards. The kit is close to completion. Adding the guns and the standing rigging is about all that is left. I've painted the model in the late war overall gray scheme used in near shore waters while on blockade duty.

The masts are from Bay Area Yards. The other bits are Thoroughbred.

USS Powhatan in the foreground. In the early stages with this one. Lots of work to complete.

The figures lurking in the background are from the Atomic Cafe line. President for life Nixon and his Secret Service bodyguards, Got a couple of projects in mind for these figures. Arrrroooo!

ACW Naval Week Two status report

It's been a busy week! Even so, progress has been made on the ACW Naval front.

I'm moving along with assembling the USS Pawnee model. This weeks task was to build the masts and get them painted. As you can see - not quite done with painting, but on the way. I want to see how dark the gray paint dries. This may need a lighter shade.

The mast kit from Bay Area Yards. You get a nice selection of spars and sails from which to choose.

The hull of USS Pawnee. I was originally going with a black hull, but the references seem to skew towards overall gray.

Work on the Patrick Henry and the Thomas Jefferson continue. Assembly is complete, so now its time to paint. Using Vallejo Basalt Gray for the hull. I wanted dark gray, but not black for these models. Deck is painted buff and upper wheelhouse in white.

CSS Patrick Henry model by Bay Area Yards.

Another project in the early stages is the Bay Area Yards model of USS Powhatan. This one is on the early stages of assembly. I have the masts, just need to assemble them. I'll to check to gun park to see if there are enough deck guns in stock to complete the model. These big ships eat up a lot of guns and my stockpile of Thoroughbred deck guns is dwindling rapidly.

USS Powhatan hull from Bay Area Yards. You can see the rings for the bow and stern pivots cast to the deck.