Besides demolishing a festive thanksgiving turkey with friends and family, this long weekend saw the launching of a small flotilla of Union warships. Back in May I posted on the two Confederate ships first part of this project. I have now finished four Union ships which will be part of my ongoing ACW campaign.
Sometimes you just have to spend the money on the right tools. When I did the CSA ships, I tried to use a Dremel tool to drill holes in the smokestacks so I could insert pins for attaching steel wool smoke clouds. The Dremel was a a bad idea, and ruined a smokestack, since I had very little control over it. So, thanks to comments from followers Scott Lesch and James Manto, I saw the light and bought a tool I should have bought a long time ago, a pin vise. It worked like a charm.
These models, like the CSA ones, are all 1/600 scale models from Thoroughbred. These are lovely models and worth every cent. Here we see two Union tinclad gunboats (model TS-23) which in my campaign will represent the USS Chaffee (grey w blue trim) and the USS Golconda (brown w white trim). There is a lot of guesswork as to painting ACW warships. I wanted these paint schemes to be colourful, on the theory that as requisitioned and converted riverboats, they might well have their civilian paint schemes. Besides, the different colours makes them recognizable on the table.
The flotilla at steam. Do you think that's enough smoke? :)
Thanks for looking. Before I finish, I'd like to welcome two more recent followers to my blog. Ashley is an interesting voice on the Too Fat Lardies discussion group, a writer and a fan of Mecha, SF warfare and big stompy things. I like her blog Paint It Pink. Steve is a former US Army officer with service in the Middle East. He does exciting things with smaller scale Napoleonics and ACW, among other things, and his blog, Sound Officers' Call, is worth visiting. Thanks for following this blog, Ashley and Steve!
Nice ironclads MP. I must admit to enjoying the ironclads games we play at the club, even if I don't really know the history of them.
ReplyDeleteTamsin, I sent The Padre Alans Ironclad rules after the game at CLWC, now I just hope he gets around to trying them for the onging ACW campaign. And that I get around to buying my own Ironclads one day...
DeleteThanks Tamsin. Ironclad games are one of those things at conventions and clubs that seem to attract attention regardless of historical knowledge. I think they have a "bumper boats with big shooty cannons" quality that is inherently attractive. :)
DeleteThomas - is there any chance you could resend me those rules you mentioned? I scoured my inbox, which is not much more organized than Smaug's lair, only with less treasure.
DeleteVery nice... but beware of the levels of CO2 at home :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks B. I made sure to keep the windows on while I was working on the smoke. I may need a carbon offset allowance to do more ironclads though. :)
DeleteNice work MP. Yep, those pin vice drill things are very handy, I've had lots of use out of mine.
ReplyDeleteThanks mate. Much appreciated. I can see much more use for that tool.
DeletePadre, I use my pin vice all the time in modelling. A very worthwhile tool. Nice work on the ships. Have you heard of "Timberclads"?
ReplyDeleteJohn, pray say more about timberclads. Is it a set of rules? A type of ship? I'm curious.
DeleteIf I remember correctly, Timberclads were riverboat beefed up with wooden supersturctures and gun batteries. They were a cheaper alternative to Ironclads, developed prior to the Ironclads. These were found on the rivers where so much of the U.S.Navy's work was done. Here's a good start, but you can find better sources. ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timberclad_warship
DeleteAbout time you saw sense! :) I use my pin vise far more than the dremel.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to getting some naval fire support from the USS Ironton and Carondelet!
Sometimes it takes me a while to see the light, especially with all that smoke in the air. Naval fire support would be a good thing.
ReplyDeleteVery nice ships, like the smoke as well
ReplyDeleteGreat work, Mike! Many years ago I worked as an archival intern in MS and one of my projects had me on the Vicksburg site for several weeks - good memories. I agree, the Thoroughbred models are such beautiful castings. I still have several of these awaiting in the 'Lead Reserve'. For rules we used 'Smoke on the Water' which give a fun game.
ReplyDeleteA belated nicely done. I see there is a company doing 1/600 ACW troops. Are you planning any amphibious ops?
ReplyDelete-Ross