Thursday 20 January 2011

ACW Scratchbuilt Refurbishment....Part 2


The above picture shows the Confederate Rams with the original hulls.


The second picture shows the vessels with the new, longer hull, ready to take onboard the guns with which to terrorise the Yankees! You can easily see the difference between the two.

I have previously mentioned that at the present time work is greatly impacting on my available time for gaming, modelling or indeed just about anything that can be described as relaxation! Last night was no exception as I arrived home after a long and gruelling day of testing a new system at a ridiculously late hour. The work is not difficult but it is both time consuming and tedious and as it is being tackled as a parallel run with the usual daily business in effect I am doing everything twice. I am currently contracting for an American company and as the US was closed on Monday for Martin Luther King Day it meant that the effects of the first business day of the US week (Tuesday) hit the London office yesterday with a vengeance. Mercifully the current round of testing comes to an end this Friday so things should be back to what passes for normality.




I can only offer belated apologies for my non-appearance at the club last night - suffice it to say I shall be in contact with those members I was keen to see independently.



In a spirit of defiance I made a point of tackling a small task when I had eventually arrived home and after having eaten, the results of which you can see in the picture above. These are the three Confederate rams complete with the new (and longer) hulls. These seem quite long and bare compared to the original version but that is simply because they are awaiting the fore and aft deck mounted artillery that I have ordered from Peter Pig. They look a whole lot better than the previous version and once the guns have been added will look suitably imposing on the tabletop.



I have also decided on the final 7 models I shall be constructing to make up the initial 24 to be completed before I start painting and these are as follows: CSS Baltic, USS Essex, USS Indianola, 2 more Union rams and a pair of timber clad Union gunboats. The monitors and 'walking beam' ships will feature in the next batch.

6 comments:

El Grego said...

The longer hulls look much better - I can't wait to see those ships properly fitted out with cannon.

David Crook said...

Hi EG,

I hope you are well and that you have recovered from the recent move. The new hulls do look so much better and I can't wait until the guns arrive! Ia am also looking forward to paintimg them!

All the best,

David

Tony said...

I agree with the comments posted above - the longer hulls look much better.

Tony
http://dampfpanzerwagon.blogspot.com/

David Crook said...

Hi Tony,

With the intitial batch I got rather carried away with the sanding which is mainly why they are so small! With the longer hull there is more space for the Peter Pig hardware to be mounted.

I think I may have a way of cracking the curved casemate on the Essex as well which I should be trying over the weekend.

All the best,

DC

SteelonSand said...

I actually really liked the proportions of the 'old' ones, but having said that, the new pretenders should look pretty spiffing when armed with the deck guns...

David Crook said...

Hi SoS,

I agree with you re the proportions but they would have been way too small for the deck guns. They look a little bare now but once Peter Pig's finest have arrived the visual balance will look a whole lot better (I hope!).

Wait until you see what is coming....;-)

All the best,

DC