Thursday 6 May 2021

90 Day Gunboats


There were 23 of the ‘90 Day’ gunboats built for the Union and they had short but active service lives. Being built from unseasoned timber certainly did not help with their longevity!

 For the record I have built two of these but this is the only one that is finished as the guns are not ready for the second. It has been a learning experience assembling the artillery and so I am better prepared for the next batch!

To be strictly accurate the ship should have gunwales but I have yet to work out an effective way to model these. I gave the whole problem some thought and I reckon I have an answer so watch this space. 

I will have a brace of similar looking Confederate vessels to build but these will be slightly different - three masts and 6 guns to be exact!

I am rather pleased with how she turned out and after tomorrow there will be 16 models left to build.

I have a deadline of sorts in that I shall be back in the office from July 1st so I definitely want t have all the models built by then.

No pressure then....


6 comments:

Robert (Bob) Cordery said...

David,

Very nice ... and useful for a whole load of different scenarios!

All the best,

Bob

David Crook said...

Hello there Bob,

Many thanks old chap! It has given me a few ideas for similar style gunboats so watch this space - although not just yet!

All the best,

DC

The Jolly Broom Man said...

Although I like the models themselves, the painting is particularly sharp. Very nice job. These’d sell you know!

David Crook said...

Hello there Jolly Broom Man,

Thank you old fruit!

The paint job is deliberately simple and ‘clean’ and so is well suited to the style of the models. When I first started the build I experimented with washing the ironclads with Nuln Oil and adding rust streaks etc - it looked awful! Really detailed models and figures work best with more involved paint jobs which is fine if you enjoy that.

Sadly I do not although I want to paint some skirmish level forces in 28mm at some point.

Warbases will be bringing out some models based on mine at some point so dabbling in the ACW with a range of simple and old school looking models will be doable.

All the best,

DC

Bob The Old Painter said...

Very nice David.

As I have said before, your models become more refined and detailed with each batch. I see potential for some Nile River gunboats, and possibly for other theatres.

Bob

David Crook said...

Hello there Bob The Old Painter,

Many thanks old chap - much appreciated! Deck mounted artillery was always a problem for me but I reckon this method works well enough for many different vessels. The Nile for sure but I was also thinking about the large Chinese rivers - real ‘Sand Pebbles’ territory!

Something to think about going forwards for sure.

All the best,

DC