The Rogue’s Gallery

Only the model on the left will be unscathed - she is only there as a guide as to the size I will be making the new version of the C.S.S. Manassas.

By no stretch of the imagination could I be described as a perfectionist. I am though, a great believer in the old saying that ‘if it looks right then it probably is’ (if indeed that even is an old saying!). There are some models in the Confederate fleet that have been putting a burr under the proverbial saddle so to speak for some time - and this is situation that I will need to address.

Working from the left of the picture above the second ship along is the C.S.S. Manassas. I built her very much as an experiment as I was trying out my Dremel. I am very pleased with the end result but she is too long. Ideally she needs to be about the same size as the smaller model on the left. I thought about refurbishing the existing model which would mean cutting the hull down by around 3/4” and then shaping it. The problem with that is that I have hull detailing that would then be too close to the stern as well as a funnel that is too tall. On balance it would be easier to build a new model which is probably what I shall do. 

The two ironclads next to the C.S.S. Manassas both have the same problem but fortunately it is relatively easy to fix with care. In each case there is too much aft hull so the models look unbalanced. This is easily rectified by trimming the aft hull. It will mean that the two ships will be of different lengths - the ship with the flag on her stern needs rather more trimming than the other. They both need cutting back and then painting (in one case a new flagstaff will be needed) but other than that it will be easy enough to do.

The final model - C.S.S. Georgia - I have really grown to dislike. The problem is that the forward portion of the casemate intrudes too far onto the foredeck. I am tempted to remove the casemate and refix it to a larger hull template. This will be fiddly as my casemates are not designed to be readily removed! The alternative is to scrap it an build a replacement which on balance may prove be the easier option.

A nice model but too large - currently her casemate towers over the main deck of the U.S.S. New Ironsides! She will be used a Confederate super ironclad as required.

Finally, I need to build a sensibly proportioned large ironclad as the current largest model is too big compared to the others. It is not so much the length of the hull it is the height of the casemate. 

Now this may seem like nitpicking on my part but I am pretty sure that all of us can relate to something in our respective collections that just does not sit right and jars on the eye. I now have two models to be refurbished, two to build from scratch and one that may be able to be saved. None of this will be problematic and certainly the models I have are good enough to use but this little ‘tweak’ will make all the difference.

The U.S.S. Galena. Now that I can shape hull sides I will make a better version of her with her distinctive curves. The above can be repurposed and yes, I have a cunning plan in mind....

From the Union side the only model I have any issue with now is the one based on the U.S.S. Galena. Historically she had a very pronounced curve to her hull sides which I can now model using the Dremel. There is no hurry for this though and in any event, if needs be the model I have can always be repurposed.

Intermission: The End of Act One

For the Confederates we have the C.S.S. Missouri, a generic side wheel ram and the C.S.S. Little Rebel - I have yet to assign new names to these bearing in mind they are ‘based upon’ rather than strictly accurate.

The Union has gained a pair of City class gunboats, a generic side wheeler and a pair of Ellet Rams - these also need to be christened.

 I have finished the current batch of models for my ACW naval project and whilst it is an end of sorts it is also a kind of a beginning in that I now have a much clearer idea of the final shape of the collection. I am really pleased with how this has turned out so far and with a few little tweaks it will where I want it to be.

The collection has kind of grown beyond the original plan and it will, in its final version, be roughly twice the size I intended but there is a logic behind it, aside from the fact I have really enjoyed making the models! There were a number of facets to the naval side of  the Civil War - the actions on the rivers, the coastal war and the fighting on the high seas in pursuit of Confederate commerce raiders and blockade runners. There are different types of ships in use from purpose built warships to converted civilian vessels pressed into service, all of which played their part. To be truly representative a collection needs to reflect this variety or rather when you are in my world it certainly does!

My rules and gaming space (usually a 5ft by 3ft) works best with around a maximum of a dozen ships on the table. So having two fleets of a dozen ships each means that I have a workable surplus of models to work with which translates to table top variety. Were it not for the diversity of types in use - from river paddle steamers to ocean going ironclads - a dozen models per side would be fine but I am looking at broader horizons. Essentially this means I need to have ships for use in various theatres - from the swampy bayous to the high seas via the coast.

Suddenly the twelve ship fleet seems a little on the modest side so I will need to add some more! I reckon another dozen models will ‘scratch the itch’ but the important thing is that I do not need to hurry to build them so in a sense the pressure is off to a degree.

Just because I can below are pictures of both fleets.

The Union fleet....

....and the Confederate.

Going forwards

There are a few models that are going to be refurbished and in one case replaced. The two Confederate casemate ironclads are going to have the aft deck trimmed. I am also thinking about the C.S.S. Georgia (top right) as I have never been keen on the hull for this. I will also be making another C.S.S.Manassas as with the best will in the world the model I have is too large although in my defence it was only an experiment - a test bed for my Dremel.

I have really enjoyed building and using these models and am sure that I will get further use of them in the future. For now though, I need to finish the rules and take care of some terrain ideas I have as well as planning the next phase.

All good fun though!

Deep Space and the Martian Defence Force (MDF)

Something a little different but at a bargain price - check out the link below to the website for some better pictures. The company also has a pretty good range of MDF scenery as well

 Work on the ACW ships is moving along and four of the eight are ready to be assembled, flagged and varnished. They will be up on the blog when they are all finished and I may even hold a mini review of the entire collection but that will for a later post.

In the meantime though, I picked up a copy of TT Combat Space Swarm and the first expansion set that goes with it. This is something I have had an eye on for sometime and at just over £13 for the two sets including postage represents a real bargain. The game is starship combat using two fleets of MDF spaceships with the largest types being around 2” long. You get two fleets in each set, each of 12 ships, and these are in three sizes, frigates, cruisers and battleships. the base game comes with the following:

Rule book

Range ruler

Turning Widget

6 d6 (3 red and 3 blue)

48 game tokens

24 ships and flight stands. 

I reckon that represents outstanding value and the rules themselves look good fun. One of the problems I have always had with space starship style battles is that the models seem to get bigger and bigger so having fleets where the largest ship - the battleship mentioned above - is only two inches long and also that he game is designed to played on a 2ft square area certainly gets my vote. I may well slip this little ‘Ooh shiney’ mini project in once the ACW ships are finished.

Oh dear....

Something else I have been thinking about is revisiting Frank Chadwick’s Victorian Science Fiction Space 1889 universe - specifically Sky Galleons of Mars. I have a hankering for some Colonial 15mm set on Mars and with some scratch built fliers - occasioned by having just watched the Disney John Carter film and reading Edgar Rice Burroughs books of the same. Warrior Miniatures have just launched a rather nice looking 15mm Barsoomian range with some British Victorian infantry included. The Portable Victorian Science Fiction Wargame even....Who knows?

Given my current liking for all things MDF it did not take a great leap of the imagination to come up with the Martian Defence Force as being a good name for a Victorian garrison on the red planet....

Well it tickled me anyway.

The Magnificent Seven (Err Eight...)....Part 3

All undercoated and ready to paint - five for the Union and (now) three for the Confederates.

 A day of work based priorities so aside from the two coats of undercoat on the models (including the flagstaffs) no real advances on the painting front although I did sneak another ship into the line up. The Confederates will be gaining the C.S.S. Little Rebel (commissioned in my Confederate set up as the C.S.S. Small Secessionist) which was a cotton clad ram that formed part of the River Defence Fleet. The eight models you see above will take the project total to twenty four models once they are painted. I then have a further twelve to build for the ACW but that will then be it and I can then get on to the Russo Turkish War.

It is moving along quite nicely.

The Magnificent Seven: Part 2

Ready to paint - assembled and sealed and awaiting their undercoat and finish. Note the newly shortened bow section of the two city class gunboats (bottom left).

 Due to the celebratory nature of this weekend - birthday, wedding anniversary and Valentine’s Day - I was not able to get very much done on the ship building front but today I was able to spend an hour or so assembling the ships you see above. These are now sealed and ready to undercoat and paint. The main task was applying gun port and hatch covers - these are 5mm squares of card - and across the seven models there were over 70 of them....

The funnels, pilot houses and paddle covers for the ironclads I will paint off the model so that the top deck is easier to paint. I have yet to tackle the flagstaffs but these are easy and quick enough to do.

The one problem I did have was with the two city class gunboat models. My standard hull template has too fibre a bow and it just looked plain around for the stumble looking ‘Pook’s Turtles’ so I carefully lopped a quarter of inch of the bow and made for a deeper curve. The result looks far better and captures the squat look of the original.

I should have these finished in two or three days all being well.

The Magnificent Seven

I would say that is my weekend planned but for the fact that tomorrow is my wife’s birthday and our wedding anniversary - no to mention Valentine’s Day on Sunday! At least they are all ready to go and aside from adding the gun ports and deck hatches are very easy to put together.

 Pictured above are pretty much all of the component parts for my next batch of models for the ACW - seven in all. There will be three casemate ironclads and four side wheel paddle steamers. Most of the parts are fairly obvious - paddle boxes, hull, superstructure funnels, pilot houses and a bag of hatch and gun port covers. The latter are very small - 5mm square and 1mm thick - but are really useful in finishing off what would otherwise be a bare expanse of deck.

On the right hand of the pictures you can see a variant of the original method I used to build paddle boxes on my first batch of models built some eight years ago! It works just as well but the new layered method is far quicker. As I typed this I realised that I have not yet drilled the holes for the flagstaffs - so guess what I will be doing next!

Back in the Building Groove

The first of the next batch of models - and not one I had planned to build but needs must when the Dremel drives....

 The revised order to Warbases is in and with what material I have work has resumed on the ship building front. By dint of improvisation my planned six models has grown to eight - I tried a little experiment that worked out rather well - which gives a little more weight to the respective fleets. I am now building a further four ironclads and four side wheelers with each type being split equally between the fleets. The Union will be getting a pair of city class gunboats and a pair of Ellet rams whilst the Confederates will be getting the C.S.S. Missouri, a couple of side wheelers and the ship that is the subject of this post - the C.S.S. Manassas.

As usual this is my ‘based upon’ or ‘purely representational’ interpretation rather than being an exact replica but I am rather pleased with the way she has turned out. Let’s be honest, she is not the most challenging of models to make but I was uncertain of how to get that curve to the hull. Enter stage, third left - my Christmas present of a Dremel 3000. By using one of the sanding heads I was able to get a pretty good curve effect to the hull which is made up of two layers of 3mm thick MDF. The gun hood forward came from a bamboo barbecue skewer, the deck detail was made from card, the funnel from dowel rod and the flagstaff from a wooden cocktail stick. 

The Dremel was really handy for this model and now that I can shape curves it means that some models that I would not have attempted are now feasible. French and Russian pre dreadnoughts spring to mind as well as some other, as yet unmentioned ideas....

The model has the wrong shape of hull, the curve is probably not enough and she is too large compared to the rest of the collection. She may also have sported two funnels rather than one. Having said all that she is close enough for my needs and besides, she does have that certain whimsical bonkers look about her! 

As far as the name is concerned I have decided that she will be commissioned as the C.S.S. Molasses.