The Only Way is (U.S.S.) Essex....Part 2

U.S.S. Essex. The domed cupola came from a Mastermind set with the peg snipped off. I use the black and white pegs from the same game for hit markers.

 Some excellent news. My Warbases order is in the post so work next week can resume with more paddle steamers. The Union timberclads and the U.S.S. Benton will have to wait a while as that particular order is now in the Warbases queue. No problem there - I have plenty of other stuff to be getting on with!

U.S.S. Louisville at the top, U.S.S. Essex in the centre and the U.S.S. Carondelet at the bottom - soon to be joined by the U.S.S. Benton

The U.S.S. Essex was around twenty five feet longer than the City class but looked a whole lot longer, due in part, to the length of the casemate

I finished the U.S.S. Essex and am rather pleased with how she turned out, especially with the curved casemate. She looks quite intimidating but in reality was relatively lightly armoured and certainly under gunned. For all that she saw plenty of action. She will operate alongside the pair of City class gunboats - U.S.S. Carondelet (red funnel bands) and the U.S.S. Louisville (green funnel bands) - and the great bulk of the U.S.S. Benton when she is built.

On with the next batch - and the small matter of a campaign to fight!

The Only Way is (U.S.S.) Essex

 The U.S.S. Essex - with a casemate that seemed to go on for miles....She was longer than the city class by around 25 or so feet but seemed larger than that, in part I suspect because of her long but relatively lightly armoured casemate.

A view from the stern. Note the rounding of the casemate. The two box like structures at water level are in fact the heads!

The river ironclad section of my Union fleet will not repeat the heady days of my previous collection - I had built around 12 of them of various sorts - and instead will be a rather more modest four vessels. I have already built a pair of city class gunboats and will adding a U.S.S. Benton and the subject of this post, the U.S.S. Essex.

The challenge with building this model is the curved end of the casemate. All of my models that feature casemates are essentially square or rectangular - I have not tried any of the Confederate octagonal types - as these are easier to build. I wanted as Essex to a curved section had to be fashioned. I had built the Essex previously so the technique I used was the same as previously only on a larger scale.

Balsa wood is your friend in this case and so I glued two section together - fortunately this was the same height as the casemate - and marked the top and the bottom with semi circles of the desired size and then got to work with an emery board. The results you can see for yourself came out rather well.

An aerial shot showing the extra length of the hull compared to the City class gunboat

A closer view of the stern and the rear of the casemate.

A view from the bow. The domed cupola was also going to be a challenge but I made use of a plastic marker from the game Mastermind with the peg cut off!

All being well she should be joining the rest of the collection over the weekend but the Benton will have to wait until I can get the template from Warbases, along with the parts for the three Union timberclads.

Previously I had said that I would be adding a further dozen models to the collection but this is now looking like it will be slightly more than that. I don’t mind though as I would rather get the collection as complete as possible whilst the mood is on me. I keep expecting to hit a wall but so far, fingers crossed, I have been enjoying this too much to be overwhelmed!

Next Steps and Old Friends

 

Now that is a blast from the past.The above models are currently listed on eBay by their present owner and these were part of the first batch of ACW models I built around 8 or 9 years ago! Time has not been kind to them and I noticed a few missing funnels and a few knocks. I used to base these on clear acrylic and they were built to fit within a Hexon hex (4” across the flat sides).

 It has been back to the drawing board (actually a desk but you get the drift) with the ACW naval project as I sat down and drafted the plans for the final batch of a dozen or so models. The ‘or so’ is telling as at the moment the Union will be getting at least eight more ships! Despite my original intention of trying to stick to generic ship types I have weakened over time and so representations of specific historical vessels have crept in. The new batch will be no exception as I shall be adding the U.S.S. Benton, Essex, Tyler, Conestoga and Lexington as well as others whilst the rebels will be making do with more paddle steamers and an unarmed blockade runner. I shall throw in some smaller gunboats to both sides for good measure.

The plans for the three Union timber clads - the measurements are all in the email I sent to Warbases.

Fixtures and fittings - an idea for a deck mounted gun carriage with the barrel being made from a filed cocktail stick. I thought about using the Peter Pig 1:600th scale guns but they do not look right.  The semi circles are for smaller paddle boxes and the octagonal bases are for pilot houses.

The hull template of the U.S.S. Benton and yes, she was a beast! The remainder are some smaller hull templates.

Those lovely people at Warbases are quite used to my scribbling and accompanying emails with measurements although how they translate it is beyond me!

The picture at the top of the post I found on eBay yesterday (type in ironclads under wargames and you will find the listing) and it brought back some memories I can tell you. I built around fifty models - largely from Balsa - and the collection was exclusively river based with no monitors as I struggled to make a decent turret! I only ever got the ironclads painted before disposing of the collection. On balance I think I prefer the newer versions.

Messing About on the River

I am very much looking forward to running a solo ACW naval mini campaign using By Sea and By River. Note that all of Mr Manley’s excellent naval rules (covering most periods) are available from the Wargames Vault 

Well the models are built and ready for action, a few games have been fought, the rules are progressing nicely so what now? A campaign of course! I had always intended to use the ACW collection on a campaign footing with the ultimate extension of this being the Americanisation of East Anglia and its coastline for a kind of ‘imagi-naval’ set up. This will be a large undertaking for sure and my recent games using some of the settings demonstrated that to do the idea justice it would rather more setting up than I envisaged. I am not averse to this but I wanted to try something on a smaller scale - as much as a learning tool as anything else. 

Enter stage third left Mr David Manley.

As well as being a Bon vivant, wit, raconteur and a throughly top bloke his passion for all things nautical and his prodigious output of naval rules makes him very much a ‘go to’ resource whenever I have a particular waterborne itch to scratch! By River and Sea is the second supplement to his hugely successful Dahlgren and Colombiad ACW naval set and includes not only every ship specification you could conceivably need for the period but also two campaign systems. There is the full traditional multi player option and, of much more immediate use for me, a solo system, the title of which I have used for this post.

This is something I am keen to try out and at last I have the models I need to do so. I can use my block armies for when the land side is involved and some of the paddle steamers can be pressed into service as supply transports (note to self: I need to build some of these, along with barges and tugs).

I am torn as to whether or not I should Dahlgren and Colombiad or my own rules for the tactical side - I will look more closely at the campaign rules to see how specific they are and what changes I may need to make.

Naturally the progress of this adventure will be reported via the blog so in the meantime I shall crank up the purple prose generator (audible groans ensued....).

The Rogue’s Gallery....The Final Part

The two newest additions - the rebuilt C.S.S. Manassas and a generic large casemate ironclad.

Previously the sole representative of the type was the model at the top of the picture. It is large, too large really, but will still serve when I need a monster ironclad! 

The revised C.S.S. Georgia. The hull is slightly longer than previously and based on the original plans the fore and aft deck angles start further on from the casemate rather than at the edges. The result is far better balanced looking. 

The top model was my original ‘proof of concept’ experiment with the Dremel. The smaller of the two is far better looking, has more detail and is closer in scale with the rest of the collection

The two trimmed ironclads, again they are far better balanced looking compared to previously

A top down view to give you a better idea of sizing.

 Done. Finished. Game over. This phase of the ACW building project has now ended! The tweaks have been, well, tweaked and the two new builds are ready to take their places in the Confederate order of battle. I feel relieved to have gotten to this stage as the collection is nicely rounded and indeed, if I stopped here then I would still many hours of enjoyment from what there is. I shall be adding more models and the appropriate lists are being made. For now though, I want to spend some time getting the rules into order as well as giving the man cave a long overdue spring clean.

An unsung but vital part of my building project!

Before closing I would like give a mention to a very special part of this project. The commitment to the cause was absolute and the service provided gallantly lasted from the first model until the last when, due to having exhausted their supply, it expired.

I am of course referring to the tube of Loctite super glue that has lasted me throughout the building process of 28 models without drying out!

Gone but not forgotten....

The Rogue’s Gallery....Part 3

 It really did not take long to get these up to this stage. I am very pleased with the revised C.S.S. Manassas and my trusty Dremel has done it again!

This will be the penultimate post in this sequence. I spent some time today working on the last three models of the refurbishment phase and I have to say that not only am I really pleased that I have spent the time doing so but also that I am delighted at how the models have turned out.

The new version of C.S.S. Manassas looks far better - both in respect of size but also of detailing - you can see her alongside the original test version. 

The modified hull form for the C.S.S.Georgia looks a whole better proportioned - the plain part of the hull will not be painted as that is where the casemate will be located.

The additional ironclad for the Confederates looks better proportioned as the ‘star turn’ of a scenario rather than the current incumbent that will instead be saved for special occasions due to her size.

This means that the collection will now sit at 25 models but is in a far better shape than previously. The minor tweaks and additional build have made a whole lot of difference to the overall look of the thing and so it really feels more like an end of sorts.

Once the above are painted (which I shall finish tomorrow) I can draw a line under this phase and spend some time working on the rules and planning the terrain items I am going to build - a well as making plans for the final batch of ships.

The Rogue’s Gallery....Part 2

The story so far. The two ironclads in the centre have been trimmed from their original length (note the plain template alongside as a comparison) and after a fresh lick of paint now look far better balanced. The C.S.S. Georgia is now in her floating battery configuration and I still need to think about the hull form. On the left are the hulls of the new ironclad and the new C.S.S. Manassas currently under construction.

With a certain amount of trepidation I set to work with the previously discussed modifications and construction plans for the ACW naval project. The two ironclads that were being shortened - by 1/4” and a  1/2” respectively worked out really nicely and I so pleased that I did this - the blank hull template alongside then shows the original length. The models now look far better balanced than previously and being different sizes is no bad thing either. Most Confederate ironclads were ‘one offs’ so at least the size differential is historically accurate even it the models are not!

Removing the casemate from the C.S.S. Georgia was not too difficult but had to be tackled very carefully. I was concerned about how well the casemate would hold up under pressure but given the quantity of glue used on the inside it proved to be surprisingly robust!

You can also see the new hull size for the C.S.S. Manassas and the other larger ironclad is also under way. I am still undecided about the hull for C.S.S. Georgia so will think about that once the others are taken care of.

I have to say that I feel a whole lot comfortable with the models now so it was definitely worth spending some time on them.