'I Saw Three Ships come Sailing by....'

Somewhat behind schedule I know but above is the picture of the first three side wheel paddle steamers for my ACW naval scratch build project. They measure a shade over 2 inches in length and as usual have a balsa wood hull, craft stick superstructure and paddle boxes and plastic fittings - the forward hatch, the pilot house and the funnels. The design is a very common river type of paddle steamer used by both sides and the next batch will follow the same general layout but will have more in the way of armour protection - the 'tinclads'. I cheated with the paddle boxes as the outside panel is merely the top of a craft stack used as a former to shape the balsa wood behind. These models had also been prepared over ten days ago and it was only today that I was able to sit down to stick them together. I really need to start painting this little lot as with the other models I have ready I now have a dozen constructed.

Many thanks to all for the good wishes over the household plague which is finally showing signs of clearing up although SWMBO has spent most of the day in bed - as has my daughter whilst I have very gingerly and with no great enthusiasm kept the place ticking over. I feel pretty grim with the throat and feverishness but was determined to end the year with something positive to report!

Mention of the year end gives me the opportunity once again to thank everybody that has commented on my posts or even just dropped by for a browse - I have found that the encouragement I have received and the ideas that have spawned as a result have served to greatly enrich my enjoyment of our hobby and so I hope that in 2011 I can continue to provide posts that invite such comments - a kind of wargaming perpetual motion.

To one and all then - have a very happy, peaceful, prosperous and safe 2011.

Changing Rooms at the House of the Living Dead

It has been a dreadful few days. Firstly, my daughter was struck down with a horrible chesty cough and fever on Boxing Day followed by SWMBO a day later and yours truly a day after that. This would not have been so bad except for the fact it has played havoc with all of our plans for the days between Xmas and the New Year. I was supposed to go round to Chris Hardman for a game of Battle for Germany (a really good WW2 boardgame based on 1945) on Wednesday (and to collect my green flocked Hexon) but sadly a horrible sore throat and a head full of cotton wool put paid to that idea. Unfortunately (and as if to compound my misery) I have still had to carry out the 'changing rooms' in preparation for the return of my son. For a variety of reasons (too numerous and tedious to relate) he is moving back in with us and so my new man cave has had to be sacrificed for the common good.

Sadly the area I am moving back into has been greatly reduced in size so it means that a large chunk of the collection has had to go into deep storage in the loft. The task was not difficult but time consuming, physically demanding and most certainly not what you should be doing when feeling as rough as I have been - commuting between the loft, the first floor and the ground with units, boxes and books etc is less than ideal when all you want to do is collapse under a duvet with a Lem Sip and hibernate until next April!

Still, it is pretty much done now and the single positive is that I have been able to put away some items that would have only been a distraction. What I have available and readily to hand is that which I should be concentrating on so I suppose it has done me a favour after all.

' On the first day of Christmas....'

Well I have to say that Santa was very generous this year with a suitable selection of goodies for me - the main items for the blog being pictures above. The two DVD collections I am hugely pleased with - The World at War was a tremendous piece of work and was hugely inspiring to me as a young wargamer in the 1970's. The haunting opening credits and Laurence Olivier's masterful narration still has the power to raise the hairs on the back of your neck. Very evocative and one of my all time favourites.

Indiana Jones - what's not to like? Action, great dialogue, evil henchman and lots of derring-do and THAT theme tune!

The Vikings is an old favourite of mine and whilst the historical holes are big enough to row a longship through, it is a cracking piece of entertainment again, with THAT theme tune.

I have not seen the new Sherlock Holmes film (the next instalment is out next year) so this will be treat for sure.

The Osprey Military History quiz book is an unexpected treat and I have in mind a plan to run a military themed quiz night at the club for a change.

Finally, the extended edition CD of the soundtrack to the film Lawrence of Arabia. Again, a superb film and the soundtrack is really evocative and one of my favourites.

Not shown above was also a Waterstones £20 gift card so my library will also get a boost at some point.

All in all then, it has been a very successful Christmas with lots of nice presents, plenty to eat and drink and time spent with the family. As Pa Larkin would have said 'Perfick, just perfick!'

Seasons Greetings to One and All!!

I know it is a little on the early side but I suspect I shall be rather busy tomorrow; opening presents, causing mayhem in the kitchen and no doubt imbibing in a seasonal glass or three! I would like to take this opportunity then, of wishing everybody a very merry Christmas and a happy, peaceful and prosperous 2011!

In the immortal words from one of my favourite novels: 'God bless us, everyone!'

Alfred Thayer Mahan

The very serious looking gentleman in the picture is none other than the celebrated naval strategist A. T. Mahan. His most famous work was of course The Influence of Sea Power upon History 1660 - 1783. His theories of the use of large fleets found a ready audience in the shaping of the naval policies of the US, Great Britain, Germany and Japan. Time and the technological impact of the submarine and of aircraft reduced the effectiveness of some of his ideas but his influence on the strategic planning of the navies above was far reaching and of considerable longevity.

The reason this has come up is simply down to me trawling through a couple of free ebook sites to add to my reader. I have never read Mahan's work although am aware of it. I was delighted then, to not only find a copy of this to download but also some of his other work. He wrote many other works of naval interest including titles covering the naval operations of the American War of Independence and, much closer to my current interest, the naval actions along the Mississippi during the civil war. This formed volume 3 of a naval history of the civil war and was devoted to the actions along the inland waterways to the Gulf. Needless to say, a full report will be made once I have read this title and I am very pleased to have had the chance to add this to my collection.

Back in the Construction Business via Narnia

After a day of Xmas activity - including a visit to the cinema to see the new Narnia film (more of which later) - not helped by the second downfall of snow; I was able to get some more work done on the gunboats and rams for the ACW collection. Looking through my copy of Gibbon's Warships and Naval Battles of the Civil War you can see that there is an absolutely bewildering variety of ships pressed into service on either side, all with a greater or lesser degree of protection and weaponry. This gives the scratch builder almost a blank canvas upon which to work as for every documented and illustrated ship there is probably a dozen that we have no idea about! I will be making models that are best described as typical of their types, rather as I did with the casemate ironclads, and so the naming of these models will be an exercise in educated guesswork!

Last Wednesday was my daughter Holly's birthday and as part of her celebrations we went to see the new Narnia film - The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. I must confess that aside from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe I was unfamiliar with rest of the Chronicles of Narnia but judging by this film (and the previous: Prince Caspian - we watched this a couple of weeks ago as my daughter has the DVD) I may well have to rectify this omission as it was great fun. I was aware of C.S.Lewis being great friends with Tolkein but I have never read any of his works. Happily my daughter has all of these so I will be borrowing them from her - all in the name of research of course!

Work + Long Hours = Minimal Time for Models!!

It has been an insane week at work as everybody tries to clear their desks in time for the holiday. I have been no exception to this as once Christmas Eve gets here I shall be finishing up until the New Year so am looking forward to spending time at home with the family, no doubt eating and drinking to excess and enjoying the best that the TV can come up with!

As a result of this work related activity I have been less than productive on the modelling front although I have managed to cut and shape eight more hulls for the various side wheel gunboats and rams I am building next. I have given some thought to monitors and have decided that the turrets are going to be made from plastic tube with plastic card for the roof. I have sourced a supplier for this as well which is handy -http://www.model-dockyard.com/index.html - especially as the turrets will be around half an inch wide. Tubing of this size will be doubly useful when I start on the pre dreads in due course.

I also joined the Ironclads yahoo group and was delighted to see some of the contents of the files and photos sections. There were several ACW rule and campaign ideas and some fantastic scratch built models so it was all very inspiring.