The Ship Model Forum

Maxim

This is excellent quality work on such a small scale. It's good to see both hulls together (in one photo) during construction. It gives a great opportunity to compare their design and size.

If anyone gets a chance I can certainly recommend visiting the museum in Birkenhead (UK) which contains lots of information on the Laird built vessel, plus much more.

700th scale waterline in not normally my "cup of tea" but I will continue to follow this interesting build.

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PICKETBOAT

www.chyldshallmodelshipyard.com

Thank you very much!

The next part was the head made from plastic and some paper:















Afterwards I added the "armour" to Kearsarge. The dimensions - except of the thickness - are included in Reconstructing USS Kearsarge, 1864 by Arthur C. Roberts. On the real ship it was made of anchor chains, which were covered by wood. I have used 0.25 mm sheet, which could be too thin (17.5 cm in 1/1), but I looks right compared to photos.



I still have to correct the lower edge.

Here Alabama before I added the masts.



And Kearsarge with masts:



and Alabama:



And some other masted ship models, which I will perhaps finish this year:



In the front are the Sloops USS Kearsarge and CSS Alabama, next the Peruvian armoured frigate Independencia (hull made by Michel Baartmans. Thank you very much for the resin copy!), a Japanese armoured corvette of the Kongo class (Seals Models) and the frigate USS Constitution (Skytrex).

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Thank you Maxim for you showing your super creativeness with these two builds! There is a lot of useful scratch building tips to use.





Bob Pink.

I continued with painting the deck, hull etc.:





The white hulls looks more elegant than the black ones (see Kearsarge on the upper photo on the right). Sometimes I will built a sloop or corvette of that era with white hull (perhaps a Russian corvette of the Kreiser class based in the Pacific?).

I added some details on the decks, e.g. capstan, funnel of the galley and vents (resin parts by BMK):

Kearsarge:


Alabama:

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Looking good!


JIM B

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....I buy them at three times the speed I build 'em.... will I live long enough to empty my stash...?
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IPMS UK SIG (special interest group) www.finewaterline.com

Maxim

This is fantastic work. I keep forgetting how small these models actually are until I see things like the tweezers, which bring them into context.

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PICKETBOAT

www.chyldshallmodelshipyard.com

Thank you!

The building of Kearsarge's armament took some time.

First I added the deck sweeps for the pivot guns. They made of 0.1 mm copper wire:



Next were the carriages of the pivot guns, one 30-pounder Dahlgren and two 11 in Dahlgren, made from different plastic parts:



Here the slides are added:



The carriages were made from up to 12 parts, but were much easier than the gun barrels. I made them using plastic sticks, turning them by hand and produced the form using different rasps. Here is the 30-pounder:



All three pivot guns after painting:



Next I fixed them on board of Kearsarge:



The carriages of the four 32-pounder were much easier: two tubes and two plates.



The gun barrels were again made of plastic. I have to buy better equipment to produce them...

Here Kearsarge with her complete armament:

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Maxim

The guns and carriages are fantastic. Well done. A very interesting build.

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PICKETBOAT

www.chyldshallmodelshipyard.com

Very very very nice! Kudos to your scratchbuilding! I love it, not any others like it.

Kyle

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Fantastic work!!





Bob Pink.

Very well done. I was dreading building gun carriages for my 1/200 USS Chickasaw, but now that I've seen you do it in 1/700, I guess I have to man-up and shut up.

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We like our history sanitized and theme-parked and self-congratulatory, not bloody and angry and unflattering. - Jonathan Yardley

Thank you!

In 1/200 much more details would be needed - and the gun barrels would be for me a real nightmare! Already the small (and therefore not really visible) 1/700 gun barrels are very difficult to make.

I have added now also the deck sweeps for Alabama's guns. She had, in addition to the ones midships, also some on the bow and stern, to which (at least initially) were no guns assigned (but guns could be moved to these positions). I am not sure, how a gun could have been moved over the anchor chains...



The next steps were Alabama's guns: I started with the 8 in smooth bore muzzleloader (68-pounder) and the 7 in rifled muzzleloader (100-pounder Blakely). The carriages were made from different Evergreen plastic parts, the barrels were made from 1 mm plastic sticks.



After painting them the guns look even worse:



As comparison with the big 11 in Dahlgren guns, I have put them on deck of Kearsarge:



And now they are at home, on board of Alabama:



Next were the 32-pounders. Alabama had two different types of 32-pounders. The forward two looked more old-fashioned, whereas the rear four looked similar to the 8 in and the 11 in Dahlgren. The carriages were - as those of Kearsarge's 32-pounders - were made of two plates and two sticks:





Here the current state of Alabama and Kearsarge:

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Thye would not have encountered the anchor chains in combat. In warships of this period the chains you have on deck would have been stowed in the chain locker when underway and would only be in the position shown if the ship was weighing anchor. There's some good drawings of the process in The Black Battlefleet by G.A Ballard.
Otherwise excellent work.

[quote="maxim"]Thank you!
I have added now also the deck sweeps for Alabama's guns. She had, in addition to the ones midships, also some on the bow and stern, to which (at least initially) were no guns assigned (but guns could be moved to these positions). I am not sure, how a gun could have been moved over the anchor chains...]

Thank you for the explanation. I will check The Black Battlefleet.

For the model it is no problem, because I do not want to depict Alabama in battle.

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J'aime ,good work ...

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a+
patrice

Very interesting subject and very nice scratchbuilt, love it too, thank you to share

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Someone, somewhere, is making money...

After some small parts (rudder, steering wheels, bridge (only Alabama) and tops) I have added the yards. They are made from metal parts.



Kearsarge:


Alabama:


The furled sails I made with white glue. After painting them with darkened white I added the stays. They are made of UNI-Caenis 20 Denier (black) thread. I glue them with white glue and I tighten them using a wax puttying device/wax spatula device (I am not sure about the English term. It is a device to melt and apply wax, which used to fill gaps in models. But it can also be used as a heat source).



Kearsarge:


Alabama:

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Beau travail .

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a+
patrice

Next were the shrouds/ratlines. There are PE sets available by Ocean Spirit, Battlefleet Models, Atlantic Models and Saemann Ätztechnik. The only ones fitting to the dimensions of Alabama and Kearsarge were those by Atlantic Models. Even though the height was fitting, the number of shrouds was not.



The not black painted parts was removed by using scissors.

I attached the PE parts to the models using white glue.

Alabama:



Kearsarge:



After the shrouds I added the backstays and braces, which were made the same way as the stays:

Alabama:



Kearsarge:

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Hats off sir!

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If all else fails, a complete pig-headed refusal to see facts in the face will see us through. - General Melchett