Glad you're beginning to feel better, Bill! WELL DONE, sir, to your own self.

Thanks to you and T.B. for the kind words

Gentlemen,

I am back from a bout with cancer and am starting to feel better. I can think of no better thread  on which to comment that this one!  WELL DONE, Sir!  Well done!

The only real flaw is not with the modeler; it is a real shame that Lindberg did not render these ships in a common scale!

Bill 

Hey;

Yousa is gotta nicea pair of the Boats from Lindberg dere! Really, you have done them justice .Thanks for the views . T.B.

gregbale

 

DasBeav

They turned out great, Greg!

I have walked passed that kit in Ollies a half o' dozens times and didn't realize they had a hull! Might half to pick on up now if they still have one.

 

 

 

Thanks!

If memory isn't playing tricks on me, I think some boxings of the kit over the years have come with a vac-form 'diorama' base where you could position the two in an absurdly-close battle mode; it may well be that box photos gave the impression that they're waterline kits. [They're not really designed as such..but given the 'architecture' of both vessels, it would be simple enough to do them as waterline versions...though the Monitor in particular would ride a little 'high' without a bit of surgery.]

BTW...what part of Ohio are you from? (I 'grew up' in Chicago...but I was born at Booth Memorial in Cleveland, and lived my early years in beautiful Avon Lake!)

 

I live near the town of Mansfield, which is half-way between Cleveland and Columbus. It bothers me sometimes when Cleveland gets a bad rap by people.

DasBeav

They turned out great, Greg!

I have walked passed that kit in Ollies a half o' dozens times and didn't realize they had a hull! Might half to pick on up now if they still have one.

Thanks!

If memory isn't playing tricks on me, I think some boxings of the kit over the years have come with a vac-form 'diorama' base where you could position the two in an absurdly-close battle mode; it may well be that box photos gave the impression that they're waterline kits. [They're not really designed as such..but given the 'architecture' of both vessels, it would be simple enough to do them as waterline versions...though the Monitor in particular would ride a little 'high' without a bit of surgery.]

BTW...what part of Ohio are you from? (I 'grew up' in Chicago...but I was born at Booth Memorial in Cleveland, and lived my early years in beautiful Avon Lake!)

They turned out great, Greg!

I have walked passed that kit in Ollies a half o' dozens times and didn't realize they had a hull! Might half to pick on up now if they still have one.

Thanks, guys.

Gamera

I'd never heard about the grease, that's a really curious idea. Wonder if it was also supposed to help with rusting?

It must have been. The Royal Navy tried it as well, when their iron ships were first coming into service. I think they quickly determined that grease offered some protection from corrosion...but it was easier to determine the condition of protective paintwork from simple visual inspection.

Yeah great job on the Virginia too!!

I'd never heard about the grease, that's a really curious idea. Wonder if it was also supposed to help with rusting?

Hi,

Both builds turned out great 

Here's my second half of Lindberg's ancient box-scale set, the casemate ironclad CSS Virginia, with a few embelishments. No authentic photos of the craft are known to exist, and even original drawings and eyewitness accounts are frustratingly imprecise and occasionally contradictory...so color-scheme is somewhat 'by guess and by gosh.'

The original was built on the copper-clad hull of the salvaged steam frigate USS Merrimack. I wasn't keen to try to replicate the detail of all the iron plating, so I settled for painting the base copper and then weathering overall with a green/grey mix, with more olive tones closer to the waterline. For the upper-works, since the Virginia had to sail before she was actually completed, it seems most likely to me that the iron-plated casemate sides were unpainted; but intriguing references suggest her plates may have been greased as a measure to try to deflect iron shot more easily. I settled for basic semi-gloss black overall, drybrushed in lighter tones to simulate wear and plating detail, then with a thin wash of oily-brown metallic to simulate the greased metal. The lighter-grey funnel and vents are suggested by accounts and drawings, as are the red-painted (removable) lifeboat davits, and the bow ram.

As oddly-festive as she appears with jacks and pennants flying, she must have presented a more sinister appearance when she approached the Union squadron at Hampton Roads on that March morning in 1862.

And here are the two opponents forever linked by that epic day in naval history. Neither would survive the year: after Union troops occupied Norfolk in May, the Virgina was judged unsuitable to make the run into the Atlantic, and would be scuttled and blown up to keep her from once again falling into Federal hands; Monitor would in turn be lost in December, swamped and capsized while under tow off Cape Hatteras.

Thanks, guys!

Greg-- this is excellent work, an excellent presentation--and an excellent outcome. And I love the subject too! Really nice work sir.

Hmmmm;

      My hat is off to you. Now see, Just what I have been saying. Lindberg models make a good Base for something Better. You just proved it !  T.B.

Beautifull built and displayed Greg.....Cheers mark

Absolutely amazing, Greg! Echo the sentiments from the other guys.  I too have that set which I purchased in the late 80's in the stash and I built them in the early 70's but those were destroyed in battle.  Definitely moving this one up the build list!

Gamera

That's an amazing job there Greg on turning a sow's ear into a silk purse!

Love the sun shield over the turret.

Thanks, G.

As it happens, I was studying a collection of photos of the real thing recently...with sun-shield deployed, and smiling ratings sort of lolling about on deck and posing for the camera...which was what made me want to pull the old beast out and finally give it a go. (Those same pictures, BTW, showed prominent 'dimples' in the turret armor plating...obvious 'souvenirs' of her encounter with Virginia. I contemplated trying to replicate those dimples, but figured that would take me down a much more labor-intensive path than I was looking to trod! )

That's an amazing job there Greg on turning a sow's ear into a silk purse!

Love the sun shield over the turret.

Thank you, Greg!

I am seriously impressed with what you have done with this kit, Greg.

Honestly too many notable things about it to mention any few of them.

rcboater

 

 

Don Stauffer

I am very tempted to order the Bluejacket Monitor.  I believe it is wood hull with cast metal details.  Anyone built that kit and wish to comment on it?

 

 

 

Don,

I don’t have any experience with that kit, but I did find a recent build thread for the kit on the Model Ship World site....

https://modelshipworld.com/topic/17893-uss-monitor-by-sjanicki-finished-bluejacket-scale-1192-116-1/?tab=comments#comment-550669

 

-Bill

 

 

 

Thanks, Bill

Don Stauffer

I am very tempted to order the Bluejacket Monitor.  I believe it is wood hull with cast metal details.  Anyone built that kit and wish to comment on it?

Don,

I don’t have any experience with that kit, but I did find a recent build thread for the kit on the Model Ship World site....

https://modelshipworld.com/topic/17893-uss-monitor-by-sjanicki-finished-bluejacket-scale-1192-116-1/?tab=comments#comment-550669

-Bill

What a wonderful job you did in creating an excellent model.

Excellent work Greg. Creative use of an old Lindberg kit.  

I am very tempted to order the Bluejacket Monitor.  I believe it is wood hull with cast metal details.  Anyone built that kit and wish to comment on it?

Really great job on it,awaiting the next project. I would love to see new plastic renditions of some ironclads as the only ones I've come across are resin.

Thanks for the positive energy, guys!

Steve, feel free to 'borrow' anything that seems useful: pretty much every trick, tip or bright idea I've ever had in modeling has been inspired by others' work, so I love it if I can pass something on. One of the great things about the hobby and this forum is that we all learn from each other.

Nino, nice spot on the 'correct' base. I've adopted that style as a common design for all my small(-ish) scale ships, just changing the flag to suit the subject and era, so I try to get it right. (It's a little easier in the internet age than it used to be, digging for it in encyclopedias!)

As to the Virginia...the longer I ponder on it, the more I feel I have to make some stab at representing a little-more-accurate version of her armor fit...but haven't decided quite how to do it, yet. Scribing all those evenly-spaced parallel lines would be a bugger, so I'll probably go with styrene strip to 'faux' the rail sections. We'll see....

Cheers

Very Nicely Done Greg!

     I too played with the Pyro 1/210 Monitor and considered your plan for the correction. I ended up adding a deck section instead.  I think your execution turned out much better.   That is the best this old kit has every looked. Hurray for getting the Turret in the right spot.

Your enhancements, to match many of the post-battle changes to the Monitor, turned out really great. Impressive for sure.

    Nino

Greg,

Outstanding job on these ancient model(s). I can hardly wait to see the Virginia. Now I know what to do with these puppies in my stash. 

I hope you won’t mind if I “borrow” your ideas!?

Steve

That’s impressive!