What's on your Workbench for September 2022

[Volunteer]

The current heat wave has forced me inside so I have spent some time in the dungeon shipyard. I started printing some 1/450 scale hulls to go with my Pyro plastic Constitution model.


From bottom up: the hermaphrodite schooner Prince de Neufchatel, brig Niagra, HMS Guerrier, HMS Indefatigable, Constellation, and the Pyro Constitution.

This is my progress so far on the Guerriere




And I just printed Simon's resin STL file for Arrogant on my FDM Creality in 1/450 scale and it came out awesome! It even has the cannon bores.

[Bligh]

Mighty fine ships and paintwork, both Vol. The details are exquisite.
Rob.

[Volunteer]

Well yesterday did not go so well. I had planned on working on the ship some more after doing some dusting maintenance on my Gualic army. While doing so I knocked the entire tray violently to the floor with the back of my office chair. What a mess! Bases,shelds and spears everywhere! And the poor chariots! It took me late into the night to make repairs. I am still missing one shield, lol.

My newly repaired Celts

[Bligh]

That sounds tragic Vol.

It reminded me of the time years ago that I was going to overspray a completed Regiment of Prussians with Matte Varnish. I inadvertently picked up a can of white primer instead and did the first quick pass before realizing that the slight bloom on the varnish was in fact turning all the troops a light greyish white. I keep my varnish on a separate shelf from my other aerosol paints these days.

Rob.

[Volunteer]

I was able to mount a few spars and a couple of sails yesterday.



And I printed two of Henry's 74s, Ganges and Elizabeth the day before. They took nearly 7 hours apiece to print.

[Bligh]

Starting to look very fine Vol.
Rob.

[Volunteer]

This evening I concentrated on making the furled courses and royals using Super Sculpy. There was time after they were finished to get the mizzen roral and main course mounted.

[Bligh]

The furled sails also look excellent Vol. What exactly is Super Sculpy?
Rob.

[Volunteer]

The furled sails also look excellent Vol. What exactly is Super Sculpy?
Rob.

Rob it is a heat cured sculpting clay. I don't use an oven, I use my heat gun to cure it. That gives me more control of the temperature and cure time.

[DeRuyter]

Wow! great work. I wonder if I can print in resin without cutting the models in half!

Vol - I have a scenario suggestion for your Constitution model - print the HMS Levant and Cyane! Actually both that battle and the one you are working on will work well with Dobbs mash up of SoG and Post Captain.

[Volunteer]

Wow! great work. I wonder if I can print in resin without cutting the models in half!

Vol - I have a scenario suggestion for your Constitution model - print the HMS Levant and Cyane! Actually both that battle and the one you are working on will work well with Dobbs mash up of SoG and Post Captain.

Thanks Eric. Sounds like a good idea but I'm not sure what ships of Henry's or Simon's would be usable for the Cyane and Levant. Maybe the Pandora for Cyane, but Levant is a bit harder. Henry has a 20 gun Ontario snow with a raised quarter deck that would be wrong. Simon has the Enterprise which is a a bit small. I suppose I could fudge the 156% to increase the size a bit more and add a couple of guns. What do you think?

[Bligh]

Thanks Vol. I will try and run some of that to earth over here.
Rob.

[Bligh]

Found it , ordered it on Amazon, and added the adhesive pack too.
Thanks again Vol.

Rob.

[Bligh]

Can't disclose my main line of attack for September because it is a suprise for Doncaster, but I will put up as few shots of my other ongoing work as soon as I get back onto it.
Rob.

[Volunteer]

Found it , ordered it on Amazon, and added the adhesive pack too.
Thanks again Vol.

Rob.

You are welcome Rob! Uh...adhesive pack?

[Bligh]

You are welcome Rob! Uh...adhesive pack?

Yes Vol. It is supposed to enable the joining of small details to the main body of the Sculpy without the need for undue pressure distorting the still pliant parts. Also for joining parts after they have hardened. I will let you know in due time how good it is after trialing it.
Rob.

[ShadowDragon]

Some completed Spanish militia to repel my Dutch privateers.

[Volunteer]

Wow Paul! They are beautiful!

[ShadowDragon]

Wow Paul! They are beautiful!

Thanks, Vol...and also for the rep.

[DeRuyter]

Thanks Eric. Sounds like a good idea but I'm not sure what ships of Henry's or Simon's would be usable for the Cyane and Levant. Maybe the Pandora for Cyane, but Levant is a bit harder. Henry has a 20 gun Ontario snow with a raised quarter deck that would be wrong. Simon has the Enterprise which is a a bit small. I suppose I could fudge the 156% to increase the size a bit more and add a couple of guns. What do you think?

The benefits of 3d printing, you can change the scale! But good question, I am not sure which model to use. A number of years ago I played that battle in 15mm scale using Sea Eagles ships and the 1/96 scale Connie. The sloop we used was a model based on the HMS Detroit but it was a bit generic.

[Volunteer]

Moving on with the sails today, too smokey to work outside



And printing 1/450 boats

[Bligh]

Coming on very well with those sails Vol. Your militiamen look superb. Is the smoke caused by fires in the State? We usually get the news about these things but at the moment our media are concentrating on the late Queen.
Rob.

[Volunteer]

Not so bad as last year Rob but there are fires all around us. None too close but the smoke is bad just about any direction the wind blows from.




We are in the SE corner of Stevens County

[SkeenaH]

We are watching the fires up here in British Columbia and sending best wishes to our neighbours to the south.

[Volunteer]

It appears there are more than a few up there Howard

[Volunteer]

Ready for ratlines

[Bligh]

I hope that the fires in your countries die down soon. The temprature here has now dropped to the low 20s and we are getting showers of rain again so the few fires we had are now gone.
Rob.

[ShadowDragon]

Progress on the painting queue....

Technically only half the French on the right are September workbench product. The rest were done earlier this year. It's enough to get my first Franco-Prussian War skirmish game done but it will need to wait until next week. This week I head to Alberta for my sister's much delayed memorial service - delayed 2 years due to the pandemic.

[Volunteer]

They look fantastic Paul!
So sorry to hear you lost your sister Paul. And sad your family hasn't been able to have closure for so long.

[Bligh]

Those troops are looking good Paul. Although not my strongest historical suit, I do have a passing knowledge of the weapons used in the conflict.
I would like to echo Vol's comment about your sister. One can only imagine the distress of waiting that this has caused the family.

Rob.

[ShadowDragon]

Thanks, chaps.

[Volunteer]

Progress on Guerriere last night. Ratlines, some of the standing rigging and the rest of the sails on.




While working on the ship I am printing a batch of ACW ironclads for a friend in Bournemouth

One of the batch CSS Selma

[Nightmoss]

I haven't had much time to work on ships, or any hobby, for some months, but I did manage to repaint some ships from the Steampunk miniatures game "Leviathans" recently. This is HML Medusa (His Majesty's Leviathan) in dazzle paint scheme. The new 'edition' of the game is going to tackle World War One so painting a British ship this way seemed appropriate.

[Volunteer]

Wow Jim that is a very intereresting ship. Is it a flyer? And what scale?
Oh I guess it is, I just noticed the "cloud" it's resting on.

[Volunteer]

I finished Guerriere today. Here are the "beauty" shots

[Bligh]

A veritable work of art Vol, and fighting under her French colours.

Rob.

[Nightmoss]

Wow Jim that is a very intereresting ship. Is it a flyer? And what scale?
Oh I guess it is, I just noticed the "cloud" it's resting on.

Yes, Vol. It's the British battleship from the hex based miniature game. The original game had French vs British, but the next game with feature five nations fighting WW1 aerial battles; France, England, Germany, Russia and Italy. If all goes well they eventually add Japan, USA and Austria-Hungary.

btw, I'm still working on the Rayo you were kind enough to print for me. Just haven't had time or inclination to move forward.

[Nightmoss]

I finished Guerriere today. Here are the "beauty" shots

The ship looks incredible, Vol. I wish Rory could see how well it looks! He'd amazed.

[Volunteer]

A veritable work of art Vol, and fighting under her French colours.

Rob.

Haha, you caught me Rob! I was so anxious to finish the ship that I mounted the French colors instead of the intended British ensign, without even a thought.

[Volunteer]

The ship looks incredible, Vol. I wish Rory could see how well it looks! He'd amazed.

Thanks Jim.
Yes, I really miss him

[Volunteer]

Paul, Jim and Rob,
Thank you for the rep points gentlemen!

[Volunteer]

Ok I am trying to determine the proper RN ensign for the Guerriere. The paintings show the Red, the Blue and the White so no help there. Any suggestion on where else to look?

[Bligh]

I have had a quick look and annoyingly found only the Admirals in charge of the Halifax station until Jan 1812, and post August 1812 when Sir John Borlase Warren was appointed so have no idea under whose flag Guerriere sailed at the time.
I will carry on looking when I get a few more moments free.
Rob.

[Dobbs]

Vol, you could always contact someone at the USS Constitution, and explain your project. I'm sure their history folks would love to answer that one.

[Volunteer]

I have had a quick look and annoyingly found only the Admirals in charge of the Halifax station until Jan 1812, and post August 1812 when Sir John Borlase Warren was appointed so have no idea under whose flag Guerriere sailed at the time.
I will carry on looking when I get a few more moments free.
Rob.

I found the same Rob, very frustrating! There is a painting done in 1814 by a prison hulk French POW that shows the blue ensign. I am leaning that direction.

Dobbs, that is a good suggestion. Nightmoss sent me a contact at the museum to try.

[Volunteer]

I sent an email enquiry to the USS Constitution Museum. But to be honest, I don't expect much. I watched their video on the famous action and it includes visuals showing all three British ensigns as well, haha

[Bligh]

Whilst sitting in the eye hospital this afternoon I had time to reflect and figured on the chance that as the post seems to be vacant between Jan and August the ensigns used may well have remained that of the former incumbent until Warren arrived on station.
Dave Manley may well be able to shed some light on the protocol for this.
Rob.

[Bligh]

Just came across this from a document in the Maritime museum.

The British government, engaged in a global war with Napoleonic France and with its financial and military resources stretched, had little desire to begin another conflict across the Atlantic in North America. Meanwhile, the hawks among American politicians realised that their country was perhaps not quite as prepared in terms of material resources (or eager, at least in the northeastern United States, where a profitable merchant trade was flourishing with British North America) to go to war with Britain and her remaining North American colonies. After much diplomacy, tensions eased, and an infuriated Admiralty Board recalled Berkeley to London, replacing him with Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren on 15 October 1807. Warren took over command on Berkeley's departure from Bermuda on 27 February 1808. Warren himself was replaced as station commander by Vice Admiral Herbert Sawyer on 26 November 1810, taking over command on Warren's departure on 21 January 1811. Sawyer would remain in Halifax until Warren's return after the start of the War of 1812. Meanwhile, on the 16 May 1811 another incident involving HMSLittle Belt, during which the much more powerful USS President opened fire on the smaller sloop without any warning, heightened naval tensions to even greater levels, and foreshadowed the coming conflict.

Rob.

[Volunteer]

Wow Rob I just found this myself, and then jumped on to post it and found your message, haha

"By early 1810, he was made second-in-command of Portsmouth dockyard and, by the end of the year, was again promoted; this time to the rank of vice-admiral. In 1810 he was appointed to the post of commander-in-chief of the North American Station[1] – his father's old command – which he held during the War of 1812 before relinquishing it in 1813."

So which ensign is a Vice-Admiral, blue or white?

[Volunteer]

So if he was a newly promoted vice-admiral, after 1805, that would make him a Vice-Admiral of the Blue. So I think Blue it is. Thanks for the help.

Seniority was therefore from 1805 to 1864:

Admiral of the Fleet
Admiral of the Red Squadron (rank created in 1805)
Admiral of the White Squadron
Admiral of the Blue Squadron
Vice-Admiral of the Red Squadron
Vice-Admiral of the White Squadron
Vice-Admiral of the Blue Squadron
Rear-Admiral of the Red Squadron
Rear-Admiral of the White Squadron
Rear-Admiral of the Blue Squadron