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1/700 Yazoo River Dogfight Duo. USS Carondelet vs. CSS Arkansas, 1862

The suggestion has been made TLAR Models should be listed (certainly the Confederate Navy ships) on our Post Exchange here on M/A. Currently such things can be found (parked, gathering dust) on Bonanza. Anyone here that wishes for a kit can contact me directly and enjoy direct service in the United States.
Given the current woke-stupidity, many on-line sites don't allow many Confederate Civil War or accurate flag for such in thier listings.
Now...........
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14 Hours later, the Moldmax RTV has fully cured.
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CSS Arkansas' mold, USRC Caleb Cushing's molds have been "cleared" and look VERY promising. The little cup mold with USS Carondelet's 4 boats in it (and too many other things) didn't clear very well. Once again, I may have committed "Self-sex" by putting too many dinky parts in one mold. Casting the busy, little mold will tell the tale!
6 out of 7 good looking molds isn't so bad and a do-over is not the end of Life as we know it. :bang head
There's lots of Moldmax and plenty of other molds to pour!
Thanks for looking in!
:salute:
:oldguy:
:drunks: :drink
:skipper:
 
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"Up from the ashes, Up from the Ashes, grow the Roses of Success!!"
CSS Arkansas revised mold cast really well this day. 2 hours at 60 psi makes the castings demoldable. The polyurethane liquid plastic (not truly the dangerous resin of old) will finish curing by the time our meatloaf supper is ready.
The original mold/casting wasn't all that terrible. Aren't we all our own worst critics?
At Vicksburg, while she was docked, CSS Arkansas' crew would randomly light her boilers to convince the Federal Navy ships she was coming out to fight. Admiral Farragut's men fell for it nearly every time! The dock section is an added bonus to help tell the story.
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Even the "Busy Lil' Mold" containing USS Carondelet's boats cast fairly well. Two other small molds will take the place of this crowded one. Sometimes I hurry and make unwise decisions. I must produce 4 cutters per casting for each USS Carondelet model.

To celebrate the "birth" of my waterline model of the most feared Ironclad in the Confederate Navy, I womped up a pitcher of Groinge Kool-Aid!
Odd, It isn't as tasty as I recall from my earlier childhood. Groinge Kool-aid is actually kind of nasty. :sick:
Thanks for looking in!
 
I didn't think they would mold or cast at all. They could be '40 Fords or '41 GMC's. One of them only cast the cab, so he gets converted to a 1940 Ford 1-ton ammo truck and stuck in a new mold of "Stuff I don't know what exactly to do with but made anyway." Another gets to be my personal 1940 Ford Pick-up with a scale 429 Boss engine and will be painted orange. Maybe.
:burnout:drool:
 
Sometimes things go the way you hope, and sometimes I am my own worst enemy.
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Removing the pour stub cost me an Arkansas. I'm planning to start with 3 kits for sale. Four castings of USS Carondelet, CSS Arkansas, their parts and boats should yield enough to start with.
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The army ammo truck conversion didn't go so well.
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Modifying a Skywave US Army truck was Option B.
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I did assist Teresa with finishing the front flowerbed. That was much easier to accomplish when your Model Mojo wanes, just a bit.
Thanks for looking in!
 
My Marine buddy, Bill suggested the same thing. In truth, CSS Arkansas met her demise by an engine failure, rather than being mined and sunk. With her guns loaded and primed, her crew abandoned and set fire to Her, to prevent capture. She drifted downstream towards the Yankee fleet, without power, ablaze from stem to stern, when her guns began to fire on their own accord. Admiral Farragut's men tried to give CSS Arkansas a hot reception, but she grounded on the bank of the Mississippi river and sank without being damaged by the Federal Navy. Just 29 days after her launching.
The busted/fixed CSS Arkansas goes into the "I can't sell this one" bin. Casting continues.
Quality model ships are the hallmark of my dinky, dinky model company. I WILL NOT compromise on quality.

Thanks for your support, suggestions and continuing interest!
 
In all truth, the broken CSS Arkansas became the build ship for box art and instructions. I hate to waste anything, even though she would have made a poor offering to my customers. Just as one of the original castings became the Builder for USS Carondelet. I realized most of what I needed to do to finish these two ironclads was hanging the ships boats and some other small details. They looked at me funny.
Gathering dust and miasma on the desktop seemed undignified for such revered vessels.
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Completed CSS Arkansas. This is the assembly of what comes in the kit. I have plans for stanchions to brace the smoke stack in 4 places, and Captain Isaac Brown standing on the casemate roof waving to his Annapolis classmate, Henry Walke as "The Terror of the Yazoo River" trundles downstream towards the Mississippi river.
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Tillers for USS Carondelet's twin rudders. The steering chain that runs across the afterdeck connecting the tillers isn't in the kit, so you wont see it here.
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Cutters and davits: Bend .008 copper wire over your forceps 8 times. Make them longer than you might think you need.
You'll see why pretty soon!
Do try to contain your enthusiasm. (Like any of us are any good at THAT!)

I drilled all the way through the cutters with a #78 drill bit. It's cleaner to apply tiny amounts for C/A glue to the bottom of the cutters to secure the "davits" to the boats, rather than making a puddle of glue in the bow and stern of each. Clip off the excess .008 wire from the bottom of the boat.
I didn't put my cutters quite high enough on the davits. They all look like they are rigged out to be launched. On a real Cairo-class ironclad, there would be boat cradles on the outside of the sloped casemate.

So your boat davits look too tall to fit nicely? :hmm:

Drill all the way through the casemate with your same #78 drill bit, hold the Ship on her side, slide the davits down until you like them, dab C/A glue on the bottom of the Ironclad's casting and clip off the excess copper wire. Clever, No?!
Finish the davits in black, touch up the finish on the boats and be a Happy Guy!

If you are like me, you may incur slight damage to your gun port hatches as you build. With so many delicate parts protruding, the only really safe way to handle this little model is to hold Her by the smoke stacks. I had to repair a few dinky details today.
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Red stripes around her smokestack tops and a pair of anchors on the foredeck, and I can start posing these models for box art pictures.
I found some aerial photographs of the actual Yazoo River and riverbank to use in my cheesy photo booth.

I asked my Hobbyswap guys how they felt about having Confederate Civil War model ships with the accurate, appropriate flags displayed listed for sale on their website.
Mike came back with "Ironclads are COOL! Go ahead and list them!" So I shall!

If some of our countrymen are offended by history, they are absolutely free not to buy my Confederate Navy models.
Thanks again for looking in again and again and again...............
:capsmiley:
:oldguy:
:salute:
 
Yazoo River base (2).jpg
The base is an actual picture of the Yazoo river where it meets the mighty Mississippi just above Vicksburg, MS.
When you mist diluted Future over printer paper, it develops a wavy contour. I was just fooling around, but it works!
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CSS Arkansas shot away the Carondelet's steering chains in a downstream running fight. Captain Brown had been standing on the casemate roof, conning his vessel. As USS Carondelet nosed into the muddy riverbank, these two friends and former Naval Academy classmates exchanged these words.

"Better luck next time, Henry Walke!"
"Curse your Rebel ship, Isaac Brown!"
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So began the reign of "The Terror of the Yazoo River"!
 
Wonder how you could build up the embankments ever so slightly using the photo. That's really a neat idea.
 
Printing a second picture and overlaying it on oaktag or thin solder along the riverbank might work. :bm:
For model show presentation both Ironclads would have bow waves and wakes. Some frothing of water at USS Carondelet's stern as she noses into the mud. Bear in mind CSS Arkansas top speed was slightly faster than a young man can walk briskly.
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These are Mike Gripp's water effects. Mike is one of the Hobbyswap guys. No short-cuts will be convincing in this larger scale!
 
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CSS Arkansas and USS Carondelet are finished! Once I get the kit contents picture composed I will finish the artwork.
cutting off 23 brass gun barrels should be a HOOT!
Instructions are printing now.
I finally finished 2 of the most storied Ironclads of the War of Northern Aggression. I started this kit in September of 2020.
It's about time!
And as always, I thank you for your support!
 
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Closer to release!
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I made 4 sets of cannon barrels today. Extras are included. I drop things sometimes too.
There are 4 complete sets of resin parts ready to go to market. Decals and metal parts for masts and overhead trolleys and the final kit contents picture can be taken and box art completed.
Soon, My friends. Very soon! :yipee:
 
hobby-swap.com

TLAR Models 1/700 Resin Civil War River Ironclad Kit #920 New! - Hobby Swap

TLAR Models 1/700 Resin Civil War River Ironclad Kit #920 New! for $39.90 per unit by Chris R on Hobby Swap
hobby-swap.com hobby-swap.com
Finished the box art and contents and put the Ironclad set up for sale moments ago!
Ro.PS in the Czech Republic makes a 1/700 resin USS Cairo that is much superior to my USS Carondelet. It sells for $35.00 with almost $30.00 for shipping. It is STUNNING, but YIKE!!
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A Communist Chinese model company makes a 1/700 CSS Arkansas that is hideous and blatantly inaccurate. Well, their Confederate Navy flag would be close (if they included any decals). I invite any Chinese civil war ironclad model makers to kiss my Rebel D#(K!
I bet they won't email a pdf. file of the real Yazoo river for your base either! :batsmack:
Thanks again for looking in!
 
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