Canute

She's a beauty, Dan. Sweet lines, for sure!

Gerhard, your metal work is outstanding. I'd like to follow along with your build, too.

Choctaw was a conversion and pretty active in the mid- Mississippi River from just before Vicksburg  in 1863 thru the end of hostilities in 1865. She took part in the largely futile Red River expedition in March - May 1864. She was 270' long and 69' wide, with a draft of 8'. Pretty heavily armed with 3 x 11" Dahlgen smooth-bores, 2 x 30# Parrot rifles and 2 x 24#. Her 1-2" armor was supposedly laid over India rubber. Choctaw was said to be able to make 2 knots heading up river. Speedy it was not!

Patrick, thanks for asking. I put it on hold until I can cut better looking curves in flay sheets of paper and card. Bounty launch is back on the front burner.

Chuck, your rope coils drape just like the full size stuff. And the carronades look great.

That's one beautiful barge. WOW!

Bryan, intriguing build you have started. I too would like to follow along. The detailing sounds like something I'd like to delve into. Lead on!

Interesting boat. I'd like to follow along, too.

Bob, your pilot house is a jewel!

Best of luck with getting the remaining issues, Jim. And also with your build. HMS Hood was a beautiful ship. I, too, will follow along.

He'll look like a Cylon.

Turned out great, Jack! The light looks good. What's next?

Let me add my best wishes, too.

The SOS looks great, Dave. They sure built them ornate back then. :)

Beautiful stuff.

Testors makes a metalizer, as does Alclad. I think they are lacquers and should go on over primers. The Alclad goes over a gloss black or gloss dark gray. Here's Alclad's site: http://alclad2.com/

"Cheerful" is looking great, Bob.

Here's the US and Canadian web-site: http://www.hobbyzone.biz/

Right now, you send them an email for a quote and work out your payment.

Sort of a reawakening for me over the weekend. I finally added another plank. :)  One small step for a ship building padawan....  

Been a bit of a mental block, so I sat down with the Admiral, a former Reg Nurse and worked it all out. I had to get past a few ideas about being "available" for "small" little jobs (GIs may recall what an sljo is) around the house. No more wasting time on the computer, that kind of stuff. I'm back.

Lawrence, thank you for your kind support. I hope to complete the planking without further ado and try my hand at rigging and adding some accouterments to the basics included in this kit. I haven't rigged a ship since high school, back in the late Renaissance. (Around the Beatles invading the USA).

Mike, another trick for use on sheet stock is to put some light colored masking or drafting tape on the back side of the sheet. You can draw the outlines of the deck furniture on the tape and make your cutouts from the backside, off the model. You want the tape on to prevent splitting along the grain. Cut it away where it crosses your deck beams, so the planking runs smooth and flat. That's assuming you don't plan to show off any 'tween decks areas. If you're doing that, take the tape off.

The HobbyZone folks are in central Europe, either Poland or the Czech Republic. I know of a US distributor, but right now you email them for quotes on their products. Can't order directly on line. The product line looks pretty interesting. I'm contemplating a few modules to store some stuff, but have no other "financial" interest in the products.

Jim's setup looks better stocked than the few remaining toy stores around these parts. I hesitate to call any of them hobby shops, unless you're an RC car guy.

Nicely done, Bob!

Thank you, Cathead.

Cathead, did you use the Bluejacket Pewter black or just the brass black? The metals look good. Your carronade is definitely shinier than the long gun. Nice work on both naval guns.

Nicely done, Mark. Like that silver maple.

I hope you went to Urgent Care  to get that looked at. Blood infections are dangerous. The swelling is not a good sign.   I was an EMT once upon a time and the Admiral is an Registered Nurse, so I know all too well about these things. Be safe.