Keith Black

Tony, yes they are and I'm very fortunate to have access to them for reference.

The first photograph taken in 1869 is of the Tennessee's deck looking forward. It was sent to me by Pat's (Banyan) friend Chris Ramsey, thank you to Chris and thank you to Pat for his insight and advise. The second and third photographs by Hatton and Hart taken in 1885 from the same vantage point show a marked difference in ship and crew. That's a motley looking bunch in the first photo. One wonders if there was a morale issue in US Naval crews and US forces in general following on the heels of the Civil War? If so, morale seems to have significantly improved by 1885, that's a smart looking group of men in both the second and third photos.

The increased weight of stud-link chain (33%?) vs standard link may have been a determining factor to use or not use stud-link chain on a particular ship?

I wish I could train my Dremel to get that level of detail. Absolutely gorgeous work, please keep posting updates as it's wonderful to see.

I can just see the look on your wife's face when you call her granddaughter, Splodge.

I assume that's the grandchild, nice touch.

Absolutely amazing work!

Thanks you Mark, Rob, Paul, Pat, and Keith for the kind words and thank you to all for the likes. The 60 LB and track is finished and fixed in it's stowed position. On to the 100 LB Parrott rifles on pivoting carriages stationed amidships.

The fourth photo. If you scroll down where you can't see the upper deck, the lighting, the door at the end, and especially the light on that third cannon, makes the scene look totally real. My mind sees dust particles hanging in the shafts of light, a spiderweb or two and hears the sound of creaking of wood. Super impressive!

Keith, would you please send me a can of that "slap dash" you got tucked away in your shop because I'm tired of results I'm getting with my can of "take a week"

It must be cannon day? 😊 Paul, it really does look sweet!

Thank you to everyone for the likes. The 60 LB Parrott is done, will start on the tracks next.

Thank you, Mark. I apply polyurethane on everything after it has been painted, it's great protection but it comes with the cost of being too shiny. Minwax's polyurethane comes in satin, semigloss, and gloss, I've used all three and I can't tell any difference between the three of them. Minwax makes a water based product called Polycrylic that comes in a matte finish but I've never used it. I need to buy a small amount and see how it reacts being applied on top of polyurethane. When I have a chance to do that I'll post results unless someone in MSW has already plowed that ground.

One word, perfect.

Good stuff as always, Paul. Thank you posting that view, I see the wee stove below deck, what a beauty!

More great work as usual, Keith. Great seeing a posting from you.

The guns look great, Pat. Nice crisp detail that stands being photographed close up. 👍

Rob Your GR build log is great and I go there often to find answers for a lot of my questions. I look forward to more of the same here.

Paul, she's looking great, the decking and cannon are top notch. In the photos you submit I search for a glimpse of the beautiful stove you made years ago.

I saw the picture and I think most of the blood drained from my head before I could read your second picture comment. Hey, you got old people in the audience, be careful with them pictures, buddy. Very nice work us usual, Paul.

Thank you to Pat, Rob, Mark, and Paul for the complements and kind words and thank you to all for the likes. I want to take this opportunity to thank Gary (FriedClams) for the tip he mentioned in his build log on using pencil on black paint to create the illusion of forged iron. I tried it this morning on the 60 LB Parrott rifle that I'm working on and I like the results a lot, in some respects. It works fantastic on a smooth flat surface. I try to be extra careful when applying CA, I take a Q-tip and try to absorb as much of the excess CA as possible. In some spots on the carriage I was unable to get as much of the excess CA removed as usual. Had I know what the pencil effect wold look like I wouldn't have wasted my time with the Q-tip. The excess once dried, painted, and highlighted with a pencil creates wavy shadow lines just like you'ed expect to see on on a real forged piece or, even a cast iron piece. I once worked in a open pour casting foundry and cast iron can come out with less than a smooth surface. Where this didn't work for me was on the riffle barrel because of the wood grain, the graphite highlighted the heck out of the grain in the wood and makes it look anything but smooth. I think it's going to be pretty easy to reverse the process because I was using a Q-tip (I love Q-tips) to blend the graphite and a lot of the graphite was removed doing that. I need to take all the graphite off the barrel with Qa -tip soaked in water or repaint which is not a big deal either way. Thank you again for the tip, Gary. It is differently something I will play with in the future. Update on the riffle and carriage. I'm not adding any addition bits to the carriage till after the trucked sliding rail carriage is completed. I would love to make this a functioning piece, both pivoting and the rifle and carriage's ability to slide back and forth on the tracks. Sounds kinda like a receipt for disaster, I just need to get into the building process and see how it goes. Probably the best bet is to CA everything in place and forget it, that would sure be the easiest route. Regarding the last picture. 60 LB Parrott rifle version 1.0 is on the left and my version, 2.0, is on the right. Version 1.0 was original to the model when it came into my stewardship.

That is NOT a happy camper. I can almost hear him thinking "daddy, better let me outta here cause you're not going to like what happens when I do get out"

She turned out great looking, Paul. You should be proud of how she turned out, it's a joy looking through the pictures and seeing your work.

Beautiful work as always, Paul. Sorry you ran into the problem, do the cats have any suggestions on how to proceed?

Pat, the wheels came out great, not sure how you managed to paint them being that small. I would have had half the carriage painted as well. The engine order telegraph looks top notch, I wish mine had come out half as nice as your's did. Great stuff as always.