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.

I've started with the forecastle pivoting 60 LB Parrott rifle. In one way it's the easiest because I only need to make one and it's the hardest because it's the smallest. 60 LB Parrott statistics: Bore, 5.3 inches. Barrel length, 111 inches (9.25 FT.) Barrel weight, 5,430 LB. Shell, 50 or 60 LB. Charge weight, 6 LB. Maximum range, 7,400 yards at 30 degrees. Flight time, 30 seconds. Crew size, 14. This from Wikipedia. I wasn't able to find anything on effective range Turned the barrel with drill and started the carriage. More carriage pieces need to be added, that's why the insides have been left unpainted. The elevation control rod's length will be shortened to the correct length when the carriage is completed. The barrel length is .925 inches. I am going to try and add a sight and percussion pin, we'll see how that goes. I'll probably work on the slide carriage while still working on the gun to give my eyes a rest.

Thank you, Mark. I plan on having it framed and when the Tennessee is cased, hang it on the wall and as near to the case as practical.

I couldn't agree more!

That's a quandary to be sure. In some models, because of the lovely wood working techniques involved it would be a bloody shame to paint. Personally I like paint as I think it makes a model look more realistic and paint will hide a multitude of sins which is the case with my build.

Every now and then I'll search "USS Tennessee" on eBay and today up came a winner. There was a listing was for a original page from the December 4th, 1880 issue of Harper's Weekly about the Tennessee. I'm now the proud new caretaker and I'm stoked because it's a little piece of history that could easily have not survived. I think being able to add this along side the Tennessee (when completed) will add that much more interest to the model.

Nope, Eddie does. Thank you Gary for the compliment.