uss frolick

This modern painting is fun!

Everything that you would want to know about boarding nets, you will find in William Gilkerson's two volumes of "Boarders Away". But they are rare, and as seen here, expensive, but well worth it. This is a good deal, considering: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Gilkerson-BOARDERS-AWAY-Volumes-1-and-2-SIGNED-BY-AUTHOR/114141642314?hash=item1a935f3e4a:g:QxUAAOSwqqJeYom3 The price of just Volume 1 on amazon is insane! https://www.amazon.com/Boarders-Away-Steel-Edged-Weapons-Polearms/dp/0917218507/ref=sr_1_7?dchild=1&keywords=gilkerson+BOARDERS+AWAY&qid=1592879666&sr=8-7

HMS Gannet survives from that period. Her restoration may be of help: https://thedockyard.co.uk/explore/three-historic-warships/hms-gannet/

There are no surviving deck plans of the Chesapeake to compare the model with. The outboard profile is different with respect to the number and position of the spar deck ports. But this could just be put down to not having a plan in prison to work off of, and not remembering exactly how the ports were positioned, so they just placed them between the gun deck ports as was traditional practice. Not a bad reconstruction given that the crew had been together at sea for only six hours when they were taken. I wonder where the the Mrs. Lawrence provenance story came from, and how the model ended up in Germany.

During that period, the smallest class of 'frigate' was a 28-gun ship, displacing a minimum of about 600-700 tons, mounting nothing smaller than nine-pounders on her main deck. Even a merchant ship could be called 'frigate-built', (like Oliver Cromwell, ex-Juno) meaning that her guns are mostly on one covered deck, with the captain's cabin/stern gallery also on that deck. Little Pegasus was also 'frigate-built' by her deck arrangements, but she was only rated as a sloop. I think the 20 gun ships were called "post ships", smaller than a frigate, but large enough so that a captain could still be 'posted' to command her.

One of the least-efficient ways to cool your shed is the totally-awesome Kung Foo Fan Method. But it is a green, planet-friendly, small-carbon-footprint solution, and I know how eco-woke you are. Make sure your pajamas have secure elastic waist bands though ...

This is the very first of her class, HMS Hermes of 1810, shown here ramming a French privateer. HMS Carron was launched in 1813 to essentially her plans, but built of pine instead of oak. Both fought together at the battle off Mobile Bay, Alabama in 1814 against American land fortifications, where Hermes went aground and was destroyed, but Carron survived, albeit badly damaged. Both were flush decked ship rigged sloops of about 115 feet on the gun deck. Both were armed with 20 guns, viz., eighteen 32-pounder carronades and two long nine-pounders. This is best image of the Hermes portrait that I can find: 0 by Stephen Duffy, on Flick Here is the Wiki page on Carron. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Carron_(1813) Here is the lines plan of the revised 1812 sub-class to which HMS Carron was built:

As opposed to a regular man of war built hull, with sharp lines for speed. It refers to a fat-hulled merchantman, with a round midship section and a bluff bow, whose main concern was carrying as much cargo as possible from A to B, and as such, rather slow, usually used for British coastal trade. But they were strong, and they didn't draw as much water as even a regular merchantman, and so they were perfect for exploration, where speed didn't matter, and a shallow draught, in the remoter oceans, might mean the difference between life and death. Patrick O'Brien novel fan will be familiar with their type, by the uncomplimentary phrase, "A fat-arsed dutch-built bugger". Bounty fits the type well.

A single punched-tin, whale-oil lantern, swinging from an overhead beam, would make your ship-model lighting historically more authentic!🕯🤓

Peace love and grooviness

When’s the wine cellar gonna be finished?

More of my 1/6th scale Operation Market Garden figures: The task of the 1st Airborne Reconnaissance's, or "1rst Recce", was to seize the Arnhem Bridge by a lightening-fast "Coup de Main" jeep attack, via the northern most of three roads, on the "Duitsekampweg" Road, that led into the city of Arnhem. But the delay in removing the jeeps from their gliders allowed the germans to set up a blocking force - Kampf-Gruppe Kraft - in elevated woods, just behind a small clearing where the paved road turned into a dirt path. On their right flank was a high railway embankment that confined the leading elements to the north, and blinded them to the bloody ambush ahead. Two jeeps of C Troop were wiped out , including Lieutenant Bucknell as seen in a previous post, scuttling the squadron's mission, in just a few minutes time. Major Freddie Gough, commander of the 1rst Airborne Recce Squadron, was not there, but had instead received orders at the landing zone to join General Roy Urquhart immediately. Unable to find his commanding officer, Freddy and his batman and eight others drove all over Oosterbeek trying to find the general, unintentionally leaving the recce squadron leaderless for the rest of the battle. Eventually, Gough ran into Major John Frost of 2 Para, advancing on the southernmost route, and he decided to tag along with them to the bridge. Ironically, only these two jeeps of the recce's 35, made it to the bridge. Freddie Gough thus became the second ranking officer at the bridge. The remaining jeeps of 1st Recce fought as dismounted infantry for the rest of the battle, and were scattered nearly everywhere in the Oosterbeek perimeter. Major Gough was at the bridge therefore when Hauptsturmfuhrer Grabner's elite armored 9th SS Aufklarung Abteilung tried to cross from the southern side, but were wiped out, as made famous in the film "A Bridge Too Far". Gough reportedly removed the Vickers K-Gun from his jeep, and used it manually to help shoot up the German column from the tall buildings overlooking the northern bridge ramp. 0-2 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr 0-1 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr 0-17 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr 0-12 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr 0-22 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr 0-21 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr 0-14 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr 0-2 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr 0-1 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr 0-6 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr 0-9 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr 0-4 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr 0-8 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr 0-3 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr More Red Devils fighting on the bridge! 0-6 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr 0-5 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr 0-8 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr 0-4 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr 0-3 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr 0-9 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr 0-3 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr 0-1 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr 0-1 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr 0-11 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr The real deal: 0-2 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr

Few people outside Canada remember that, while the battles for Monte Cassino were just getting started on the western side of Italy, another major battle was raging on the other side of the 'boot'. The First Canadian Infantry Division was tasked with taking the strategically important port city of Ortona, Italy on the Adriatic Coast. The battle raged from December 1943 through to the new year, and it coast Canada thousands of lives. Before they could even reach the city, the Canadians had to cross the killing zones of the Moro River Valley that were viciously held by the German First Parachute Division and the 90th Panzer Grenadier Division (formerly the "90th Light Division" of Afrika Korps fame) dug into the hills above. After a month of non-stop bloodshed, the Canadians finally reached the outskirts of Ortona. Two the division's nine regiments were specifically tasked with taking the city proper, the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada, and the Loyal Edmonton Regiment, aka the "Loyal Eddies". After a week of horrendous fighting against the fallschirmjagers, the completely destroyed city finally fell, only days after Christmas. This bloody battle became known as "The Stalingrad of Italy". The Canadians were forced to fight house to house. They were issued with as many Thompson submachine guns as they could find for the purpose. They also used many captured German weapons such as MP40s and "spandaus". In order to stay out of the killing zones of the open streets, the Canadians perfected a technique known as "mouse-holing", where they would blow holes in the interior walls of buildings, knowing that the enemy was on the other side, using PIAT anti-tank weapons and captured Teller Mines. After the explosion, they would then rush though the "mouse-hole" into the confusion, throwing grenades and firing automatic weapons. My troops are mostly Seaforth Highlanders, with one each "Loyal Eddie", and a 22nd French-Canadian Regiment "Van Doo". Their webbing had been painted Green Ochre/ Khaki Grey, to make them more realistic, according to the Barton Blanco practicum. The color video screen-shot backgrounds of Italian rubble come from a Youtube TV news report detailing the damage done by a recent earthquake in the town of Amatrice. (It's hard to find a place in the video to freeze the picture, that doesn't have watermarks, crawlers, modern vehicles, rescuers in bright shirts, and modern items like broken satellite dishes, but there are a few.) The video I used was this one: On a Moro Valley ridge, preparing to assault the City of Ortona: 0 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr 0-2 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr 0-3 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr 0-4 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr 0 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr 0-3 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr Fighting in the wrecked city: 0-9 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr 0-7 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr 0-6 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr 0-5 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr 0-4 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr 0-2 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr A PIAT gunner preparing to blast through a wall: 0-7 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr 0-4 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr 0-3 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr 0-1 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr 0 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr 0-1 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr The insignia is a combination of CVI and Sixth Scale King. Lieutenant Ansgar Mackenzie's tamo-shanter is a Banjoman Custom, with Tony Barton 'Seaforth Highlanders' Insignia . Ditto the sergeants glenngary cap. Ansgar also wears a complete British Officers set, which took forever, and cost a fortune: Officers braces, binocular case, holster, officer's satchel, pistol ammo pouch, compass pouch and map case. In real life, a German sniper would have taken any officer out in five minutes who wore the set with rank insignia. I can't identify the custom headsculpts. I bought custom figures on eBay from a Canadian fellow named 'mad-dog', and I heavily reworked them. I'd like to get more of those heads. The PIAT gunners uniform was dyed a more greenish hue to better resemble the Canadian battledress. It worked slightly, but made his uniform darker. The PIAT gunner wears a towel wrapped around his face to protect him from the choking plaster dust knocked up by the coming explosion. "Git Some!" Rata-Tat-Tat! 0 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr

After watching the above film, you might also want to look at this documentary This is a small documentary revisiting the (battle) locations that were used for the 1946 documentary/movie Theirs Is The Glory were the real soldiers returned to the original battle locations to reenact the battle scenes as they lived through it. The narrator is too adorable - Dutch with English subtitles:

I have an entire library of Arnhem books! One little known film that I recommend is "Theirs is the Glory." Its only an hour, 20-minutes long, and it is in B&W, but it is truly authentic. It was filmed in 1946, and it stars some of the actual survivors of the reconstituted British 1st Airborne Division (upon their return from the Greek Civil War) , and it was filmed in the actual wreckage of Arnhem, prior to the rebuilding of what remained of the town. Many paratroopers found their old foxholes, and used them for filming. The Dutch army actually provided running German Panther and Tiger tanks for use the film, as they were still using them until they could afford to buy proper, new tanks of their own! Fortunately, Theirs Is The Glory is on Youtube, in its entirety!