It was our anniversary this past weekend so my wife and I were out and about celebrating. One place we visited was the fascinating Marblehead Lighthouse on the Lake Erie shore.
As you can see from the throng on the gallery the place was heaving, it being a holiday weekend. Since we both have trouble with heights we opted to stroll through the park and visit the reconstructed USLSS station instead.
They were brave men who set out to save lives in what was little more than a rowboat.
Continuing the nautical theme, the gunboat is now back on the construction schedule...
The shell of the superstructure is made of foamcore. It's shown slotted in place to test the fit before I add detail and glue it in place. The wing is the base for the paddle wheels, which I made by cutting a plastic jar lid in half and plating it with card. Walkways will run between the paddles and the superstructure. I'll lay the deck next, with planking made from wooden craft splints.
I'm toying with the idea of adding protective wooden planking around the hull and superstructure so it looks something like the original Nile gunboats that served under Gordon and Wolseley. We'll see.
3 comments:
Best of luck with the gunboat, something on my to-do list for far too long now.
The gunboat looks like a perfect beginning for a riverine fleet. As well as timbers, you might try adding bales of cotton if you decide to use it on the Mississippi, Ohio or Tennessee rivers. As long as the guns aren't glued down and the naval ensign is switchable you'll have a double duty ship!
Jerry
Thanks for the comments, gentlemen. I like the idea of making the gunboat flexible in use, Jerry. The ensigns on my ships are already switchable. Instead of fixing them in place I glue a short length of plastic tube to the superstructure into which the various flagpoles fit.
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