Although the plans for the Admiralty version of the Confederacy are pretty clear in terms of using limited munitions and other bits as an example of what was supplied on the ship – I’m a pretty bit fan of fully loaded vessels, and little details to add realism.
So I decided to add a few more of the ships cannons. To that end – even though the plans call for just four six pounders, I wanted to fill out the upper deck a bit more – so I ordered a few more brass cannon from Chuck and set to work added some guns and putting together some carriages. Of course I referenced Augie’s hard work so I could replicate as closely as possible. Obviously I didn’t want the additional guns to look any different from what he had on deck already.
Although the paint was given to me with the kit and instructions, it was a little tricky matching what overcoats, etc were used. But ultimately, I think I got everything pretty close.
The small rings were bent each by hand with 28 gauge wire, then blackened and attached to the rigging and cannons. Each cannon was fitted with it’s own rigging ring. This part was a lot more difficult than I anticipated. Glue doesn’t hold well to brass, so i had to drill initial little holes to make the placement work.
Now, one part that threw me, and I couldn’t find reference to in Augie’s log – was how he created the knob/handle on the stool bed. So I took a nail, added a glob of super glue, then painted it. I don’t think it’s noticeably different from Augie’s work, so I’m pleased with that.
Ultimately, I came up with the extra three six pounders, and the two 12 pounders matched almost perfectly.
As it turns out – replicating the cannon was the easy part. The difficult part would be placing the cannon beneath the already built foredeck and aft. Obviously, the other cannon were placed earlier in the build, then the upper decks were planked over the top.
The yellow arrow indicated where the twelve pounders needed to go. A bit like a surgical procedure, I went back and forth between my long forceps and tweezers to get the cannon in place, then mount and glue the rings into the sides of the ship. Finally, the cannons were lifted up and a touch of glue under each rear wheel holds them in place.
The Lehman Shipyard 