The "Silk Dress Balloon" Gazelle

Unlike the US, the Confederacy had no Access to a lot of White silk so used Coloured silk from a Dress maker supplier. Silk because it´s light and they then covered it with varnish to make it gas tight. 
History
Link to a pic of the fabric used to make the Gazelle. I went for a Overall colour as it´s a model, not an historical Repro.

How to
High density foam..the type used for cladding houses. Cut it into 2 blocks. Make sure the blocks are a lot bigger than the size of Balloon intended. Stick the 2 blocks together using toothpicks. 
The Basic shape is created with a sharp carpet knife. Basically hack away, removing Corners first until you´ve got the desired shape.
Always cut away from yourself as occasionally you´ll hit a toothpick which, with a bit of pressure, will cut through but  when it gives,  the blade slices through the foam behind it at Speed. Not good if any part of your anatomy is in Close proximity to the blade. 

Take both halves apart, remove the toothpicks  and hollow out the inside. This reduces the weight, not by much but better than leaving it solid. Leave about 1cm aorund the sides ..too thin and it makes it difficult to fit together
When that´s finished, glue with PVA. I used  toothpicks shoved into the sides to pin it tightly together Fill any holes with wall filler and when dry use sanddpaper to smooth any edges.

Jam something up the vent end as  holder for painting and later modelling stages. I used a thin rounded metal file..being a file it has a better grip on the styrofoam than say a pen or paintrush handle

Next bit, after the paint has dried..adding the ropes. Basically, I don´t try to  over think it. 4 Need to be roughly evenly spaced at 90° to each other for attaching to the basket  but the rest are basically added "more or less"
I´m sure that they could be added so they create an even finish but it´s for wargaming and not a Display Piece so the General effect is what´s wanted...well, at least in my case.
Looks horrible eh? The PVA dries clear and adds a bit of a "it´s been painted with varnish to make it gas tight" effect.

The basket.
How big? I´ve made mine so that it´s 1.5 cm´s high and each side is 2 cm´s across. It Looks comparitvely bigger than how the baskets look in the photos but I have to consider the bod´s base.
Basically thin Card marked out, folded and glued into shape. Acrylic paints for the design...which btw,  I´ve made up but kept it similar to the Union Version.
When painted flrist wire (0.8mm) can be added. Just lie the basket on it´s side, add two rods to the bottom two Corners using a thick sausage of PVA.
When totally dry, turn the other side face down and repeat. The two previous rods Need supporting but to do that, just push a Piece of blue foam that´s been cut to size under them.

When totally dry, I left them overnight,  bend the rods, at about 3 cm´s or so just above the basket slightly outwards. Then bend the top ends, again at about 3cm´s, at more or less a Right angle inwards. Stick the ends into the ballon at equal (or nearabouts) spacing between the hanging ropes,  into the balloon. They won´t need glueing unless they were bent too far outwards. 

Turn the balloon upside down and place it in the pot. Using florist wire, create a square and attach it where the wires bend slightly outwards (Just above the Basket)
Glue with cyonate and leave to dry before attaching the hanging ropes.

The stand. Mine is made using a cork Coaster. After creating the winding gear using a bit of sprue and some basic triangles cut from a CD case, add 3 lengths of florist wire at equal spaces...for those who want to be exact......….120° apart.
Bend 1cm  of the top of each wire  so they end up horizontal. On top of them glue a square of thin Card that´s the same size as the Bottom of the Basket.

Paint all the wires as rope.. A mix of mid Brown, black , White and yellow seems to come close to looking like rope. You Need to Experiment with the mix but who cares wether it´s too White or Brown or whatever? 

American Civil War Observation Balloon (pt2)

So, the Bamboo stick worked but wasn´t quite what I had in mind, it didn´t have that air of feasabilty so....

Using three Strands of  Florist wire.

The winch was made with bits of CD casing, a thick bit of sprue and Florist wire for the handles.

The strand of Florist wire going to the basket is attached to the winch with a hole in the sprue. 

The other two wires are attached directly to holes in the base  next to the Posts. The tied off rope created with bits of Florist wire. 

The balloon sits a bit lower than with the Bamboo stick but, even though it´s not accurate in the way the actual Balloons were let up and pulled down,  the end effect is slightly more believable. 

American Civil War Observation Balloon

Historical innacuracies aside..it turned out alright

Close ups of the balloon.
Nope, I didn´t paint the lettering etc..they are print outs.

 The Pilot

I tried using a Party balloon covered with paper mache =  Fail!
Then a lightbulb covered with paper mache = Fail!

Solution = hardfoam shaped with a stanley knife, rubbed down with sandpaper,  then cut in half, hollowed out to reduce weight, then glued back together. 

The weight still remains an issue. I tried a couple of things to "suspend" the balloon but the only thing that worked was a thinned down bamboo skewer. Still a bit thicker than I´d planned. 

"What, there was a plan ?? !" .....I hear myself say 

I´ll hunt about to find something ..or some other way* to suspend it but for now,  it´ll do. 

Thaddeus Lowes Hydrogen Generators ,
To give him his full Name, Thaddeus Sobieski Constantine Lowe. The above link leads to the page on his Generators but the whole site is dedicated to the man. Worth a read IMHO.
Made from a hardfoam core with Card planking, copper wire and the corresponding insulating plastic for the pipe work. Vents on the tops made with  screws, Wheels from the bits box.
The wagons etc are a bit chunkier and bigger than they would have been. I could have spent a bit more time measuring things up  but it was a quick "do this Project or Forget it" Job.
I´ve had it in mind to make an Observation ballon for a while now and any fiddling with exactness would have burst the bubble of enthusiasm.

Basic info on Ballooning during the ACW.

Civil War Ballooning During the Seven Days Campaign

*Even as I wrote the above I thought of a way to suspend the balloon with thinner and  closer to scale  material. :-)

Happy new year 2017

Here´s hoping 2017 is a less hectic across the world than 2016....

A bit of a Review of  production in 2016
Approximately  360 bods, 124 nags (with and without Mounted bods) and 9 carts.
                                                                                           
12 bods   woodland Indians Tecumseh                                                      
6 bods Hussite Camp 1  - Footfolk/workers (Pt 1)                                     
8 bods Hussite Camp 2 - Footfolk/ workers (Pt 2)                                        
6 bods and 8 nags    Hussite Camp 3 - Medieval horse Care                                    
1 bod, 2 wagons and 8 nags    - Hussite Camp 4 - Wagons                            
6  seated Knights                                                                                             
12 American Militia in Winter Dress 1812                                                    
3 bods and a cart - Medieval Camp followers - Finished                               
10 bods and 10 nags - European Mounted Men-at-Arms                               
12 bods and 12 nags - airfix US Cavalry -                                                   
4 riderless wargs                                                                                         
Airfix CSA Cavalry                                                                                    
1 bod and 7 mounted -  Crested Knights                                                     
5 bods, 2 wagons, 3 mules, a cow and a Bullock                                        
40 bods -  Medieval builders                                                                          
4 bods and 5 nags,- Mounted Teutonic Knights Command                         
4 bods - Goosey Goosey Gander                                                                
1 bod and six nags - Teutonic Knights Pt2                                                     
2 bods and six nags   - Teutonic Knights Pt3                                               
9 bods, 2 nags - Bannockburn                                                                     
18 bods, 2 nags and 2 mules - Teutonic infanty on the march                    
5 carts and 10 nags - Wagons for Bodstonia                                                 
26 orcs                                                                                                              
Teutonics restart       1 bod     2 nags                                                           
Norman Army Camp   27 bods    6 nags                                                         
Medieval guards on Duty    17 Bods                                             
Medieval guards resting     14 bods                                                                 
Medieval Alarm                13 bods                                                                  
Airfix Tarzan                    8 Bods                                                                    
60 airfix ACW bods, 32 Airfix ACW Cavalry, 3 guns, Crews  and limbers

Other Bits and Bobs
Fort Sahara to monastery conversion
Roman Villa MK2
24 Beehives and 3 stands
StuH 42
Camping acessories and tents
3 ACW scratchbuilt houses
Airfix "What If"

What was planned for 2016 and what didn´t happen? Well, 4 of the 10 planned Projects actually got done but work  on the 1329 Teutonic dio took precedent and then the Airfix ACW wargame Project popped up....
Roman Villa
Finish the last 6 Seated Knights
Paint up a Hussite camp
Finish the Medieval / Bodstonian town (another 10 or so buildings)
Base the Medieval / BodstonianVillage
Build a 17th Cent Meeting house /Fort
Paint every pose of the Airfix Afrika Korps set...the Tarzan set was Chosen instead
Paint the Strelets Tecumseh set
Scratchbuild a "Medicus" wagon
and a couple of Weird and wonderfull scratchbuilds,

Plans for this year?
Continue work on both 1329 Teutonic dio and  the Airfix ACW wargame Project.
Wargame the ACW bods using the rules (with possible mild adaptions) from the Terry Wise book. ..this should actually happen.
Re-Boot Bodstonia. Those  Bodstonians have been getting on without me so it´s about time I had a look at what they are up to.


That will do for 2017 plans, As always, I´ll probably get side tracked into some other stuff as well.

What if...

...after the 2nd WW, everyone had  signed up to genuine real and Lasting peace on earth? Not a cessation of hostilities for a short period while each and every side vied for new angles on causing friction in order to fill up the arms order books but a genuine   realisation we have the same Basic wants, needs, loves and fears and  work towards a bright future for humankind and the planet.
As part of this permanent peace, there would be no need for weapons, no tanks, no guns and  no need for war planes.
The swords would have to be made into ploughshares..or in this case, Spitfires into racing cars.

Wheels -  from a bashed up Siku post lorry
Axles - bits of  sprue from the original Airfix Spitfire kit
Suspension -  Florist wire wrapped around Pins
Headlights - two Pins with the bead type head, 1/3rd sliced off.
I left the wingstubs on as they make nice runningboards

The Inspiration for the  idea Comes from a Toy racing car from my collection..a Mercedes-Benz Racing Car (Dinky Toys 23c)  ....which is celebrating its 66th  birthday this year. It could be slightly older as They (Meccano LTD-Dinky) started making them in 1946, so just after  WWII  ;-)

A-Frame or Ridge Tents - Scratchbuilt

Bodstonia needs some tents for an upcoming adventure . There´s loads of tents  in plastic on the market but they all seem to lack something...difference. ...that and they cost Money :-D

Mass produced plastic tents, , by nature of the production,  are uniform, ie; each tent of the same style looks exactly like the next one, same folds, same creases etc.  With most everthing else, Bods, nags, tanks, carts, etc, it´s easy enough to give Variation between each individual Piece, converting, adding bits (Guyropes) or recreating damage/wear and tear..but tents?

I was going to use some Renedra tents, nice in thier own way but as I´ve mentioned, too uniform. Put in "Rows of tents" as a Picture search and you´ll see what I mean...same make and style of tents (in a lot of the pics) but they each have a character of thier own.
With this in mind I decided to make some of my own "mass produced" tents.
How it´s done I´ve already shown HERE

Close up of one of them

Now onto the "camp scenery"  and a Mess tent....then the adventure can begin.

But, before that..a 1:1 mini adventure.
After several days going out at dusk in search of a couple of Baby Tawny  owls, only getting some  dark blurred Pictures, Today, at around 14.00 hours local time, the squawking of blackbirds gave thier approximate locality away and after a painstakingly slow creep into the Woods (Lasting 1/2 an hour for a few meters there and the same back)  I finally got some half decent photos.
They´ve been named...from left to right..Pudding and Pie

A couple of blurry Close ups

Medieval Hay Barrack

A structure with a movable roof for storing loose hay.

Easy to build, ram 4 Posts into the ground and attach a thatch or shingle Roof that can be moved up and down. Low maintenance, the Posts could last up to 40 years, the thatch would Need changing occasionally.

Widespread in northern Europe in medieval times but  not so common These days.
Thought to have originated in Holland, The oldest written source  is from 1022.
Although they are not common These days, they are coming back, especially in Holland where they are called Hooiberg (Hay mountains)  and a society  (the Hooiberg Museum) is promoting thier use.

 

 

Like all things that look simple..they aren´t. It´s not just a case of bunging loose hay under the Roof and Job done. There´s a lot of specialised knowledge needed to stack and care for the hay as told by the ;
Dutch Barn Preservation Society

 Hay barrack in the Velislai biblia picta (Velislaus Bible or Velislav's Bible )  1325–1349. 

Garden Gnomes

Atfer seeing Tony´s recent Post on Garden Gnome Restauration I remembered I´d restored and painted up two of them  a couple of years ago. **
Number one....In it´s* natural Habitat.

Before the final layer of varnish

Ship mill (scratchbuilt)

An old build that got buried and forgotten in the house creation Project.
Used in any era  from  Ancient Roman onwards..there´s a few still being operated (newly built ones that is..not ones from the ancient romans)
Quotefrom Wiki ;
"A ship mill is a type of watermill. The milling and grinding technology and the drive (waterwheel) are built on a floating platform on this type of mill.
Its first recorded use dates back to mid-6th century AD Italy"

As with the Horse-Powered Ferryboat, These Mills come (came) in a wide range of designs which gives some freedom in creating my own Version

As far as I can tell, this type of Mill would be "parked" further up stream  from where it was to be used and when the grain was loaded for Milling, it would be set adrift (using ropes tied to the bank so it didn´t drift away entirely) until it reached a Point where the river flow was strongest and the wheel would be more efficient. When the grain was milled, it would be pulled back to the riverbank or serviced by boats.

Others seemed to have been attached to Long poles and pushed out into Position, to ropes stretched across the river from one bank to the other and pulled out into Position  or permanently attached to some sort of ramp/Dockside

Medieval Ship mills in a painting from 1411, The Martyrdom of St Ursula at Cologne

For a  really good write up on Boat mills, Hanging Mills,  Bridge mills  and all thier varients go HERE. In fact..if your interested in weird and wonderfull machines and "forgotten" Technology, the site is well worth a browse..I mean..who wants to miss out on learning about windpowered chinese wheelbarrows..? :-D

During construction...

As ever, it´s all scrap material, mostly Card with  bits of insulation foam and paperclips, heads of Pins for bolts etc. 

A small whinch has been made to aid in hauling it back to shore

 Obviously this will end up in Bodstonia...and it´s shown in "Action" HERE

Horse-Powered Ferryboat

Paddle boats powered by animals  have been around for a long time..the ancient Romans had them, powered by Oxen and they were highly popular in 19th century America. Apparently, at least eight different horseboat ferry routes operated from docks in southern Manhattan in the years between 1814 and 1819. One in New York, was powered by eight horses and could carry more than 200 passengers across the East River in 8 to 18 minutes.. as fast as a steam paddle boat.

The earlier ones had circular walkways in the middle of the deck for the horses which took up a lot of deck space or, to avoid this boxes were built on the sides, catamaran style,  to house the horses.

My Version is based on an innovation by Barnabas Langdon in 1819 -- the treadwheel-propelled horseboat whereby the drive wheel is placed horizontally under the deck and is similar to the design of a  "horse boat" wreck, the "superior horse boat EAGLE",  which was discovered in 1983/4 in Burlington Bay, Vermont.

I haven´t worked out how the nags can be Held in place (what type of harnesses etc I can use) but seeing as horses are treated well in Bodstonia they do their Job happily so no restraints are needed

The Basic structure - pre-painting.

Foam core with Card cladding scored to represent planking. The Roof Frame is made from toothpicks and the Roof canvas (on the painted version) some old material

 Obviously this will end up crossing the waterways of Bodstonia and can be seen with Crew and passengers in situ HERE ( along with my solution to steering)

The Nithing Pole

"Here I place this "Nidstang" ("curse-pole"), and turneth it against King Eirik and Queen Gunnhild - turneth I this against all the gnomes and little people of the land, that they may all be lost, not finding their homes, until they drive King Eirik and Queen Gunnhild out of the country."

This was the curse that Egil Skallagrimsson spoke against King Eirik Bloodaxe and according to the legend it worked..they, Eirik and Gunnhild,  left.

During the Viking Age to put a "nid" on someone was to put very powerful verbal curse upon them. The idea is to raise the Landvaettir and Hel(a) against the person or people who the curse is aimed at.
The power of words was not taken lightly by the wikings, so to make a curse of this kind was very serious matter. It was the ultimate insult, and used only in extremis.

A horses head was placed on a long (usually hazel) pole and then directed to those who are to be cursed. The words of the curse are written along the pole, and sometimes the horses skin was hung over the pole as well.
Why a horses head? Maybe, and this is only my thought, is that the severity of the curse called for the sacrifice of a  revered animal, horse worship was common in a wide range of ancient societys.

What do you need to make one? Some insulating foam for the rocks, a toothpick for the pole, some tissue paper soaked in woodglue for the skin and any old horses head. 

Steingrim Oddløg and his men, set up a Nidstang and direct thier curses towards thier enemy, Thorbrand Steinthor.

THIS SITE is well worth a look, a 360° view of the inside of the 19th century Serbian Royal familys church,  St. George’s Church, Oplenac, Topola in Serbia.
Click on the picture and use the mouse to turn the picture, zoom etc (similar to google street) Also, the pics along the bottom are interactive...

Fantasy Island

A question...did the makers of Avatar and Dragon hunter make up the floating islands they show ?
The Answer..No. They used references from a rare 12th century manuscript, the Libellus Plumbeus  which clearly shows a floating "island" and gives a full and indepth description of thier uses and users.
I have been given access to this document and have been able to recreate one of the scenes shown as shown below.

Here is the recreation of the floating  island (Insula natantes) An interesting fact I discovered is that the real reason for Stonehenge is not a sundial...but it´s a central docking point..a bit like a big harbour. Apparently there were lots of these structures around the country allowing the pilots of the islands to dock to take on supplies etc.

You may ask yourself  "How did these things travel??" This puzzled me at first but on closer inspection of the Libellus Plumbeus, I discoverd that they moved by means of light breezes along leylines, hence the Stonehenge dock  being on what is supposed to be central "hub" of ley lines

Here we see a farmer, who after helping to secure the anchor rope is asking wether his ploughing is straight. Life was much more simple back then eh??

All the buildings of the islands were built of Welsh blue stone, which is thought to contain magical powers. The tower holds the winding gear for the anchor rope and is a common feature of the islands.

What happened to these wonderfull floating mysteries??? Apparently in 1279, there was a massive hurricane which blew a lot of them out to sea, where lacking the powergrid of the ley lines they simply plumeted into the sea. One particually big one is reckoned to have become the isle of skye. The rest?? Who knows...probably all fell victim to soil erosion.