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. :-)

Body Strippers - Valdemar

A set of bods (VA174) showing what happened after and in a lot of cases, during, a medieval battle.

"Frank! This one´s a wriggler ! Give him the chop!"

The "Total Body" Strip

Mixed in with previous "Battlefield casualty" bases. The Background doesn´t fit that well to the foreground but it´s a Change from my usual black backdrop.

A brilliant Diorama by a brilliant Diorama creator...look HERE for the "Sound of Silence" The video has to be watched to get the titel of the Piece.

@ Hightower. If you see this, I´ve tried recently to comment on your blog but it Comes up "only admin can post comments" Something to do with the Settings?

Medieval Lifeboat - Zvezda

It actually comes as part of the Zvezda Crusader Cog, shown, as per instructions, placed upright on the deck with the oars etc inside but IMHO, it looks a bit too modern (17th century?) to be a medieval rowing boat let alone a "lifeboat". There´s a few contemporary Images about of medieval boats. like THESE, which. although not a definitive list, Shows much simpler versions than the model
Also, life being cheap, would Medieval ships actually carry lifeboats anyway ? I can´t find any mention of them anywhere.
I could have added it upside down and hide any of the "modern" Details  but I thought that would be a waste so it can go towards the Bodstonian * world.
The rigging was made up, I found several different rigging versions so went for my own.  The  pulley is from a 1/100 scale ship set.

*I know I know...it´s been bloody ages since anything happened there.

Crusader Cog - Zvezda

Well, I waited for a few years and then two turn up within a month.
The Zvezda Cog is basically the same as the Revell cog except it has a different stern,  prow (prowsprit) and has the addition of a crows nest.
The crows nest made adding the rigging a bit more difficult than the Revell Version but after a lot of cussing I got it done.

The cross Comes as a Transfer but I painted it on. 

"At Sea" pics

Crew (21 Bods ) is made up using  bods from Valdemar, Ceaser, Airfix and Pegasus

Tom Tiddler

Both ships together "the start of your very own fleet mate"

The Revell Cog has a new Crew member

There´s one or two Errors in the instructions.
Adding the prowsprit means the Forecastle cannot be fitted until the hole in it´s deck has been slightly widened. The prowsprit could be fitted alongside Fitting the Forecastle but painting it afterwards would have been more difficult.
There´s no instruction on rigging the odd winch type thing attached to the crows nest. The holes for the hoop attaching the rope from the "odd winch Thing"  to the deck are missing on the actual model but shown in the instructions. No probs to drill a couple of holes but still odd as you have to guesstimate where to put the hoop.
The ladder for accessing the Forecastle is way to wide to fit the hole and had to be drastically trimmed down.

Still, like the Revell Version, it´s a nice kit...so now the hunt is on to increase the fleet....maybe :-)