Fort Ward Fare-thee-well

I've previously posted a couple of pictures of my Sculpey Fort Ward bastion.  As it is drying out, shrinking and cracking with age I thought I'd take some time to give it its due before it gets plowed up and paved over to make room for a 54mm Walmart, as do so many historic places.

Fort Ward is  a one of the Civil 

War ring forts which defended Washington DC.  It is in Alexandria Virginia and is maintained as a state park.  Much of the fort is in a remarkably good state of preservation and an entire bastion has been restored to its Civil War appearance complete with three 30-pounder Parrot guns.  Its really worth a visit if you find yourself in the Washington area.

My version of Fort Ward has three embrasures for Armies in Plastic 30-pounders.  Revetments are made with sandbags and gabions, all sculpted from Sculpey (European friends can use Fimo)

The guns overlook a menacing no-man's-land of chevaux de frise; ouch!

 If this gun looks menacing from this angle...

its even more so from the business end.

What's this?  I didn't realize the position was manned.  These officers seem to be zeroing in on a target.

"Action front!  Case, 850 yards!"

I'll leave off here lest the faint of heart swoon at the terrible destruction about to be wrought by this wrought-iron monster.

Cracked, and showing its age, my 54mm Fort Ward has now had its day in the sun.

Here's hoping we all do.

Soldier on!

Mannie

Postscript:

Many comments on this post reflect a concern that I'm going to somehow destroy this piece; not at all I'm merely "retiring" it to let gravity, age, and the environment have their way with it.  Sounds like a parable for all of us.

Fort Ward and Norma Desmond...

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both are showing their age.

About ten years ago I used Sculpey to make one of the bastions of Fort Ward in Washington D.C.

Sculpey is wonderful stuff, but in large pieces such as this one, it tends to crack irreparably

Photo finish

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Here's a parting shot to ring out the old year.

Over hill, over dale...

bouncing and jouncing down a country road...

rattling window panes...

Battery B 4th US artillery thunders into position.

Pioneers hastily remove rails to allow passage of the limbers and guns.

Freed from the constraints of the road...

the limbers and riders burst out onto the fields.

The battery commander indicates the direction of fire

and the guns are man-handled into position

While the elevation and deflection are being adjusted on one of the guns...

a second gun is sponged and the projectile is brought forth from the limber...

while a third has the projectile rammed home.

The firing lanyard is drawn taut, and at the order "FIRE!"...

the lanyard is abruptly drawn back...

unleashing fire and thunder  from the gun.

shells hurtle down-range as...

dumb-struck rebels await their fate.

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Soldier on into 2013!

Mannie

Columbia the Gem of the Ocean

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For some time now I've wanted to make a toy battleship in the same style as the WWI Krupp gun that I made a couple of years ago (you can see it here).

A ship in the livery of the "Great White Fleet" is what I had in mind, but chunky, simplified, and obviously the type of toy that might have been under a Christmas tree in 1898.

My favorite kind of toy projects are the ones that require no specially purchased wood, I just used scraps that were on hand. Lengths of 2x4 formed the hull.

Positions for the sponson guns were transferred using carbon paper (a staple of the shop).

I used hole drills on the drill-press to make the gun positions, finishing them off on the bandsaw.

Stacked, glued, and clamped the hull is complete.

Now came the various gun turrets.  Again using stock on hand, the sander came into play.

Primary and secondary batteries are finished.

All the subassemblies fit together and are ready for painting, and the ship will be ready for launching.

Eleven-inch guns loom over the victorian sky-light on the fantail.

The secondary battery of six-inch guns and the smaller three-guns will make the Spaniard fleet quail.

O Columbia! the gem of the ocean,

The home of the brave and the free,

The shrine of each patriot's devotion,

A world offers homage to thee;

Thy mandates make heroes assemble,

When Liberty's form stands in view;

Thy banners make tyranny tremble,

When borne by the red, white, and blue,

When borne by the red, white, and blue,

When borne by the red, white, and blue,

Thy banners make tyranny tremble,

When borne by the red, white and blue.

When war wing'd its wide desolation,

And threaten'd the land to deform,

The ark then of freedom's foundation,

Columbia rode safe thro' the storm;

With her garlands of vict'ry around her,

When so proudly she bore her brave crew;

With her flag proudly floating before her,

The boast of the red, white and blue.

Or, listen here

Soldier, and sailor, on!

Mannie

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