USS Alarm 1874, finished

[Rene]

Hi there,

some of you may remember that I have been working on a large scale model of the USS Alarm, an experimental Torpedo boat, launched soon after the Civil War. The boat proved to be not very successful and after a rather short career which it spent mostly being tied up to a pier it was finally sold for scrap in 1898.
The boat was armed with a spar torpedo, a 15" smoothbore Dahlgreen and 4 Gatling guns additional to that epic ramming bow.

The entire model is completely scratch build in the scale of 1:72,, nearly 70cm long (27 inches).

More photos to come.

Have fun with those pics.

Cheers

René

 

[Dusty]

Excellent work! I built and still build a few models occasionally, ships and planes. But nothing that takes the skill which you have displayed here. The weathering of the hull, rigging and everything else is simply outstanding. I have used a tweezers myself from time to time but usually just for very simple rigging that holds the masts and bowsprit. I just have never had the patience for a lot of running rigging. You really do great work.

 

[Carronade]

Fantastic!

 

[AndyHall]

Outstanding!

 

[Talos]

Looks fantastic! Great job!

Man, that ram bow is insane.

 

[kevikens]

A man who knows his craft.

 

[mofederal]

That is a great looking model, something I would enjoy looking at. A nice looking sleek ship. I don't think the Navy really knew what to do with the original ship. It was beyond their thinking, and they might have thought it was not quite gentlemanly. Who knows. I do like the model, and I wonder how well it would have worked. How fast was it, as I think speed would be it's main asset. The ambush it's attack method? I love these models! Keep up the good work!

 

[AndyHall]

@Rene , I love all of it, but especially the weathering. (Rust never sleeps!") You you ever get any negative feedback for not making models appear pristine, line they've come off the dealer's showroom?

 

[mofederal]

Now we are getting Neil Young references. Rust Never Sleeps. Great album and tour! The weathering is perfect on the ship.

 

[shipmodeler]

Well done sir! I love the iron plating.

 

[Bruce Vail]

Outstanding! Terrific work, Rene.

 

[JOHN42768]

Very nice job

 

[7th Mississippi Infantry]

Magnificent !

I'm looking forward to more images.

 

[WJC]

Hi there,

some of you may remember that I have been working on a large scale model of the USS Alarm, an experimental Torpedo boat, launched soon after the Civil War. The boat proved to be not very successful and after a rather short career which it spent mostly being tied up to a pier it was finally sold for scrap in 1898.
The boat was armed with a spar torpedo, a 15" smoothbore Dahlgreen and 4 Gatling guns additional to that epic ramming bow.
The entire model is completely scratch build in the scale of 1:72,, nearly 70cm long (27 inches).
Cheers
René

Thanks for sharing! I admire your talent and patience!

 

[Rene]

That is a great looking model, something I would enjoy looking at. A nice looking sleek ship. I don't think the Navy really knew what to do with the original ship. It was beyond their thinking, and they might have thought it was not quite gentlemanly. Who knows. I do like the model, and I wonder how well it would have worked. How fast was it, as I think speed would be it's main asset. The ambush it's attack method? I love these models! Keep up the good work!

Hi there,

well atually this boat wasn't really successful. I know they called it "experimental torpedo boat" but I can't see anything "experimental" on it. The armament wasn't anything special , spar torpedoes were well known since quite a few years and nothing you could really call "sucessfull" This particular weapon was as dangerous to an enemy as to the attacker as well.The big Dahlgreen gun was nothing extraordiary too. Granted, It was big but that's it and that ram was just that a simpe device known since centuries. Besides of that the entire layout of this boat was so specialised that nothing else could be done with this boat than what it was designed for. On top of all this due to this special propeller a "Fowler wheel" the top speed of this boat was so poor it would never been able to actually catch up with an enemy much less ram him. According to some sources it could turn on a dime but outrun.... no way.

The whole ship was an interesting attempt to build a pretty interesting and promising weapon which finally failed completely. Even after its reconstruction with another more or less exotic propeller it still did not work as expected.

Anyhow I had to build this model, simply becaue of its odd look.

Cheers

René

 

[Rene]

@Rene , I love all of it, but especially the weathering. (Rust never sleeps!") You you ever get any negative feedback for not making models appear pristine, line they've come off the dealer's showroom?

Hi,

first of all, thanks a lot for all the kind words. The weathering of my models is something I reallyy like to do. I always try do build my models "lifelike" Actually I admire those beautiful and very "clean" build models you see in most museums but for my own models I do not like this "idealised" look I want to show those ships like thes really looked during their lifetime.
Besides of that I believe in the words of a real captain who once told me: a ship without rust is called a rubber dinghi!

Cheers

René

 

[lordroel]

Great work.

 

[Rene]

Hi there again,


just as promised here are a few more shots of this very model. The scale is 1:72 which translates into model of about 74cm in length.It is completely scratch build and it shows the USS Alarm as finished in 1874.

Hope you all like these photos and if there are any questions, please let me know.

Cheers

René

 

[NeilL]

Magnificent! Thank you for posting the photos.

 

[7th Mississippi Infantry]

Absolutely spectacular !

For some reason I received an error message each timeI attempted to "like" your final images.

I can't wait to watch your next project !