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USS Texas (1892) Predreadnought

Finished boats...

I am building the 1892 Texas. A couple of the boats are painted blue and are for my Potemkin model. Most of these boats are for the Texas, however.

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Will return to this model...am working two more at the moment. Sorry for the pause, but USS Texas is still alive and well. Am excited to eventually finish it.
 
This thread is my build log for the 1892 Texas. I would kindly ask posters to start their own thread for the later Texas. Thank you.
 
An archival photo shows the mens' laundry hanging out to dry, so I decided to replicate that interesting detail along the railing of the ship.
 
Today I worked on the canvas awning at the stern of the boat. This is where the ship's company held prayer services on sundays. These ships were usually stationed in tropical climates, so any shade afforded was welcome by use of these awnings.

I also placed the massive anchor davit, evidently designed to handle both anchors in turn on each side of the ship.

I prepared some small signal flags for the foremast. With no other ideas, I decided to use the signals for the letters A-T-T-A-C-K. In a photograph of the ship at sea, there appears to be a small broomhead on the opposite tip of the yardarm. I believe if I recall correctly this signified crossing one of the tropical latitude lines while sailing. Or it could mean "clean sweep," signifying some sort of mission successfully completed.

A final item...a few days ago I placed the men's laundry in the aft part of the ship. Then when comparing with the photograph, I realized it should have been placed in the bow of the ship, where typically the men had their bunks. I debated whether to rip all the laundry down and start over on the other side of the ship. In the end I just couldn't resist the need to correct the fault. It turned out to be easier than I thought, but it still took some time.

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In some photos there are large rectangular boxlike structures with portholes. These are placed near the masts. In some photos, there are what appear to be guns protruding from the boxes. If anyone knows what these structures are and what their function was, please let us know.
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Nearing completion of this model. I am posting photos from the workbench, please see below. Later I will use velvet background etc for show. The only remaining tasks are to spot glue the boats down and give the ship a very light satin overcoat.

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This turned out to be an extremely cluttered ship! I thought this would be an easy model, but the details nearly killed me! Luckily, this ship did not feature much rigging. As it was, working with 32 gage jeweler's wire was a nightmare.
 
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