is a naval wargamer who likes the smaller scales, so who better to show us how to paint small-scale ironclads?
The U.S.S. Marmora was a Union tinclad active on the Mississippi and in other riverine actions in the American Civil War.
This 1:600 scale model was the first metal model released by Bay Area Yards, and was painted for TMP by David Conyers of the Aire Brush Painting Service. The custom flag/flagstaff and stainless-steel base were provided by Dave.
Unfortunately, the finished model suffered some damage in shipping. Although packed in a box filled with paper confetti, the U.S.S. Marmora managed to invert itself, and smash against the other model in the package (the U.S.S. Cumberland).
The damage looked easy to repair - the flagstaff that Dave had made had come loose, and the smokestacks were bent and loose. The real problem was that for the life of me, I couldn't match the deck color when repairing some chipped paint - so I ended up repainting the middle deck. And then the other decks to match. And then I must have had too much caffeine that night, as now the rest of the model needed touching up...
I knew that Dave usually uses a buff-and-Flesh Wash technique for the decks, but I was concerned that since I was overpainting, there might be enough paint build-up to make a wash problematic. What I finally ended up with was a basecoat of Anita's Burnt Umber, with a drybrush of Ceramcoat Golden Brown.
For the white trim, I tried several different paint brands but had trouble with coverage. I then tried Renaissance Ink's White, which has outstanding coverage. The paint has an unusual consistency, almost like it's been whipped.
So here's Dave Conyer's U.S.S. Marmora, as fiddled with by yours truly...
For more information on the U.S.S. Marmora, see this page at the Navy website.
You can also see an alternate paint scheme (and some customization) in the manufacturer's gallery (page four).