Zouaves! Collis's, to be specific...

While work on the modern era layout continues, so does work on the Civil War layout, even if that work doesn't involve having an actual layout to work on. I've thrown myself back into painting figures. There were about 15 U.S. infantry that were 90 percent completed, but I had just stopped. So I finished those and started a new batch of privates. Never enough privates. But... in my last GHQ order I had gotten a pack of Zouaves that closely resembled the uniforms of the 114th Pennsylvania, "Collis's Zouaves." Four of them made it into this round. 

It's intimidating to start these. I've done something like 100 or more standard U.S. soldiers, but nothing as specific as these Zouaves. The only sacrifice at this size is some of the piping in the jackets. But I was able to get the tombeaux portrayed on the breast. Tough to see, but you'd notice if it weren't there. 

The 114th Pennsylvania was raised as a company, "Zouaves d' Afrique" by Charles H. T. Collis in 1861 and served attached to other regiments until late 1862, when nine more companies were raised to complete a full regiment. That regiment spent most of the war in the Third Corps, but often companies were detached to serve at headquarters. 

I'm not exactly sure how I'll use them on the layout. All the Zouave figures sold by GHQ are in the "advancing" pose like the ones above, not at right-shoulder shift. So whatever they end up doing will have to be a little more active than just standing outside headquarters at shoulder arms or marching to another duty. 

After another round of figures painted, I think I'll do a morning roll call and set them all up to see everyone at once. 

Don't forget you can follow me on Reddit. 

Civilians and Colored Troops!

After some kind suggestions from the Civil War Railroads group, I ordered some 10 mm civilian figures from Thoroughbred Models. It's been a few weeks since then, and they're finally painted. I chose a mix of the poses and characters. While I was at it, I also painted some additional soldiers. There are some of the Good Ground Minis figures, for comparison. You can see the GHQ (soldiers, general officer, and Lincoln) and Thoroughbred (civilians() figures are very close, but the Good Ground (general officer and staff officer) figures to the far right are much larger and chunkier. 

Sampling of the newest figures, including civilians!

I realized my collection of figures wasn't historically accurate for scenes behind the front lines. What was missing? Black soldiers. They were used heavily for duties like supply and labor. I took some of the artillery crews, which looked like they were lifting something heavy, and made a few new soldiers. 

The soldier climbing the boxcar comes from the siege artillery crew set. It's one of my favorite little vignettes. The soldier sitting on the water tank is from a limbered field artillery set. He was originally riding a caisson. 

The civilians aren't exactly Civil War era, more like the 1880s. Particularly the women's skirts don't have the large hoops under them. But I'm not going to get that picky. You barely notice, anyway, because they're so small and the scenes are busy enough to distract from any historical inaccuracy of the fashion. 

Seeing all these figures at the station platform, however, leads me to think the building is too big for the 10mm figures from GHQ and Thoroughbred. I don't have the math done in my head, but the doors look at least a few "inches" too high. But I'm not going to change it out now. 

This is the kind of small accomplishment that offers big satisfaction. I'm planning on making a new video tour of the layout soon (I know, I know, I've been saying that for months) and having civilians in the station area will really add depth to the scene.

The 'Scout' arrives, cannons, and warehouse

It's been a very long time since the last substantive update here, so I'll give a few with photos. The pandemic has been difficult here in North Jersey. We were one of the first hot spots in the nation. Our county saw the state's first death. I've been working remotely from the office since March, though the second job remains in-person, as it's essential. That would normally be a formula to get plenty of work done on the layout, but not so much in this reality. The boys are home from school, too, meaning all our extra time is devoted to working with them and other parental duties usually reserved for only non-school hours. Still, I've managed to get a few things done.

The 'Scout'

The Scout.

I've been waiting a long time to finally dive in and re-letter an engine. The PRR 1510 was the first candidate since I already painted over its old letters and numbers. Now it's the locomotive Scout, and I must say it looks very handsome in its new digs. I don't believe there's a prototype photo for Scout, so it's really up to the modeler with this one.

It retains pretty much everything from before, including the Rogers style smokestack and strap iron cowcatcher. I did add another coat of bright red paint to the cowcatcher to better align with the nameplate and tender letter accent color. Needs a little more detail work, but for now it's a great improvement. Next up will be one of the B&O twins.

Bring up the guns! And new warehouse.

In my effort to avoid doing difficult track work or layout redesigns, I've focused on fleshing out the scenery and miniatures. This round brought six 3-inch ordnance rifles and caissons, three barbette rifles and platforms, and three stacks of cannonballs.

I thought I took some closeups of the barbette guns, but will have to come back with those later. Right now I have no place for them on the layout, but there is a photo of those guns in Alexandria guarding the port. They're definitely for use in prepared fortifications. I don't have anything like that on the current layout. If I make any major changes to it, maybe I'll add some kind of fort. Otherwise, these guns will have to hibernate until I can build the new layout next year or the year after.

The six-gun battery of 3-inch ordnance rifles are lined up in storage at the yard. This is one of the best reasons to model in N scale: volume. In most larger scales, six cannons and caissons would be a major expense. In N scale, this entire battery cost less than $100.

At first I was going to use the Parrott Rifle barrels, but decided to use the 3-inch ordnance since they were far more common during the Civil War.

In the background, you'll see a small coal shed kit I picked up, too. With a little weathering, it's the kind of building that adds necessary detail and depth. 

Probably should've cropped this photo better, but it is what it is. The new warehouse is the Micro-Trains Grain Co-Op kit. It has all the right lines for a structure of the Civil War era. And with a sharp coat of dark green paint with white trim, it fits very nicely. It's also the first two-story building on the layout.

I liked this one so much, I bought another a few weeks later super cheap on eBay. I obviously can't paint it the same color as this one. I'm still working out what I want to do there. Also under consideration is a bit of a modification to make them look a little more different, but again, still thinking about it.

The USMRR Armored Train Set

Below you'll see a couple photos of the U.S.M.R.R. Armored Train set from Micro-Trains Civil War Era line. This arrived a while back, but after I took a break from posting. So with all the catching up, I wanted to make sure these got into this post. The set is very nice, as is nearly all of MTL's stuff.

However, I'm a little disappointed in a few things. The first is that they included a conductor car / caboose, when a standard box car would've likely been the better fit. Next, the armored cars are decently detailed, but not as much as I'd hoped. A little weathering will go a long, long way with these. Lastly, the two Dictator mortars are nothing but plastic, when I was expecting either GHQ-quality or similar. The bores don't even extend far enough into the miniature so you can't see where it ends. They look very toy-like, rather than model quality I've come to expect from MTL. But overall I have no regret purchasing the armored train set. It'll go very well in a vignette on the layout somewhere.

Markings on the Great Blue Army Wagons

Supply wagons were blue. Yes, blue. With red wheels. 

lolwut?! Seriously, I had no idea that the supply wagons were painted blue with red wheels. Seems really obnoxious. Ordnance wagons, those that supplied ammunition, were painted the scheme we've all come to expect, olive green with black hardware. But now that I've read more on the Great Blue Army Wagon my view of how the army looked during the war has changed drastically.

Of course the wagons were caked in mud, dulling the vibrancy of color. But the blue, red, and white canopy make for a rather cheery appearance in a sea of misery. I'm not going to repaint the two wagons already done in the ordnance color scheme. The two new ones, however, I did best I could to match the supply colors. A little "dirt" wash on the wheels and lower frame help the look.

They look sharp, and now there's another point of conversation when viewing the layout. You can see all the recent miniatures/figures I added to the layout in the last post.

So far, the canopies have been left blank, and the question about them remains in the air...

They had markings, but when and where?

Now for the markings, this all depends on what time and place I'm going to model within the eventual permanent layout. But I've begun to explore what markings were put onto the supply wagons during the war. Looking through the Library of Congress, I found a few examples, some of which you've likely seen before. The full photos are at the bottom of this post. Here are the crops showing just the supply wagons and their markings.

All but one of these are from the Overland and Petersburg campaigns of 1864. I'll have to spend more time researching. I did read somewhere that Joe Hooker had the corps insignia along with a horizontal stripe painted onto wagons, but I don't know if that was during his command of the Army of the Potomac or when he was fighting in Georgia.

The first crop shows Supply Wagon No. 34 of the 2nd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division at Belle Plain, Va. in May 1864. If that unit sounds familiar, it's Col. Thomas Devin's command of Gettysburg fame. There are many other photos available of Belle Plain around this time, but this is the best one showing a wagon with markings on it.

Once the railroad to Aquia Landing was complete, Belle Plain was reduced a secondary role, though it did handle thousands of rebel prisoners from 1864 onward. While the images of the wagons there serve as a guide, I won't be modeling Belle Plain.

The next crop is one I'm sure many of you have seen before, of supply wagons No. 16 of the 2nd Brigade, 1st or 3rd Division, Second Corps, and No. 20 of what appears to be corps-level command of the First Corps, at City Point, Va. in 1864.

This one is interesting in that we know the First and Third Corps were reorganized into the Second and Fifth Corps on March 24/25, 1864. It wasn't uncommon for men of the disbanded corps to keep wearing their old corps badges through the duration of the war, so I guess it shouldn't be surprising that wagons were left with the old insignia.

City Point 1864 is still in the running for when and where I'd like to model. But I'm hesitant because of how distinctive the layout was of that supply point. The volume of photos available would be great compared to other points in the war, but again, I'm still gravitating toward something farther north and a little earlier in the war.

Clear photos of people are hard to come by when not in a studio, but as long as wagons aren't actively rolling along, they're great for posing. The one here is said to be at Cedar Level, Va. in August 1864, and has the markings "Supply Train," a white cross pattée signifying the 2nd Division, Fifth Corps, "Commissary" below, and the wagon numbers toward the front.

These wagons were lined up along side a loading dock, with mountains of barrels and boxes nearby, and boxcars on the tracks behind. Cedar Level was a stop along the City Point & Army Railroad in 1864, and if this was in fact taken in August 1864, it was during the Siege of Petersburg. The battles of Second Deep Bottom and Globe Tavern happened mid-month, with Gen. Romeyn B. Ayres' 2nd Division of the Fifth Corps engaged in the latter.

The last two images were from a pontoon bridge crossing of the Germanna Ford along the Rapidan River. I'm a pretty well-versed amateur historian when it comes to the U.S. corps badges, but this one I still cannot identify after house of searching. If anyone has leads, let me know. It kind of looks like a variation of the Fifth Corps insignia, possibly with the circle in the center representing the First Corps after it had been merged.

I don't think this was taken in 1863 during the Chancellorsville crossing, since the Fifth Corps crossed at Ely's Ford, not Germanna Ford. The Fifth Corps did cross Germanna Ford on May 4-5, 1864 during the Wilderness Campaign. I'm still very curious about the insignia.

Click on the images below for the uncropped versions.

Belle Plain, Va., May 1864 

Cedar Level, Va., August 1864

City Point, Va., 1864

Germanna Ford, Rapidan River, Va., Date Unknown

Tedious but rewarding: Hand painting miniatures

I won't carry on with a big intro. Here are some photos of my work painting miniatures the last few months. You'll see the platoon of marching infantry, the supply and ordinance wagons, generals and staff, a cameo by President Lincoln, and a half-done platoon of cavalry. As of this post, I have two more staff figures almost done, and have started my first artillery pack. I also realize there are a few figures in these photos that are not perfectly placed. It was tough enough to get the time to set these up for a shoot, so I kindly ask for a little slack on that. Enjoy!

The trains have taken somewhat of a backseat lately, mostly due to the wall I've hit in their progression. I'll explain more later. But over the last few months, I've focused squarely on bringing more life to the layout, and the only way to do that was get painting. Following my reviews of both GHQ and Good Ground Minis, my mind was set on which company provided the best figures for what I wanted to do on an N scale railroad layout: GHQ.

Infantry platoon

I ordered these in the first batch back in July, and were one of the first packs I started painting. There are 24 soldiers in all, including an officer, drummer, and color sergeant. The men are wearing mostly sack coats, and a 50/50 mix of blanket rolls and knapsacks. I figure this is about the size of a platoon (half a company) after early 1862. Attrition took a toll quickly following the very early battles, and most regiments fluctuated between 300 and 600 present for duty throughout the war in the east.

Cavalry platoon

When I started writing this post, the pack of 12 mounted cavalry was unfinished, but now I'm pleased to show you the final result. The officer and bugler at the head of the column, with 10 troopers behind them. I'm excited for this because of how sharp the yellow cavalry piping on the uniforms contrast against the dark blue jackets. My abilities as a miniatures painter are getting better with each set.

General staff and President Lincoln

These are actually a mix of GHQ and Good Ground figures. The riders in this scene are Good Ground U.S. mounted command set, but the officer is different than the example shown on the GG site. The horses and all standing figures are from the GHQ headquarters set. You can't really see it on the GHQ site, but the field officer in the set has his sword drawn. That didn't really work for what I was going for, so I removed the sword and bent down his arm. The wall tent was used in another part of the layout.

The addition of Lincoln to the set actually helped me decide how to use these figures. The scene you see in these pictures depicts Lincoln arriving off the train, being greeted by a Union general and some staff, with a mounted escort at the ready. I may order another one of this set, even if I don't use a second Lincoln for anything. The officers, horses, and tent are very good and very useful.

General staff in camp

Good Ground made the Slovenly Yanks set I fell in love with, and here's another scene I just had to have. It's called Richmond is a Hard Road to Travel, featuring a standing general, standing staff officer, and two field officers seated on a church bench, and a table with map on it. Hey! I have a church! How perfect is that?

I really wish GG figures were closer in size to GHQ, because this set would go unbelievably well with the GHQ headquarters set. As I had mentioned in the original miniatures/figures post on this site, the two brands are too different in size to place any figures together in a scene.

Wagons

I'm writing an entire post on wagons, so you'll have to just check back in a few days for that one.

Video update: Weathered boxcars, supply wagons, new army depot scene

It's been a while since my last post. So I wanted to prove I didn't give up on this thing. I finally got around to making a new video tour of the layout. Not much has changed since I posted it (you should subscribe), but I'll tell you a few upcoming things after the video.



Things you'll notice...

• The Micro-Trains Civil War era boxcars have been given road numbers and weathering. It's makes such a difference. Also, they're all fitted with metal wheels. 
• The tender load is tungsten putty covered in firewood I cut from leftover laser kits. 
• Soldiers! I finished the Union Army supply wagons. They look great and add much-needed life to the layout. They were a breeze to paint, even if my eyes were screaming at me for trying to focus so small. I haven't gotten to adding more miniatures, but painting has started slowly. I'll have two more wagons (these from Good Ground Minis) soon.
• The freight station and other scenic changes were covered in the last post. 

Things in the works... 

• I found one of Mark Watson's ventilated boxcars. It's based on a post-war prototype from the Virginia and Truckee, meaning it won't be historically accurate on a Civil War layout. However, it's a good way to add variety to the rolling stock for now. 
• More wagons and miniatures. 
• If I'm adventurous enough, I'm going to paint over the Pennsylvania Railroad markings on the PRR 1510. It'll be a little scary since I really don't want to disturb any of the other ornamentation. But as long as the black paint matches up well enough, it'll be very cool to finally use the U.S.M.R.R. locomotive decals that have been sitting on a shelf. 

Slovenly Yanks in Camp

Spent the better part of my limited free time this week working on getting some of the new figures painted. As I was the most intrigued by Good Ground's "Slovenly Yanks" set, that was the first one I tackled. I'll have a post later on showing more of the painting process, but here are some shots and thoughts about this first round.

The quality of the photo isn't super great. Then again, these aren't really meant to be examined up close, or you really notice the lack of detail possible in N scale / 10mm. My guess is that most people would see these at about the distance you're looking at them through the camera lens here, or farther.

I'm glad I read up on painting techniques before trying to do this. Those old 15mm figures I showed before were done without priming, and with just the mostly-gloss paints I had at the time. But now, with the right tools and the internet to guide me, these fellas came out alright.

Clockwise from the bottom, you'll see two soldiers playing chess/checkers, one I made an NCO. Next is a private lounging and smoking his pipe. A sergeant is playing the fiddle next to him, followed by a lad bringing his blanked out to join the group. Behind them near the tent is stacked arms (I made them Springfields) with a sack coat and hat hanging on the top. The fire pit is in the center, complete with a soup pot and coffee pot. Finally there are two more soldiers laying down, the first holding his coffee cup and the second under his blanket with arms behind his head.

It's tough to say which figure is my favorite. They all make a very fine camp scene. I'd say Good Ground should do a second version of this with figures in even more camp life poses. Maybe someone chopping wood, tending the fire, or mail call. They should definitely make a set of stacked arms, like a half dozen or more in a pack. That's a really nice touch.

I had mentioned in my original post about the orders that I felt the Good Ground Minis were just a hair too big for N scale Civil War trains. I stand by that assessment and would love to see them knock it down a bit. Then I'd be able to use some of these for things directly related to train operations, like loading freight cars.

It's been fun painting these, but man, now I need glasses for this stuff. I really don't mind getting old. But the inconvenience of not being able to just do these without magnification and sufficient light is pretty annoying.

GHQ vs Good Ground miniatures

Seeing the Sibley tents and wood piles just sitting there, lifeless, I just had to bite the bullet and order some figures for the layout. After a few days of research, I narrowed it down to GHQ and Cracker Line / Good Ground Minis. They both had sets I wanted, and figured I'd get a sense of how their sizes compared to the trains.

GHQ on the left, Good Ground on the right.

You can see there's a pretty noticeable difference in size, but not exactly consistent. The GHQ soldiers on the left are smaller, more slender, and the mule looks more like the size of a horse. The Good Ground soldiers are a bit bigger, stockier, and the horse looks like the size of a mule. Overall, both brands look very good and detailed. But I think the Good Ground minis are a little too big for Civil War era N scale trains.

I was planning on using the Good Ground minis for the camp scenes and warehouse/stock work around the depots. Two of the sets are a camp scene called Slovenly Yanks and a General staff scene called Richmond is a Hard Road to Travel. GHQ did not offer anything likes these, and I instantly fell in love with how much more character this kind of imagery would add to the layout. But it does appear that due to the size of the Good Ground minis that I'll have to keep them restricted to camp life, and not right next to or on any rolling stock. The other two sets were a mounted command and two supply wagons.

The GHQ minis included a company of 24 soldiers marching, a squadron of walking mounted cavalry, and two supply wagons.

I'll get a better sense of how they look once they're painted. Right now the Slovenly Yanks group is primed and dry-brushed with some white. This weekend I'll take a crack at final paint. And after all this, some artillery, limbers, etc. will be in order. I'd particularly love to see how field pieces would look on the flat cars.