ACW Observation Balloon

[shandy]

Hi,

this has been quite a while in the making, but it's finally finished. I always wanted to make an observation ballon for our ACW games, but it proved to be more difficult than I thought... and I did make some mistakes.
However, the result looks good enough for me and I'm looking forward to having a game using the balloon as an objective.



For a detailed tutorial, visit https://wargamingraft.wordpress.com/2016/11/11/building-an-acw-observation-balloon/.

Cheers,
Shandy

[OSHIROmodels]

Simple yet effective 

cheers

James

[von Lucky]

I agree - very well done.

[rumacara]

Lovely, just lovely.

[shandy]

Thanks guys! I made a mistake glueing on the strings and had to remove them again, that's why they are twisted... well, next time I know 

[FifteensAway]

Can you tell us why the blue color?  Seems it would have been much more likely to be a canvas color.  But perhaps you did the research and are correct?  Curious.

[shandy]

According to Charles Evans' War of the Aeronauts, the early Union balloons (Enterprise and Union) were in "a vague shade of brown resulting from the staining absorbed during the varnishing process" (p. 121f). The newer balloons got a more patriotic decoration - one reason was to keep Union troops from firing on them.

The Constitution and Washington had large portraits of George Washington on their envelops, the Union was redecorated with a huge American Eagle on one side and stars and stripes and "other devices of the Professor's fertile fancy" on the other - Lowe certainly was an old showman 

Some of the wicker baskets were also painted in a bright blue and dotted with stars - something I tried but again my painting was not up to it...

I really sound like a balloon nerd now 

Hope I could help!

[Barry S]

Looks great and thanks for the tutorial!