AdamC: USS President and Corsair Xebec

Two very different ships on offer today.  The USS President and a yet unnamed Xebec.

 The USS President was a sister ship of the USS Constitution there were some differences in construction and armament.  The President was more heavily armed with 42-pounder carronades compared to Constitution’s 32-pounders.   

President side by side with Boston

President was the Flagship of commodore John Rogers in 1812 and 1813 and cruised extensively against British shipping often in company with other US war ships.  Rogers was unlucky and never had a shot at a English ship or squadron of equal force so his real contributions the American cause are over shadowed by the flashy single ship actions of other ships.  In 1814 President Switched commanders to Captain Steven Decatur and was captured by the British while trying to break the blockade. 

The details of the figurehead were a little hard to make out but I determined it was supposed to be George Washington in is Continental Army uniform which I did my best to recreate. 

 The Stern details are great lots of good "ginger bread" from the ships name to an American eagle and shield. 

 Next up a kit bashed Xebec.  I got another 6 brigs with the American Fleet set and more brigs are about the last ship type I need (I have 10).  So after waiting for Guy Bowers to share how he was going to make his Xebec.  I decided I would proceed on my own.  As a side note here are a pair of Islands I carved from packing foam. 

The hull is made from parts of two brigs.  The masts are part of left-over plastic spear parts.  The foremast should be leaning forward.  opted to have the fore and main masts with their lateen sail spreading to different sides because it looked cool (like a pair of wings) and I found several images with sails in this orientations.  The Sails are paper form my daughter’s art pad it took some trial and error, but they came out good in the end.  I sort of regret the bit of cloth I tried to make into a furled sail, but it doesn’t look too bad I suppose. 

I created a pop deck with some left-over bits including railings made from 15mm tank tracks (anyone spot that?) The paint job is of my own invention.  Green is a color that appears on several Muslim flags, so it seemed a likely choice for a warship.  I think the Xebec came together nicely and I hope to compare construction notes with Guy when he gets his finished.  Now I just need some good  Corsair ship names.