FORGING AHEAD - A Civil War Model by FUBAR IV

During the Civil War, a traveling forge was specifically designed and constructed as a blacksmith shop on wheels to carry the essential equipment necessary for blacksmiths and artisans to both shoe horses and repair wagons and artillery equipment for both U.S. and Confederate armies during the American Civil War. An American Civil War era traveling forge contained 1200 pound of tools, coal and supplies. These tools and supplies included a bellows attached to a fireplace, a four-inch wide vise, 100 pound anvil, a box containing 250 pounds of coal, 200 pounds of horse shoes, four foot long bundled bars of iron, and on the limber was a box containing the smith’s hand tools. 
                                                                                        - Wikipedia, ©2009 

Fubar IV’s traveling battle forge is a truly marvelous model, pictures don’t do it justice. When you see this piece in combination with his limber and cannon battery, it literally “blows you away” (pun intended). The forge is an exacting miniature replica of the forges used by both armies during the civil war and features miniature tools and a operating bellows handle. 

Construction is similar to his cannon and limber models with wood, styrene and brass components being the majority of materials used. His wagon wheels use a superior technique to most of the homemade wagon wheels out there as his rims are made of a single piece of PVC cut in scale widths on a table saw. The wooden spoke are then pinned to the rim and the hub making for a very durable, functional wheel. 

The frame and box of the forge are made of wood and are accurately detailed with fittings made from styrene and brass. When I saw the model up close I was convinced that all of the parts were actually metal. It is beautiful work. Fubar has included a selections of tools. There is a vise mounted onto the frame of the forge and a anvil with miniature hammers. The vise and anvil are made of wood, but you would swear that they are cast iron because of the realistic painting. 

I won’t even begin to describe how Fubar has created a spring loaded bellows handle. All I can say was that I was very surprised when he removed the top of the forge to show me the mechanism. Speaking of that top, it is made of a piece of card stock, covered with thin copper sheet that you can buy at better hobby shops. It looks just like the real thing. On the back of the forge there is a tool/supply box with a hinged lid. Fubar plans to fill it with horseshoes eventually. 

The final piece of the model is a beautifully done blacksmith with real hair (faux fur) and real leather boots and apron. I particularly like the leather forearm protectors; a very realistic detail that adds greatly to the final appearance of the figure. All of Fubar’s figures get facial repaints with pastels. He does a really nice job of creating subtle life-like shading (most of my facial repaints end up looking like raccoons). He finishes off the repaint with a layer of dullcoat to protect his work. I don’t know about you guys, but I would love to have one of these setups for my 6th Georgia. This is one sweet piece and as you can see makes for a great diorama all by itself, imagine it with a battery of cannon and limbers.


I'll take three thank you, Well, that's all for this time, Until next time, have a good one!

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