Up in Flames: Union Navy Ships Destroyed in 1861

Up in Flames: Union Navy Ships Destroyed in 1861

Model Warships by Gregory A. Baumgartner

January 14, 2025 – April 6, 2025

“My first foray into model making was in 7th grade art class. The instructor asked us to bring a plastic model to class to build. I informed my mother of the request without much hope I would get one. There was almost no money in the family budget for such things. It is one of my most cherished childhood memories when my mother presented me with not one, but three model aircraft kits! That day began a lifelong hobby.”

— Gregory A. Baumgartner

Exhibit Overview

This exclusive exhibition spotlights the extraordinary craftsmanship of local model maker Gregory A. Baumgartner, who has been building scale models since childhood. Built in the 1:72 scale, where one inch is the equivalent of 6 feet, this selection of historic warships were destroyed and abandoned at Gosport Navy Yard by the Union Navy in 1861 to prevent their capture by the Confederacy. Exquisitely handcrafted by Greg from their original blueprints, each model features remarkable details including hand-carved figure heads and thousands of accurately tied sailor knots.

Greg has scratch-built models of all 11 warships destroyed at Gosport Navy Yard. Of those models, this exhibition features:

USS Dolphin (1836)

USS Pennsylvania (1837)

USS Merrimack (1855)

USS United States (1797)

The Mini Time Machine Museum is honored to present Gregory A. Baumgartner's first solo exhibition of his model warships. Based in Vail, AZ, he is the first artist featured in our 2025 Community Corner exhibition series.

The USS Dolphin (1836) by Gregory A. Baumgartner
The USS Dolphin (1836) by Gregory A. Baumgartner
Blueprint of the USS Dolphin 1836
Blueprint of the USS Dolphin 1836

“I was looking for a ship to build that was not available as a kit and was an American vessel. I had thought I would be making something similar to the USS Constitution. However, I chanced upon a link to an article that mentioned the destruction of several American ‘ships of the line.’  My interest piqued, I clicked on it. Things just snowballed from there. Searches for plans brought me to the Smithsonian Institute, which had a catalog of every ship built for the US Navy! Once I got it, I was off and running. I dove in headfirst and picked the biggest one of the 11 ships destroyed in that event: the USS Pennsylvania, a 130 gun, four-decker ship of the line.”

— Gregory A. Baumgartner

Meet the Artist

Greg Portrait
Greg Portrait

Gregory A. Baumgartner first fell in love with making scale models in the 7th grade. In his youth, he made every type of model kit he could get his hands on, including warplanes, tanks, and spacecraft from popular films and TV shows such as Star Wars and Star Trek. These days, he finds tremendous satisfaction in designing his own scratch-built wooden models of renowned ships from their original blueprints dating from the late 1700s and 1800s. His solo exhibition, Up in Flames: Union Navy Ships Destroyed in 1861, features four of these historically accurate, scratch-built warships, lost in the disaster at Gosport Navy Yard in April of 1861.

When he is not working on his own scale models, Greg often takes on commissioned model design work and model restoration. He is currently working on a custom model design of the schooner Sultana (1768) for the Model Shipways company, which is scheduled to be available for purchase by model kit enthusiasts in late 2025. Greg is a regular contributor to ship builder forums, as well as being a moderator and contributor of a private model ship Facebook group. At the urging of his fellow enthusiasts, he learned how to create videos and formed his own YouTube channel in 2023, where he provides detailed tutorials on how to scratch-build model ships and their many complex rigging components.
Several of the artist's early model kit builds on display in his childhood bedroom.
Several of the artist's early model kit builds on display in his childhood bedroom.
Gregory Baumgartner in his childhood bedroom working on models.
Gregory Baumgartner in his childhood bedroom working on models.
The artist's model table in his childhood bedroom.
The artist's model table in his childhood bedroom.

Join us for a Members Only artist reception! Meet the artist, enjoy light bites and wine, and learn more about the rich history of this fascinating artform.

January 16, 2025 from 5:30pm - 7:30pm

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Already a member? Register for the reception here! Registration is required to attend.

USS Pennsylvania, 1837 (foredeck) by Gregory A. Baumgartner
USS Pennsylvania Aft Deck Crop
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Learn more about the craft of model ship building from Gregory Baumgartner on his YouTube channel!