The Ship Model Forum

I test ran the port propulsion system last night and it's way more finicky than the starboard. I built the engines identically so I'm thinking that it just needs a longer run-in and more adjusting. When you see the movies of sailors constantly wandering around the steam engines with wrenches and rags, that's not for show! You keep steam engines running through sheer force of will and constant tinkering.

I will not be running the engines in the boat until all the wood is completely sealed and finish-painted. These little suckers throw a lot of spray laced with steam oil!

UPDATE: Solved the problem. The jam nut had backed off on one of the connecting rods, allowing the piston to rotate in the cylinder. It kept unscrewing itself until the piston was banging on the cylinder head. Pulled the head, reset the piston, locked down the jam nut and everything is fine now.

On the second test run I got 45 minutes of actual running time using a mixture of idle, ahead slow, full speed, etc. That was running the sight glass almost empty under load, so I will limit run times to 30 minutes.

Here you go Carl!

This is one of the more fiddly phases of construction and I'm glad it's over! The hawse pipes angled up and in, exiting inside the forward compartment where the anchors could be raised and lowered by an internal capstan. Reports were that the ship was so far over weight (170 tons!) that the hawse pipes were usually submerged when underway, which must have made for very soggy living conditions for the crew, because the area where the capstan was located was also the crew area. I partially solved the expected alignment problem by putting holes in the three forward frames, which set the proper angles for the pipes. Then it was a matter of adding the filler blocks sequentially and drilling with a 12" x 1/4" drill from both ends to get the pipes to exit where they were supposed to.





At this point with the filler blocks just roughed out, the whole front end is looking very bug-like! This area of Keokuk was a fully flooding compartment designed to lower the ship's profile for battle. Of course they all turned out to be flooding compartments.

THANKS, GLEN!!

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Carl Musselman
(Formerly Back-Aft Models)



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A minimalist linkage appropriate for a minimalist rudder. The rudder is so small as to be almost useless so I have set up the engines to steer with the screws; kind of like driving a bulldozer, which is also appropriate in this case.

Here are the port side filler blocks almost complete. Once I finish glassing this structure, I will install hull plates of scale thickness and shape. I will probably use 1/16" basswood, although I still haven't totally ruled out sheet aluminum.

Glen
You are doing a excellent job on a interesting subject .Hope you don't mind me putting this photo on your build but here is a painting of USS Keokuk taking a beating about 600 yards from Ft Sumter

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Thanks Richard. Dowdey is my favorite Keokuk artist. I do believe that he shows Keokuk too close to Sumter and too far up the channel. But it makes for a dramatic image! Below is closer to what I think it really looked like when Weehawken's advance stalled at the marker buoys and the battle line piled up behind her. Keokuk would have proceeded a bit further, getting caught in the crossfire between Sumter and Moultrie. Her armor was totally unsuited for plunging fire from heavy ordnance, which had been noted by her chief engineer before she was placed into service when he advised to keep her away from shore batteries. Turns out he was right! Things would have gotten exciting had she been held in reserve to deal with Palmetto State and Chicora, since she was designed to be a ram and had twice their speed and half their draft. I think she probably would have sunk both of them.

I have finished fiberglassing the hull in 4 oz. cloth and added the main deck. The deck has the correct number of armor bands made out of basswood. I will now start adding the casemate armor bands to the hull. Also note the discrepancy between the shape of the deck and the hull at both the bow and stern. I have not come across any definitive information as to whether the deck was rounded at the ends or pointed. The engineering drawings show rounded but when you actually use them, the deck at the bow and stern wants to be pointed. Contemporary engravings show both versions, so they are no help. The main argument for going with the rounded deck is that on the inboard profile of the Corbett drawing, assuming that the stanchions at the bow and stern are set at the same spacings as the rest, the spacing as shown would indicate the sharp turn of a rounded deck, not the gradual turn of a pointed one. A pointed deck would have also severly reduced the internal headroom in the forward compartment, right where the anchor capstan was located. And probably even more important, a pointed deck at the stern would have reduced the headroom in CDR Rhind's quarters!

Hi Glen,

Your workmanship is beautiful, a real sight to behold, well done and thank you for sharing. I can't imagine the bravery and confidence it takes to put something hot and hissing inside a small wooden ship.......

As a US historical buff, I wonder if you can answer a question that came up during one of the many silly season BBQ's attended during the holidays.

As the US was originally a British Colony, one would have "assumed" that US warships would have shared many of the Royal Navy traditions, one of which was, of course, alcohol at sea. Do you know when it was that the US Navy went to "dry ships" and what caused this to happen?

Andrew

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Ex RAN. Anzac, Duchess, Vampire, Yarra, Betano, Bombard, Brisbane, Swan, Melbourne (Carrier), HMS Leander

Thanks for the kind words Andrew. Keokuk lends itself nicely to steam because it was so open to outside air. e.g., gratings on the turret tops, open at the bottoms and plenty of hatches.

As for alcohol in the USN, it unilaterally abolished in 1862 but kept sneaking in and out to some degree. The history is so convoluted I will just provide the link:

http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq32-1.htm

Happy New Year!

Hi glen,

Thanks for the link, it will help settle some debates with mu colleagues

Good luck with the build, I will follow with interest.

Andrew

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Ex RAN. Anzac, Duchess, Vampire, Yarra, Betano, Bombard, Brisbane, Swan, Melbourne (Carrier), HMS Leander

Starting to fit the gunports to the turrets and doggone if I didn't get the gun decks set at exactly the right height! Don't you love it when a plan comes together?

Like a Glove!

Sweet!

_________________
Carl Musselman
(Formerly Back-Aft Models)



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Yes I do, it just never happened to me. For you it definately did. Great job so far. This is quite an interesting project!

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The hull is not as smooth as hoped (is it ever?) but nothing that can't be fixed with some more bondo and primer.



Shafts, struts and props test fitted.

EXCELLENT WORK!!

What a beautiful hull shape!!


JB

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Thanks Jim and I totally agree on the hull shape! She was a ram that unfortunately got labeled as a battery. She was ready to be built in 1861 but was rejected and the Monitor was built instead. Had she been built and sent to Hampton Roads instead of Monitor, history would have been changed as she would have quite handily rammed and sunk Virginia. The same would have been true in Charleston Harbor with Chicora and Palmetto State. All three had half the speed and twice the draft of Keokuk, even on her worse day (she wound up way over design weight.) Instead DuPont chose to let Sumter and Moultrie rain heavy caliber shot down on her very think flank and deck armor, and now all she does is snag shrimp nets in the Main Ship Channel.

Starting to lay the deck armor plates. Fact: Keokuk used countersunk 1-1/8 inch dia. bolts on 12 inch centers to attach the outside plates, making for a smooth outer skin. Conjecture: I went with 36 inch by 96 inch deck plates and 36 inch by 180 inch casemate plates with factory installed perforations and used some more "shipyard forensics" to determine the bolt pattern since the only original drawing I have found is just a sectional view. I determined that a full run of bolts on the center of each plate would have probably weakened the armor even more. I believe the casemate plates were one-piece because there are no horizontal butt lines shown on the engraving made shortly before launch, but the artist faithfully reproduced the correct number of vertical butt lines and also the lower hull stiffening strakes. I am making the bolt holes with a hand punch and if my math is correct, I only have around 9,500 more to go...

Hello! I'm a new boy in this board, name is Taeyun Kim of the south Korea.
Your job made me the first log-in on this forum.
This is the most amazing modelling job I've ever seen, especially installing the 'live steam engine' - the Shock!
I guess you established perfect plan for this model, while the most builder start their work by improvising.
I found some 'valves' attached on the pipework, are those working part of the engine or replica?
I look forward to the day when this monitor ship goes to the water.^^

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