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 Post subject: CSS David at work
PostPosted: Thu Jan 26, 2012 2:04 pm 
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Joined: Thu Feb 02, 2006 11:31 am
Posts: 88
Location: Salzburg
Hi there again,

I always try to take photos of my models during building but in most times I simply forget, either because I'm to fast or simply to lazy.

But not this time. I got interested in something unusual the CSS David a 50ft. semisubmersible boat used during the civial war by the Confederates. The boat carry a "Torpedo" on a spar and it was planned that steam powererd boat should approach (at night) an enemey ship . ram it and ignite the Torpedo. The David and quite a few more more or less similar were built and used with not as much success as you might expect. The David rammed 2 ships on two different sorties, one of which was damaged and had to be send back for repairs, the other one was rammed twice but the Torpedo did not explode. A third attack on another ship had to be abandonend after the David was sighted and the enemy ship escaped. There have been no reports about other similar built boats and their missions.

Union troops captured one of these ships/boats which might have been the original David after the fall of Charleston, even if it seems that it was damaged it was repaired and brought to Washington Navy Yard to be evaluated. Another "Large David" which was 3 times as big (about 160ft) was also captured, repaired and evaluated too.

So here it is, or should I say what I have built to look like one.
When I posted a thread that I was looking for some plans, someone suggested to me to buy the Cottage Model Industry Model. I denied, not only because I knew the quality of these models (which is not that bad but neither is it that good) and I still would have to pay almost 40,-- $ plus s/p and most of all I think building a model that simple is not only a whoole lot of fun, I alos strongly believe that building something by yourself does actually improve your skills much more than "simply using a kit".

I started with an ordinary, broom stick, or what was left of it. I needed a piece about 210mm long which was cut off and tapererd on both ends by using a electrical sander, This took less than 10 minutes. When my wife saw that piece the first time, she asked me if I was planing to kill some vampires!

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After that I cut out the later compartment in the "hull"

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and started to cover the entire hull with small stripes of wooden veneer. This was somewhat more difficult because those clamps did not like to stand on the thing and started frequently, ultimatley unsuccessful attempts to reach a lower orbit in my hobby room.

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After the last piece of wood was on the model and everything was dry, I started to sand the whole thing and polish so meticulously, I think my upper arms got somewhat bigger.

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This ended, it was time to use some styrene. Of this I made the forward and aft "armour" which protected the boiler and the steam engine in the back. This armour was also used to ballast the boat so that it floated that low in the water. The stack was made of styrene too but this time I used some aluminum and solder wire for some details. The rivets on tha armor were made of styrene created with a punch & die set, The keel, the side protectors and the rudder were made of styrene too. Front and backend were covererd with tiny ammounts of copper foil. the extreme tip as well as teh back end for the propeller were made of wood. The spar is a piece of steel wire and the Torpedo itself was made of wood again. Quite a few tiny details like eyes and so were made by suing some leftover PE parts. The "cockpit-interior" was made again by using solder wire and some PE wheels.

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So far I have spend almost exactly 38 hrs on the whole model, now the only thing left is some color and perhaps some wiring. I will have to make a base for the little model as well but this should be an easy job.

So I hope you like the way I did this little beauty and if there are any questions, please let me know.




Cheers René



Keep on modeling
René
www.usns.biz

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 Post subject: Re: CSS David at work
PostPosted: Thu Jan 26, 2012 2:25 pm 
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Joined: Sun Feb 01, 2009 3:55 pm
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Location: Hawaii
VERY impressive work there sir, please continue! :thumbs_up_1:

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 Post subject: Re: CSS David at work
PostPosted: Sat Jan 28, 2012 11:23 pm 
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Joined: Mon Sep 06, 2010 9:33 pm
Posts: 413
Location: Port Orchard, Wa
Rene;

I tip my hat to you for your fascinating choice of an unusual ship from the US Civil War! I didn't realize the South's investment in these kinds of ships until I visited the Berkeley County Museum in Moncks Corner, South Carolina, where they have a replica Confederate David. I suspect that it is wanting in the area of accuracy, but it is a unique display item nonetheless. Here is a photo of it:
Attachment:
File comment: Replica of the Confederate David, 'steam torpedo boat'
Confederate David.jpg
Confederate David.jpg [ 141.04 KiB | Viewed 2150 times ]

Perhaps in your research you've stumbled across the following web page that discusses the replica and similar ships used by the Confederacy: http://juniorhistory.com/davidpage.html

The Confederate David is such an esoteric subject that I was impressed to find someone else interested in her. Just out of curiosity, how did you learn of this ship and decide to construct a model of her?

You've done very fine work on the model and I look forward to seeing the update when it is finished!

John :wave_1:


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 Post subject: Re: CSS David at work
PostPosted: Sun Jan 29, 2012 9:59 am 
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Joined: Thu Feb 02, 2006 11:31 am
Posts: 88
Location: Salzburg
The reason why I choiced to build a model of the David, is simply due to the fact that I have short time ago build a model of the CSS Hunley I found a picture of this boat and it looked interesting, so I started to have a look at its history and the more I read about it the more intersting it became. So finally I decided to build this little beauty and here she is. Actually I also wanted to build a model of the "large David" which was captured in Charleston by the Union troops and which is about 160ft long but sofar I have not been able to find any plans or more detailed photos of it.

Right at this moment I have finished the4 David and I'm gonna post some pictures of th4e final result in a few minutes I have already started the work on the next subject which will be even more exotic but from the same time, the civil war. You can already start to guess what it might be and of course I will piost pictures of this as well.

Cheers

René

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 Post subject: Re: CSS David at work
PostPosted: Sun Jan 29, 2012 10:15 am 
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Joined: Thu Feb 02, 2006 11:31 am
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Location: Salzburg
and here she is finished after 49 hrs. of work and I enjoyed every minute of this build. It was easy, fast and the result, well see for yourself.

I continued to add some tiny details and some base color and some salt:

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because it floats it needs some rust:

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and thats how everything ended:

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Here she is with my CSS-Hunley in the same scale:

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Hope you like it as much as I did and if there are questions, let me know.

Bye

René


Keep on modeling
René
www.usns.biz

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 Post subject: Re: CSS David at work
PostPosted: Sun Jan 29, 2012 10:44 am 
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Joined: Mon Jan 10, 2005 7:59 pm
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Location: Hamilton, Ohio
Wonderful work, as is your Hunley; congratulations!

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 Post subject: Re: CSS David at work
PostPosted: Sun Jan 29, 2012 11:19 am 
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Location: 3rd rock from the Sun
Beautiful work, love the close-up shots to see what's actually going on with the build stage by stage, weathering is errrr well that's pigments for you, real rust and stuff, great work.
:thumbs_up_1:


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 Post subject: Re: CSS David at work
PostPosted: Sat Feb 04, 2012 4:08 am 
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Excellant model .Have you read [ Iron Afloat ] ? Good reading on Confederate Ironclads :thumbs_up_1: :thumbs_up_1: :thumbs_up_1:

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