Calling all American Civil War Ironclad fans

[DBriedis]

Wesworld is a role playing game and that report is part of the story, NOT reality.

[Winks]

"What can this sentence mean "On recoil, the cannons cleared the carriage with only about 2 inches to spare" (On USS Monitor guns)."

That was the room to spare between the rear of the gun and the turret wall.

[btbrush]

Not many posts lately. Everyone too busy building? How's 'bout some updates, guys. Love watching the builds.
Bruce

[tea monster]

I've started a build of the Tecumseh here. If anyone has any info on the propellor well and or the arrangement of the anchors and deck gubbins, I'd appreciate it.

[Devin]

Here's an interesting article on USS Monitor's turret at the Mariner's Museum. They've drained the tank and it's viewable by the public. Looks like I have to schedule a trip to Virginia this month!

http://hamptonroads.com/2011/07/uss-mon ... c-display/

*edit* and an article in the New York Times from yesterday: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/09/scien ... ohntierney

[Guest]

I started building a 1/48th scale waterline model of the USS Passaic for my model railroad. I posted photos on my blog at http://usmrr.blogspot.com

Some background on the project. The ship is part of a large harbor scene for my model railroad depicting the USMRR Aquia Line in winter 1862-1863. The Passaic was towed to Washington, DC for repairs in Dec 1862 and was gone before the New Year. In my version it stopped at Aquia Landing for a brief port call on the way back to its duty station, though I have no evidence to support that. But having an ironclad was just too good to pass up, so I am building one.

My main interest in model railroading, but I'd like to do a good job on the ships too. So if you have any suggestions, please let me know.

I am currently working on the turret. The way I built it, the turret will lift off the base revealing the guns and other details. The extent that I model them will depend on how much info I can gather.

Based on Alvah Hunter's book on his service on USS Nahant, a sister to USS Passaic, I need to revise the turret roof. He describes the roof as having wood gratings on top of perforated 2 inch steel plate resting on railroad iron spaced about one foot apart. He also described a single hatch with removable ladders. I added two hatches.

He also describes a smoke box apparatus and a flange bolted to the XV inch gun.

Anyway, any comments are welcome. If anyone can recommend a source for 1/48th scale sailors and naval guns I would appreciate it.

Bernard Kempinski

[tea monster]

I loved your work on the Passaic. A few of the monitors did gunnery trials in the NY area. I'm looking forward to your further work on her.

I too am wondering how the pilot got into and out of the pilot house. I am assuming that there is some kind of hatch for direct access, but I can't see it on any plans or diagrams.

[Devin]

Access to the pilot house was through a hatch in the bottom of the 'house and the top of the turret. There's a story of the Tecumseh's sinking, I believe it's from the helmsman, of he and the Captain both going for the hatch at the same time after striking the torpedo, the Captain stepped aside and said "after you". The helmsman survived and the Captain did not.

Now, the question I have never found an answer for: there's a small mast/flagpole mounted on the top of the pilot house that they used for signaling during battle. How did they get the flags on to it??? I suspect that the pilot house top on my Weehawken may be inaccurate (there are several in the kit as it was designed from a mish-mash of war and circa-1900 plans) and I think that maybe the pilot house roof was a bar type arrangement as on the top of the turret.

[tea monster]

I've heard that story. I'm hoping someone has an illustration or similar .

As to the pilot house, I don't have any blueprints of the Passaic class, but I do have some pics.



and this one, of the Lehigh



There are all those boxes on the deck that may be access hatches, but they are in the wrong places (???). The other strange thing is that there is a blocky thing on top of the pilot house. Is it a hatch? Also, the mast looks off-centre.

On Capt. Peterkin's plans for the Canonicus class, which is one up from this model, he's put a series of holes on the top of the pilot house, kind of like in pair of i-pod headphones.

Here is the only pic I have of the top of a pilot house, but it's a Canonicus class.

[Guest]

Thanks for the info. I plan to revision the turret roof of my model this weekend.

I believe the hatch on the top of the turret is the outlet for the smoke box for the xv inch gun.

Bernard Kempinski

[Guest]

I just about finished the turret for Passaic. I made the turret walls and top removable so one can see the gun.

[tea monster]

That is looking fantastic, I saw your post with the turret parts and it's looking good AND it looks authentic.

That laser cutting tool sounds like a pretty cool piece of kit, what's it like to work with?

[bkempins]

That is looking fantastic, I saw your post with the turret parts and it's looking good AND it looks authentic.

That laser cutting tool sounds like a pretty cool piece of kit, what's it like to work with?

The laser is a great tool. I find that I use it more and more for model building. But it takes a different approach to scratch building. For example, the Dahlgren gun barrels were laser cut. I cut a series of about 24 at 1/8th inch circular slices with diameters to match the profiles. I glued them to a dowel and sanded them to the final profile. I don't have a lathe, so I used a 1/4 inch chuck power drill to spin the parts for final shaping.

With my laser I am limited to cutting up to 1/4 inch wood or acrylic stock.

Here is a shot showing the awning installed on the turret. BTW this shot does not show the final location of the ironclad. It will be at the main wharf about 6 or seven feet behind the camera.



There is more info on my blog at http://www.usmrr.blogspot.com/.

Bernard Kempinski

[tea monster]

That is good work there. They did have vents on the monitors during the war. I've got this shot which shows 3 different types. It's a Canonicus type, but I'm sure they all got standard issue stuff such as ventilators and so forth.



Owen

[raggs]

Not hijack your guys thread, But my great-grandfather servred on a "Tinclad"- USS Ibex. the internet serves up no pics, nor arrangment of guns. Would anyone have any "accurate" info pertianing to this ship?? I know its a logshot, but I'd thought I'd ask.

Thanks,

Paul

[Timmy C]

You've probably seen it already, but here is the text-only DANFS entry on Ibex: http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/i1/ibex-i.htm

[tea monster]

I couldn't find much on the Ibex by her name. According to this document (I have no idea if it is correct or not) the Ibex was Tinclad No. 10 (although, it also gives another ship that number!!!). If you can find out what number the Ibex really was (i.e. "Tinclad # 'XX'") then you might have a better chance of finding info. I've seen a number of pics of different tinclads out there.

Also, if you know if she was the sister of another vessel, you could find pics of that ship and it would at least give you an idea of what the Ibex looked like, if not an actual representation.

I found two books on Amazon, here and here.

I found a page with some pics, they are pretty general, but the Ibex probably looked something like this:




Also, there are a few Civil War records online, you might find some info in there.

Owen

[raggs]

Tim & Owen, thanks for the replys.

Tim; I have found that narrative on the Ibex. Thank you. I'll have to look up if there were "sisters" to her original config. That never occoured to me.

Owen, thanks for the links, they could pose VERY helpful.

From some old printed notes I dug out, FINALLY, found stated IBEX was a sternwheeler.
Guns aboard were a 1x12#r , 2 x 30#r & 3 x 24#H.

So for the guns does "R" mean Rifled & "H" mean "howitzer"?

I also have his discharge papers from Aug 8 1865, the same month she was sold to the Dean line. The paper was signed by B Miller(acting master), who on another piece of paper indicates she was sold to, for the Dean line.

Even though she was only a Naval ship for less than 4 months I'll have dig thru Owens link to see if I can find a reference to her.

Funny thing... on Owens last pic of the Tinclad, it shows a #8 painted on the pilot house and a sternwheeler to boot. From my notes it looks as though there were two tinclads also with the the #8, USS Signal (sternwheeler) & USS Grossbeak (sidewheeler).

Thanks again!

Paul

[tea monster]

On that sheet I found, it had two number 10's so maybe they numbered them by squadron or similar?

No probs on the links, glad I could help!

Owen

[Major Rich]

Recently I have gone back to a scratch model I started 10-11 years ago of the CSS Neuse. I thought I purchased a set of plans from the Neuse site (I know I did!!!) but all I can find is the history book. My question, without going back and reading the book is. . .

What would be the most likely colors to paint the Neuse (full-hull model)? I have seen art work with a red hull and black upper works and sometimes gray upper works. I have also seen the deck done in black, gray, and natural wood. Now if I'm not mistaken her deck received her armor and would not have been wood. Any input please.

Thanks, Rich