Calling all H. L. Hunley fans

[ModelMonkey]

H. L. Hunley site:

http://www.hunley.org/

[Pappy]

I have the Mikro Mir CSS Hunley kit, it is a simple kit but I was wondering what colour was the CSS Hunley?

I am assuming it was not unpainted steel and a search online shows lots of variations on black and grey? Is the exterior colour known or is this all basically conjecture,

cheers,

Pappy

[wefalck]

All over the world such surfaces would have been either with coal tar or black oil paint. Perhaps also an orange lead primer was used first as corrosion protection - if it was available in the South.

These are guesses. As the original is available, have there ever been made investigations as to possible paint traces ?

[Woodstock74]

Contact the Hunley organization, I'm sure they'd love to field your question and it would then be the definitive answer.

[drasticplastic]

As soon as international shipping is normalized I would like to get the Micro Mir kit, too. Anybody know what color the interior was...white, maybe?

[Pappy]

G'day People,

Well I followed the suggestion of Woodstock74 - sorta - but contacted Clemson University (the Warren Lasch Conservation Center) instead.
Here is the response I received;


Hello,


I think I can answer your questions.


The outside color of the submarine was most likely grey. Test of remaining paint are unclear as pigmentation may have dissolved away over the years. However the presence of Zinc suggests an attempt to control corrosion. This might have given the paint a base grey color. In addition, the only contemporaneous image of Hunley show a grey hull. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File ... ,_1863.jpg
We don�t know for sure because of the possibility of pigment loss, but the remaining traces of paint on the crew bench are white. Either way, it would make sense to paint the interior a lighter color to make the crew feel a bit less confined. We also found some on the bottom ballast blocks and the underside of the bellows, so we can assume the entire interior was painted. This would also be important for the prevention of iron corrosion.



Hope this helps!

Regards,

Mike


p.s. the submarine was never commissioned in the confederate navy so should not be called the CSS Hunley. Simply H.L. Hunley is correct.

--------------------------

Michael P. Scafuri

Archaeologist

Warren Lasch Conservation Center

Clemson University

1250 Supply Street

North Charleston, SC 29405-2045

843-730-5087 desk; 843-324-0310 cell[/color]

So it would seem the exterior was actually a grey colour instead of black and the interior likely white,

cheers,

Pappy

[Woodstock74]

G'day People,

Well I followed the suggestion of Woodstock74 - sorta - but contacted Clemson University (the Warren Lasch Conservation Center) instead.
Here is the response I received;


Hello,


I think I can answer your questions.


The outside color of the submarine was most likely grey. Test of remaining paint are unclear as pigmentation may have dissolved away over the years. However the presence of Zinc suggests an attempt to control corrosion. This might have given the paint a base grey color. In addition, the only contemporaneous image of Hunley show a grey hull. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File ... ,_1863.jpg
We don�t know for sure because of the possibility of pigment loss, but the remaining traces of paint on the crew bench are white. Either way, it would make sense to paint the interior a lighter color to make the crew feel a bit less confined. We also found some on the bottom ballast blocks and the underside of the bellows, so we can assume the entire interior was painted. This would also be important for the prevention of iron corrosion.



Hope this helps!

Regards,

Mike


p.s. the submarine was never commissioned in the confederate navy so should not be called the CSS Hunley. Simply H.L. Hunley is correct.

--------------------------

Michael P. Scafuri

Archaeologist

Warren Lasch Conservation Center

Clemson University

1250 Supply Street

North Charleston, SC 29405-2045

843-730-5087 desk; 843-324-0310 cell[/color]

So it would seem the exterior was actually a grey colour instead of black and the interior likely white,

cheers,

Pappy

Hey cool! The beauty of the internet!

[CC Clarke]

The South may not rise again, but you can. Own your own here:

https://www.rc-submarine.com/product-pa ... 1-12-scale

[Nino]

CC Clarke, Thanks for "Pumping" this topic up to the surface.

Several folks that I email have been discussing Submarines. Civil War History with Submarines as weapons of war is intriguing.

Cottage, Flagship, and Micro-Mir all make an H.L Hunley.
Perhaps some modelers with experiences on these different kits will post their thoughts.

The 3D "kit/files" mentioned in the previous post is designed as 1/12th scale. Wow.
The video is quite impressive. https://youtu.be/77p8CivrfCw

Nino