CSS Huntress, or something like it

[ct ertz]

t. 500; l. 230'; b. 24'6"; dr. 6'6"; s. 16-20 k. (flat calm); a. 1 to 3 guns)

CSS Huntress was purchased in New York City in March 1861 for the State of Georgia which later relinquished her to the Confederate States Navy. Her first commanding officer was Lt. Wilburn B. Hall, CSN, in that he went North to buy and bring her South; Hall was then detached and reported to Savannah, being succeeded by Lt. C. Manigault Morris, CSN.

Huntress had been a crack Boston-Portland mail packet, "very narrow beam, low in the water, immense side-wheels, painted black"; she had been built at New York City in 1838.

Huntress—first ship to raise the Confederate flag on the high seas, it is claimed—served on the Charleston station during 1861-62, taking part in the battle of Port Royal, S.C., 7 November 1861. During the summer of 1862 she served as a transport in Charleston harbor, taking the duty of Planter (q.v.) which fell into Federal hands. Huntress had been advertised for sale in May but was not sold until 29 October, when she finally went for $133,650 to A. J. White & Son, Charleston merchants. Converting to a blockade runner, she was renamed Tropic.
Attempting to escape to sea with turpentine and cotton on 18 January 1863, she was accidentally burned off Charleston; USS Quaker City rescued passengers and crew."

So, with this info and a single fuzzy picture this is what I came up with. No actual paddle wheels yet. Most of this is guess work but it "looks" right.

Any thoughts?

[hangman]

well Ct,you have made these little ships your thing,i'm sure your past experience will prevail

[legion]

I think the bow is slightly too long, the rest seems fine.

[ct ertz]

Well, not perfect but I am going with it. I need to add the paddles. The kit will come with a number of boxes and kegs as this ship seems to have been supplying Confederate posts with needed goods. I am thinking that originally the deck house was open end to end like some other civilian steamers of the time, and only closed up to offer some little protection to the crew from small arms fire. No pilot house.

[nebeltex]

It looks good to me Corey. You may want to (if you haven't already) reasearch other packet boats built and/or serving up north at that time.

[ct ertz]

Well, I shortened the thing up to look like the picture and I like it, a lot. It seems "right". I also added masts from her packet days, even though the "gun boat" version shows her with the masts removed. These masts would have been not just useful but necessary for removing and loading cargo and for navigation. And I know on many/most Civil War era ships masts were removable, at least down to the last pits even on the bigger ships. Anyhow, all guess work for me, but the model kit will include the parts and diagrams for the minimal rigging if a guy wants to build it so. Or leave em off if you want it to look like the photo!:) And Oh yeah, it will have a full hull option as well!

And I am using lead red for the hull as she did operate in pre-war salt waterways. And the green trim is... well I want a bit of color:eek:. All these Civil War ships are black, gray and white. So maybe some pre-war trim left intact? Anyhow, ideas from y'all are welcomed!

[tatasam]

For me , the color is not important , it is important to outline the shape of the original . Base colors can only be historical records if they exist ;)

Greetings Henryk :)

[Wyvern]

A new CT's Paperclads model, awesome!

Wyvern

[Joe711]

Love it !!!
Merry Christmas, sincerely, Joe

[Wyvern]

Looks the part, Corey.

Wyvern

[Michael Mash]

Hello Corey:
Question for you: I was reading your tutorial (CSS Texas) from 2010, where you go through the steps of creating a model in Sketchup, and then in Gimp.
What is the reason for exporting from Sketchup to Gimp?
I am somewhat familiar with Sketchup, but I have never used Gimp.
What is it for?
Thanks!
Mike

[ct ertz]

I export it to Gimp so that I can resize and crop my Pieces parts contained within the "page" frame on Sketch Up. This way, all parts pages are the same scale, and I know what that scale is. You could just close in on the page frame and export that 2-d image as a jpeg right from sketch up, and then print it. For a model with one page of parts this would work, however the scale might be iffy.

The added advantage to exporting it to Gimp or any other photo editing program is that you can then add other colors, rotate/copy parts easy, recolor/texture and add text to your model pages.

Finally, this is exactly how I was told to do it by other model designers back when I got going! There may be other ways to do it. In fact I am sure there are. But this is how I learned and how I have always done it!

I hope that that helps!

Corey.

[Michael Mash]

Thanks Corey.
That 2010 tutorial was very good.
Mike

[ct ertz]

I am happy you like it and that it is useful!:)

I am getting better at actual full hulls now. Still working on smoothing them out but they seem to be coming along!

Here are some shots of the USS Jacob Bell, the CSS Huntress and the CSS Chattahoochee, all with full hulls. They will be available soon (I hope!)

CT

[tatasam]

Hi, Corey, only the additional frames ensures smooth hull ;) good job :)

[ct ertz]

Thanks Buddy. Imight have more boats to build soon!

I always have the same problem, do I add more, or is it already too much? I try to hit a good middle ground with frames. At 1/250 scale it is hard, but I am learning!

[tatasam]

For riverboats number of frames is perfect , their hulls are shallow and have mild curvature. Only the stern is the problem :)

[ct ertz]

I may end up going through past models I have done and make add-ons for all of them for full hulls! You have inspired me!

[tatasam]

Thanks, soon I start with the next ship will be fun :) :)

[ct ertz]

The Huntress will include some "crew" as well as supply crates and barrels to put on the deck. The crew is somewhat 2-D but at 1/250 scale it will be up to the modeler to alter them to their liking! A mix of uniforms. The red and blue are a bit like the pre-war Georgia State Navy uniforms. Gray uniforms as well as come civilian clothing. I may make a few more poses as well.

[ct ertz]

The Huntress was originally part of the Georgia Navy (purchased from NY) but soon after the war started was given to the Confederate Navy. So for fun I included some pre-war Georgia State Navy Uniforms. I have no idea if the crew or uniforms stayed with the ship or not, but what the heck! Now I have to arm the thing. Three cannons. What cannons would such a ship have?? I have been unable to find out definitively, and "1-3 guns" isn't very helpful. My guess is she was armed and then disarmed many times during the war depending on her duties. I am guessing that either 9-inch guns or old 32 pounders are a safe bet, simply because the South laid hands on so many at the start of the war. But smaller guns might not be out of the question either..

Love to here any ones thoughts on this. I may just use my "Generic" cannons I use on most of my models. We shall see.

[will44]

Great to see more ACW craft coming........since the Huntress turned blockade runner, Tropic, in '62 is there a chance she was painted the pale blue-gray or light gray as may runners were. Resources were still available at the time. Might consider issuing this one in a choice of color and configuration.......I do like the idea of the early civilian livery, a little color and the more likely color scheme considering how she was taken into service.

[ct ertz]

Actually, yes, the pale blue gray color would be awesome. Oh, for actual information! But, the again, it is kind of fun...