USS Tyler, timberclad in 1/250 scale

[sporticus]

Haha, I did a search for the Tyler and ended up back here! It appears all Googles roads lead to CT Ertz!!

Wish this one was ready to build! I could do with making one for next weeks game!

[sporticus]

Hi Corey. Not a lot of activity on here from you recently Corey. Hope all is well with you. Hopefully it's not any serious health or life issues keeping you away.

I am thinking about having a go at the Lexington next. The imminent (?) release of the Cairo makes the 'need' for the Tyler and Lexington more relevant. Hope you can get back to designing soon.

I have finished (except for a flag) my Thomas Freeborn model. I just need to find time to add a flag and do a photo session of that 'landing party' vignette I promised. Should get it done over weekend and will post on build thread!

[sporticus]

I found this photo of a model which I thought may be of interest/help at the following website Army Navy Exhibit - Fort Donelson National Battlefield

[sporticus]

Originally Posted by Kazziga

Corey, I guess that you should get "The Timberclads in the Civil War" (Amazon.com: The Timberclads in the Civil War (9780786435784): Myron J., Jr. Smith: Books). I've heard that this is a great book (and also and expensive one ;-) )

You can buy this as an ebook through google books now for £23.88 The Timberclads in the Civil War: The Lexington, Conestoga, and Tyler on the ... - Myron J. Smith - Google Books

They also have the same authors book on the Tinclads for £16.72
Tinclads in the Civil War: Union Light-Draught Gunboat Operations on Western ... - Myron J. Smith - Google Books

Still not cheap, but a lot cheaper than the printed one!

[sporticus]

Just popping back to the colour (or color for our vowel saving American cousins) I found this bit in the above mentioned book.

"For starters, when the contractor's people departed the boats, the supply of paint left aboard was exhausted and the work was not finished. The boats were to be painted black on the outside, but the Lexington was only half-raven coloured. None were painted inside. Hopefully, some paint would be sent down from Cincinnati and those men already shipped or soon to be recieved would get a taste of what was a traditional sailor job - painting ship."

Looking at the Tyler photos she does appear to be painted. Not sure how you would get this black wood effect. As for my own Lexington model I;m not sure whether I should redo her. When it says half done...which half...and was it finished soon after?

[ct ertz]

Good questions! My guess is that the ships, being wood, would have been under constant maintenance. I guess you can leave it as is, an "early version", and do a recolor in black/charcoal to do an average look. I know during that period a lot of US ships had the black hull look. Must have been something approaching standard!

CT

[Kazziga]

Guys, I've bought both "The Timberclads in the Civil War" and "Tinclads in the Civil War", so if you need anything, let me know.

[NimitzFan]

If you look at paintings of ships from this period, you will find that the hulls of sailing ships were always uniformly black, whether of merchant or military origin. The color is generally justified because of the use of tar in the standing rigging, especially in the ratlines - the big ladder-like array of ropes that supported each mast. As it heated up, the tar would ooze out and discolor the ship's side. So there wasn't much point in painting in any other color. Ships didn't become more colorful until they began to use iron hulls and steel rigging in the 1870's.

On the black hull, some owners painted some areas of distinctive trim. More commonly, sailing ships had a broad white stripe with black checks down the side to indicate gun ports. This stripe was called the "Nelson Stripe" and was initially intended to deter pirates and privateers. In later years it was just custom. Until the end of sail, all sailing US Warships of this period carried the stripe, although not the black checks. (Opening the actual gun ports produced the same effect as the painted checks.)

But, even if they carried full set of masts and sails, steam-powered US Warships were always uniformly black. Remember "The Black Ships" of Commodore Perry that visited Japan? That color was because it was too hard to clean the ship's sides following coaling; an all-hands evolution that was very dirty. When steaming steadily, coaling was something done every week to ten days, so the decision to eliminate the "Nelson Stripe" was quite logical.

The inland steamers mostly didn't burn coal; like the trains that they competed with, they burned firewood. Hence they could be painted and merchant vessels often were quite gaily painted. Of course, that paint or stored paint cans could contribute to fires, and there were many tragedies as a result.

The US Navy provided officers to guide the design and construction of all the inland warships, even the army ones. I suspect that they would have preferred to follow the navy standard and paint the ships black. But that isn't uniform. There are some photographs of "tinclads" that I've seen that imply that although the hull and casemate were painted black, the "Upper Deck" and the "Texas" was left as it was before conversion. Since even a tinclad was one of the largest moving things around, and yet it moved at most 8 or 9knots, I suspect that any question of camouflage was irrelevant.

In any case, covering the ship's hull with black paint was only one option; covering it with tar was another, although not in hot climates. On the other hand, I'm not sure how much tar would be available to an inland source. It was mainly used for rigging and to a lessor extent to enhance water-tight caulking.

[Greg 77]

I could not find the ship at ecardmodeler. The tyler was painted black.