CSS Louisiana full hull in 1/250 scale

[southwestforests]

Paddlewheels are a pretty much a standalone model themselves.

[Lighter]

Originally Posted by MichaelS

The Naval History of the Civil War, David Dixon Porter.
https://play.google.com/store/books/...d=j9R2AAAAMAAJ

Take this history with a bit of reserve. Porter's writing is much like the writing of T.E.Lawrence. Like his brother David G. Farragut, Porter was impressed with himself. Never the less, he was a very, very important figure in the history of the US Navy. Porter's makeover of the US Naval Academy alone would place him in history.

A useful study is Lincoln and His Admirals by Craig Symonds. A study of how Lincoln and Welles made things come together. I haven't found a concise political history of the Confederate Navy and how J Davis and Sec Navy Stephen Mallory did not succeed in putting things together, but any study of pieces of the Confederate Navy provides the clues.

[MichaelS]

Originally Posted by Lighter

Take this history with a bit of reserve. Porter's writing is much like the writing of T.E.Lawrence. Like his brother David G. Farragut, Porter was impressed with himself. Never the less, he was a very, very important figure in the history of the US Navy. Porter's makeover of the US Naval Academy alone would place him in history.

A useful study is Lincoln and His Admirals by Craig Symonds. A study of how Lincoln and Welles made things come together. I haven't found a concise political history of the Confederate Navy and how J Davis and Sec Navy Stephen Mallory did not succeed in putting things together, but any study of pieces of the Confederate Navy provides the clues.

Yes. If there is one thing I have learned in all my reading it is that there is as much Myth in history books as there is Truth. Most people think that propaganda only goes on during a war. There is just as much or more "B capital S" AFTER!! The victors have to convince the world they were right. The losers have to placate their fellow sufferers.

What this has to do with beautiful paddle wheels I am not sure. That sure is one neat replica my friend.

MS

[ct ertz]

Thank you all. I am quite pleased with the paddle wheels myself!.

The rest of the model has a few small fit problems I will deal with in GIMP before releasing this hull. This is really a big barge type boxy boat. I have "fixed" the current fit problems of the lower hull for my build the best I can, usually some on the spot trimming and some edge-recoloring, so no big deal. It is really easy to get the fore and aft bottom hull pieces slightly canted from one another, giving the hull a little bend. This makes the hull sides over lap or gap depending on the side, so that's a possible problem. But over all coming alone pretty great.

I should be at a point later today for some more pictures and another update!
Again, thank you all.

[ct ertz]

The pictures of the updates. The first paddle wheel test fit...

[southwestforests]

There are probably proper nautical engineering terms but they won't come to mind right now: I wonder what the propulsive efficiency of 2 paddlewheels in series like this is compared to in parallel on each side of hull.

But, what I do remember is that many sidewheel vessels did not have a differential drive shaft - it was a rigid shaft and either both wheels went or no wheels spun.

A lot of tug size sidewheelers did have opposable rotation ability and yet a lot did not.
Gotta admit though, that even woth the armor, having the 2 wheels in series on keel line made them a lot more protected than when hanging off sides.

And the central wheels didn't obstruct firing arcs either.

[Lighter]

Originally Posted by southwestforests

There are probably proper nautical engineering terms but they won't come to mind right now: I wonder what the propulsive efficiency of 2 paddlewheels in series like this is compared to in parallel on each side of the hull.

I can't recall my source, but very inefficient. After the war, they disappeared. But as war boats, protection from artillery, gunfire, snags and other river debris trumped speed and efficiency.

[Lighter]

Originally Posted by MichaelS

What this has to do with beautiful paddle wheels I am not sure. That sure is one neat replica my friend.
MS

Any CT Ertz thread brings out Civil War historians and model builders. Ertz is working with speculative material and presents well-reasoned models which prompt fascinating discussions. And, yes, paddle wheels are an excellent design and building challenge. I wouldn't venture a guess as to how many wheels Ertz has designed, so far.

[ct ertz]

Wow. Cool conversation!
I remember reading that the twin wheels did no better then a single wheel. But it did move the boat along slowly. The gig issue was the rudders. As it turns out, the out board screws were used to turn the ship as the rudders did little to effect direction.

I have made many model desighns but I have built few of my own models! I always get busy building Maerk planes when I build! But I am going back and adding hulls to some of my watrr line models. And so I need to build to correct the fit. That kind of thing does not translate well with test builders.

That being said, all off my paddle wheel boats with newly added full hulls will have full paddle wheels now as well.

[fishjay]

Glad to see you are still practicing your craft. Had some serious disc problems in my neck and lost some of my reflexes, so my model building was shelved for a while.

Thinking of building again.

Lester