CSS Palmetto State 1-72 scale

[jmr248]

Knife

I had not thought about linking the file you have listed. Reading it was what lead me to this site. A very good read with some great illustrations.

Joe

[Ironcladman]

Originally Posted by Knife

For Ironcladman, and anybody else interested in R/C ironclads from the War of Northern Agression, check out this site:

http://walternelson.com/ironclads.pdf

Hi,

Yep, I got this paper, and it is great, but I wanna build paper models and install micro RC stuff in them. Those models cost way to much and are way to big....but they are nice!

Question for CT: What is the longest ironclad length, so I can figure out what scale would be the best to build all the ironclads in?

[ct ertz]

According to John Wallis the CSS Yazoo City, or Yazoo Monster, was and is the largest war ship built inland. It was a staggering 340 feet in length and 100 feet across the paddle-boxes. I started a model of this beast some time ago and hope to be back with it soon.

I have started on detailing the casemate of the CSS Palmetto State and will have pictures soon of the digital. Because most of the port wall is left open to view the gundeck, four supports will be left in place for strength. On these supports will mount the brackets for the two port side ships launches. It will be up to the builder to decide if the launches shall be put in place or not, as they may block a lot of viewing of the gun deck details. I will also include two mast/boom setups as well. These would have been useful in lowering boats and in tacking on supplies, and it is known that the Chicora had such a set up.

CT

[Ironcladman]

Originally Posted by ct ertz

According to John Wallis the CSS Yazoo City, or Yazoo Monster, was and is the largest war ship built inland. It was a staggering 340 feet in length and 100 feet across the paddle-boxes. I started a model of this beast some time ago and hope to be back with it soon.

ONUD! That is just Kooky Big!

[ct ertz]

Well, it nears completion. Here is the general layout of the casemate for viewing. I still need to add the second mast, the booms, and the vent. The parts are laying out nice as well.
CT

[jmr248]

Looking good CT, waitiing patiently to purchase a copy. Let me ask a question regarding something that I have just noticed. On the steering platform, one of the wheels appears to be in a strange position in that the wheel is on the outside of the brace. Your design has not changed and it was this way in September 0f 2009 but just noticed it. Any idea as to why these ships were constructed in this matter concerning the 2nd ships' wheel.

Joe

[ct ertz]

This type of wheel was actually two wheels with the axle between. Around the Axle would be a rope rapped around a number of times. The ends of the rope drop down below deck to a bock and tackle and finally to a sort of shortened whip-staff. This was a quick and relatively cheep what to make steering rigging that goes back to the age of sail. The double wheel meant that as many as four people could grip the wheel at once, to manhandle the rudder over, sort of an early power steering. I am not sure how many Confederate ironclads had this sailing ship wheel set up. With such a heavy ship, a larger rudder would have been ineffective with out the strength to back it up. With such limited room below, the whip-staff would have been small and the mechanical advantage of the block and tackle limited I guess. Also, because of the pilot platforms two foot rise, the wheel used by the pilot would be at a more comfortable height in normal conditions, but the fore wheel would be two foot higher off the deck, enabling sailors to push and pull on it using body weight. I believe conventional ships of the period, such as the USS Hartford also had this double wheel set up, minus the platform.
CT

[ct ertz]

And a few more shots with both booms attached. I am unsure if the Palmetto state used booms and masts or davits to lower the boats. I have pictures/drawings, showing both in use at different times. I know that the sister ship the Chicora seems to of had masts and a boom set up, with out davis at all. So, like much else on this model, I leave it up to the builder as to which items to place on the casemate.
CT

[ct ertz]

Now for the armor question. On the original it is likely that over the wood casemate the 10 inch wide by two inch thick iron bars were laid horizontally. These bars would have probably been pre-drilled, an alternating left/right hole every 42 inches. Therefor, on the casemate, a two inch wide spacer of wood would have been used after every forth bar. I have copied this pattern onto the "skin" of the casemate pieces.

Onto the horizontal armor the vertical outer layer would be laid. The pre-punched/drilled holes would line up with the wood spacer. In this way, the holes only needed to line up with the wooden spacers, and not other holes. I have made the iron armor bars with the bolt heads. The modeler will need to glue these to 1mm card and cut each one out, edge color with blue and (brown/red rust) and glue in place, always starting from the center of the panel and from the top of the casemate down. That is to say, trim each piece fa little bit until the piece lines up. Adding the armor will be done after the casemate has been set into the deck, because the bars should extend over the casemate/knuckle seam.

I have some shots of the process below.

If this works out it will give a real nice look with the armor ready to pop out in real 3-d.

[Knife]

Looks like you are fleshing out the model really well. The interior shots give a good picture of the cramped conditions in the ironclads. It's even worse on the Arkansas, since it has twice the number of guns. On the Arkansas, the stove is one deck below the gun deck. I wonder if the Palmetto State had the stove on the gun deck to heat shot prior to firing?

I'm amazed at the speed you show in designing this ship. I worked all day today and only got 11 frames designed on my model. I still have no idea how I'm going to build up the casemate, so you are way ahead of me.

Can't wait to see your design finished, keep up the good work.