As a few of you already know, I've taken a liking to some older subjects & have started building USS Tecumseh (&/or Manhattan), a Civil War era Canonicus monitor that gave Adm. Farragut reason to give us that famous quote, "Damn the torpedos, FULL SPEED AHEAD!" CSS Tennessee will follow & both will be equipped with air soft guns from Heng Long for some spirited battles in the pond outside my office.
I first have to say thanks to Steve Lund of Old Navy for his valued assistance & suggestions. If anyone is interested in Civil War ironclads & haven't already seen Steve & Bill Hathaway's book, you'll want to download their free book
Modeling Civil War Ironclad Ships http://walternelson.com/ironclads.pdf. Its referenced over on an earlier post with photos that I put up on their group
The Old Navy .
My son was to bring over my wood supplies last month, but left them behind due to concern over the TSA & Northwurst's baggage policy, so I ventured into Shanghai to meet up with fellow member & noted schooner enthusiast
TigerTiger & scoured the LHS for balsa & basswood. Luck was with me on the first store we visited, so I spent yesterday afternoon cutting out, trimming & gluing the hull sections. I'm doing a very simple built-up balsa hull which will be glassed with raft & deck then covered in Steve's riveted plate skins. Since ironclads are not meant to be speed demons, I'll either use a modified servo to drive the single prop or gear down a 380 motor.
Here are some photos of what she's supposed to look like along with a few of mine I took this evening while letting the glue dry. From all accounts, this looks to be a very fast build & easy lesson in scratch building for this neophyte while I continue on with finishing Yamato.
For you Brits, I'm already giving thought towards how best to cap off this small Civil War fleet & have already contacted the archivist in Birkenhead to get plans for the Laird Rams that were confiscated by Britain & served in the Royal Navy as HMS Wivern & Scorpion. Its between these two or the armored ram, CSS Stonewall, that was built in France & commissioned too late in 1864 to be used against the US blockade; she eventually was purchased by the Meiji government as Japan's first ironclad warship.
Chuck