CSS Manassas - Digital Model

[Kazziga]

I love it!

 

[dlavin]

Great images

 

[georgew]

I've been itching to get some more ACW stuff done recently. So I chucked the Manassas into Substance Painter to see what it could do. I'm pleased with the results.

I'm shocked that it's been YEARS since the last post.

It's not intentional.

Just a couple of thoughts. The forward gun position needs to be a bit aft. The shape of the bow is probably too long and graceful. Her original bow featured a wedge-shaped ram sticking out about 5 feet and 3 feet under water. After it was broken in three pieces at Head of Passes, the bow as redone in a dock at Algiers. Think of the original Enoch Train bow with additional planking on the outside and a vertical "cleaver" ram faced with railroad iron, similar to the later River Defense rams. I think you have the forward hatch about right in size and shape and several sketches of the time show one or two vertical supports when open. I like your treatment of the twin funnels. They were sheet iron and weighed about 1600 lbs ea. I applaud your attention to detail regarding the presence of chimneys for the doctor boiler and the new galley installed after she was purchased by the CS Navy. Your depiction of the knuckle seems very close to the detail from a sketch by Horrie Dent when she was in dry dock after Head of Passes. There are no reports that they were hollow and used as "blisters" for addition buoyancy, so they were probably solid timber. The edge of the knuckle may or may not have had a curved edge. In terms of economy and reductions in labor, there may have been a heavily timbered band or wale with flat rr iron bolted or spiked on. This feature would normally be under water and observers may not have known what it looked like. One irritating fact is that no one seems to done any period illustrations of how her pilot house aft may have been modified after Head of Passes. Dent's sketch gives the impression that accounts claiming the existence of a stern chaser position aft, modified as the pilot's station are true. Dent depicts a set of stairs leading up to the hatch opening and back down the other side aft into the stern. He also seems to imply that the hatch for the pilot's station was similar to the hatch for the forward gun, but hinged in the opposite direction so that the inside of the forward portion stuck up in the air. We know that the Hughes yard did some "molding" so the longitudinal run of the strap iron may have been bent to the profile of the upper hull. The addition of the knuckles probably reduced the amount of bending of the rail on the central portion of the upper hull. Simple geometry implies that the ironing at the extremities of the vessel would require a different pattern and number of rails. I suspect these are the area that were molded by Hughes' blacksmith shop at the yard. Anyway, both illustrations are well done. Thanks for doing them.

 

[OwenRichards]

Thank you very much! I'll try to rework the bow as per your suggestion. Can you point me in the direction of this sketch of her in drydock by Mr. Dent?

I got the impression from a number of contemporary sketches that were posted on Andy's thread that the 'pilot house' was in the back, and may have been more like a proper structure than what I have made. I had a wild idea that it might even be more like a modern sailing yacht's pilot station, but I couldn't believe that they would go into battle with a partially open wheel station!

 

[AndyHall]

DaveBrt - Yes, I'm not happy at all with them at the moment. It's one thing that would be relatively easy to create in a 'real' model by gluing strips to the hull. It's fairly difficult to get the texture of the rails to conform to the hull without distortion on a digital model. I might have to cut them in as 'real' geometry. This is first on my list of things to fix.

This is, in large part, the reason I let my model of Manassas languish-- I couldn't figure out how to do it with textures without significant distortion, and modeling them individually (read: every one a different compound curved surface) made the rendering engine make strange and ominous noises.

 

[OwenRichards]

That awful moment when the shrill whine of failing bearings in your CPU fan is causing your dog to cry. Then your phone goes with an unlisted number...

"Uhhh, hello, who is this?"

"Cappn, she canna take no more uh this I tell ye!"

 

[Mark F. Jenkins]

This is, in large part, the reason I let my model of Manassas languish-- I couldn't figure out how to do it with textures without significant distortion, and modeling them individually (read: every one a different compound curved surface) made the rendering engine make strange and ominous noises.

That's a still from the open of "City on the Edge of Forever," second season.

Sorry.

 

[rebelatsea]

That's a still from the open of "City on the Edge of Forever," second season.

Sorry.

You two have gone down in my estimation now. LOL.

 

[Shermanwasaterrorist]

I've been itching to get some more ACW stuff done recently. So I chucked the Manassas into Substance Painter to see what it could do. I'm pleased with the results.

I'm shocked that it's been YEARS since the last post.

It's not intentional.

Awesome awesome and awesome!!!!!!
***4" rails or 4' rails be danged*** you my friend have talent. As a graphic designer myself I tiff my bitmap hat to you. Great prelims look forward to the "finished" (although no artist is ever satisfied with any finished piece) work.

 

[OwenRichards]

LOL, thank you!

I'm still working on the rails. I have to make some alterations to the bow as well it appears. No graphics work is ever finished, only abandoned .

Can someone point me towards that illustration of the Manassas in drydock?

 

[OwenRichards]

Improved things and got some more renders done.

 

[7th Mississippi Infantry]

Improved things and got some more renders done.

Spectacular !

 

[OldReliable1862]

Improved things and got some more renders done.

I'm not sure why, but I find the Manassas adorable.

Speaking of adorable, I wish they made Civil War naval bathtub toys when I was little.

 

[nitrofd]

Really looking good.

 

[rebelatsea]

Improved things and got some more renders done.

Just WOW>