CSS Tennessee Digital Model

[Cpl. Smith]

Have you gotten any farther?

 

[Ptarmigan]

I think that you have done a wonderful job but I was under the impression that the vent cowlings were fitted by the Union navy after her capture to improve habitability onboard.

 

[OwenRichards]

I've been busy with other projects at the moment, but I'm still working on this.

I think you are right about the funnels.

 

[kevin klein]

I like how these ships can be rendered in color photo realism. Are you going to make a physical model? Why did the late monitor turrets have a roof that made them look like a corn crib? That has always mystified me.

 

[OwenRichards]

It's relatively easy to export a model that you can print out on a 3D Printer. It does require some alterations, but it's very doable. I have a friend who has a 3D printer and have managed to print out my Albemarle model, but he has run into some ill-health recently so that has stopped till he improves.

Once he's better ( or I get my own 3D printer) then Ironclads can start rolling off the ways again!

I'm not sure what you mean about the corncrib roofs. Did you mean when they were laid up in ordinary at the end of their lives?

I think that could be an actual corn-crib roof. The tops of the monitor turrets had a gridwork roof. I imagine they put those on top to keep out any damaging water when it rained. At this point, the ships were laid up and not in any kind of active service. The roof would be just to protect the empty, un-manned vessel from water damage. If for any reason they would have been properly re-activated, then the roofs and those vent horns would all have come off.

 

[kevin klein]

Thanks Owen, that clears things up about the monitors. Designing and 3-D printing is an incredible technilogical event, I actualy envisioned that many years ago, now if only I can tell who will win the big games in the future. If I had a 3-D printer there would probably be a clutter storm of little models all over the place, I guess I will stick with the old analog way.

What is the scale of the printed model?

 

[OwenRichards]

3D printing is in it's infancy. Over the next few years, quality will skyrocket and prices will fall. A freind of mine has a filament printer, which is what I used to get this print. The Albemarle has a very rough surface as it was one of the first prints we did and they take some amount of calibration and tweaking to get to the right quality point.

Here are some German WWII Shnellboot models that were done after calibration, with a pull-top for scale.

The Albemarle is 20.8 centimetres long, which puts her at about 1/23 scale.

 

[OwenRichards]

I'm still working on this. This isn't the Tennessee, obviously, but I'm working on updating the textures on the models to make them more realistic. This is all going to take some time, but I'm still plugging away.

 

[Woodstock74]

Not to distract too much from the conversation, but regarding printing, consider a home resin printer. They certainly have the fidelity that FDMs, and the like, don't. Here is a 1/192 scale Armstrong 100-Ton Gun I drew and printed at home just this weekend:

 

[OwenRichards]

Had a lot of work on, but finally got back to this. Updated the Chikasaw/Winnebago.
Once the texturing on her is done, I've got the Union ironclad lineup complete.

 

[OwenRichards]

Found some information, that indicates that the Tecumseh had a different colour scheme than I originally thought.
This is how it appears that she looked like!

I've rendered her on the dawn of the battle, with her decks clear and building steam for the push into Mobile Bay.

The other Union ironclads are textured. I'll try and put together some kind of group render. Stay tuned!

 

[archieclement]

Was curious, is the boat in background at dock a specific boat?

 

[CWH1234]

I thought I'd show off what I have of my Tennessee model so far.

The idea is to create a scene with my Tecumseh model and make a small part of Mobile Bay on my hard drive.

This is what I've got so far. I'm going to continue working on this as time permits.
View attachment 264758
View attachment 264759
View attachment 264760

Holy smokes, I'd need to learn how to do this.

 

[OwenRichards]

archieclement - It's my model of the CSS Teaser that I used, but in this case she's supposed to be a just a generic steam tug.

CWH1234 - For most of the 3D work I use Blender, which is free software.