Nashville class ironclad model 1:369 scale.

kevin klein

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Feb 10, 2019
I'm not shure if it is compleatly accurate but I did waht I could. After doing more research I think the stack is in the wrong place, RaS will let me know.

The last picture is a tintype photo I made of the model.

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That's really nicely done, but why that scale?
When making the monitors I used 3/4" dowel for the turret, taking the diamater of the actual turret (ft.) and multiplying by 12 then deviding by .75 gave me 369. The numbers 3,6,9, also happen to be Nikola Tesla's favorite numbers.
 
Great job. I have always been interested in the CSS Nashville as she was here in Demopolis for a time and was scuttled just south of here. Have been looking for photos but to no avail. All I could find were sketches of her.
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Great job. I have always been interested in the CSS Nashville as she was here in Demopolis for a time and was scuttled just south of here. Have been looking for photos but to no avail. All I could find were sketches of her.
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Thanks for posting the scetches. The second one looks like there was a support structure on the paddle boxes, a detail I have'nt seen before, interesting.
 
Great job. I have always been interested in the CSS Nashville as she was here in Demopolis for a time and was scuttled just south of here. Have been looking for photos but to no avail. All I could find were sketches of her.
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The first sketch is actually one version of CSS Pheonix, the second appeared in Canney's Confederate Navy and doesn't make sense, as it seems to be at least two ships run together. I have covered the CSN's paddle wheel ironclads in a previous thread.
 
The diagonal beams on the second picture look a little like anti hogging chain supports and there is no evidence of the very large pilot house present on either picture. I would have expected to see anti hogging devices present on such a long paddle ships hull. It is difficult to see where else the funnel could have gone anyway , The model looks very good to me, like John I congratulate you on the complexity of the armour around the paddleboxes , not an easy aspect to get looking right, the only thing I can't get my head around is the large size of the pilothouse.
 
The diagonal beams on the second picture look a little like anti hogging chain supports and there is no evidence of the very large pilot house present on either picture. I would have expected to see anti hogging devices present on such a long paddle ships hull. It is difficult to see where else the funnel could have gone anyway , The model looks very good to me, like John I congratulate you on the complexity of the armour around the paddleboxes , not an easy aspect to get looking right, the only thing I can't get my head around is the large size of the pilothouse.
Thank you,I had seen some drawings and plans show the pilot house as spanning the top deck of the casemate, I adopted this as a visual element, also not being shure of the proper size as there where diferent examples depicted. Being there are no actual plans or photographs of this type of ship it could be an acceptable interpitation.
 
The first sketch is actually one version of CSS Pheonix, the second appeared in Canney's Confederate Navy and doesn't make sense, as it seems to be at least two ships run together. I have covered the CSN's paddle wheel ironclads in a previous thread.
Hi John, Nashville has always been described as not strong enough to be fully ironed. I've never seen paddle box supports depicted like this. I'm wondering if the fore and aft timbers might also function as hogging trusses? The projection from the bow may be an attempt to depict a spar torpedo deployed.
 
"Being there are no actual plans or photographs of this type of ship it could be an acceptable interpitation."

Kevin , it could well be that this is correct and as I have not seen the same number of pictures as you have , the ones I have seen don't show a pilothouse at all but that isn't to say there wasn't one I just thought that the size of it looked a little odd that's all.
 
"Being there are no actual plans or photographs of this type of ship it could be an acceptable interpitation." Kevin , it could well be that this is correct and as I have not seen the same number of pictures as you have , the ones I have seen don't show a pilothouse at all but that isn't to say there wasn't one I just thought that the size of it looked a little odd that's all.
"Being there are no actual plans or photographs of this type of ship it could be an acceptable interpitation." Kevin , it could well be that this is correct and as I have not seen the same number of pictures as you have , the ones I have seen don't show a pilothouse at all but that isn't to say there wasn't one I just thought that the size of it looked a little odd that's all.
I think a lot of what we see in available representations is educated guess work and interpitation. To say anything goes may not be the thing to do but you work with what you have, and often times a more accurate revilation presents it self afterwards. It is a trickey thing working with unknowns, (artistic liscense ?).
 
Hello Kevin,

Excellent model of the Nashville, it captures her unique appearance and unusual paddlewheel boxes. As you've mentioned above there are a number of sketches that don't always agree with each other. The inconsistencies could be due to the artist's view of the ship (from a distance), or from the time of the sketch (while being outfitted vs. as commissioned, etc.). I have seen one sketch depict a smaller pilot house just aft of the forward shield while another depicts it as an extension of the shield and much larger. Both could be correct as they may depict the vessel at different times.

One of the great rumors in the CSN community is that her plans were part of the Warner collection at the CWNM in Columbus. They were given as part of the original donation back in the early 1960s but have long vanished. Whether a collector or researcher ran off with them or they were misplaced and destroyed, no one seems to know. This is akin to the son of the Eastport's primary contractor offering the drawings of her CSN conversion to the Tennessee Historical Society in 1923 and they have no record of receiving them. One can muse all day about what has been lost from this conflict as well as more recent ones.

Anyway, besides the known sketches, there is a photograph that shows a very limited view of the Nashville postwar in New Orleans. Only her funnel, uppermost casemate, hog braces, and paddleboxes can be discerned. But it does add to our limited knowledge of the vessel. The hog braces were placed at an angle and the chains appear to run across the beam, not longitudinal, and attach at each end of the paddle boxes. This makes sense as her hull beam was 62', and overall width across the paddle box's armored sponsons was around 95'. It would require transverse hog brace & chain support to properly suspend those heavy sponsons on either beam. That width with her length would give her an almost 3:1 length to beam ratio and certainly contribute to her appearance as a 'monster' of an ironclad.

While no plans are known to currently exist a schematic diagram of her gundeck, with measures was submitted for approval when planning her armament. Of interest one can always identify her ends from any perspective using the following details: the forward shield had two gunports and aft shield only one gunport. The two broadside gunports ahead of the wheel were spaced 17'6" apart. The broadside gunports aft of the wheel were spaced 13'5" apart. In addition, the forward shield was 31'5" wide and the aft shield 27' wide (all from NA-1091 reel 10, plate 747). I do believe her funnel was aft of the wheels and of course, boats would have been mounted aft.

I do enjoy your work, please continue to post your projects.

All the best,
Bil
 
Thank you bil for your information. As an enthusiast and not an expert on this subject I welcome and enjoy finding out new and different aspects and information on it. I did question to myself how the paddle boxes might have been held in place with out pulling them selves off "V" shaped support holding up the chain at each end of sponsons? I might have to fix that. What you mentioned makes sense and corresponds with the sketch that shows like what you described. A nice little wealth of information as well. I would like to see the photo if you have that.
 
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