Years ago I put together a set of rules on this time period. It was in 1/48th & 1/35th scale depending on the scale you wanted to play in. The organization was called Civil Warship Combat Club or CWCC for short. I did all of this out of my own pocket. There was a rule book and I had a newsletter called Ironclad. Some of the guys are still around. Marty is one. Actually it was going pretty well till I got married. It came crashing down faster than the Hindenburgh. I have sent the rules off by mail to a few of the people who are interested. I have opened this thread to anyone who might be interested in this period and wants to talk about it. It is a very interesting time period.
Hey Dan...I have a USS Cario waiting to be built in my work room. I can play when you get thing organized. (Hmmm...you can help me with that along side of the RM Roma. []
God forgive me for I know not what I do. I am sorry I did not mention I did this. I also have a Cairo,Chocktaw,a Confederate Ironclad bigger than the Neuse,and a 1/35th scale Monitor. I had an Atlanta and a Milwaukee (Double Turreted River Monitor ) long gone.
I love ACW ships and have always liked the idea of combat for this period - but wasn't sure how viable it was. I have a monitor that Mikey Deskin gave me, I was about to build it as a camera ship but would consider it as a combat vessel - although I believe it came out to 1/75?
That scale is rather small.1/48th scale was chosen because if you go larger a ship like the New Ironsides would be like building a Yamato to 1/72nd scale.To large. Also I found lots of plans in 1/48th scale back in the day. I am not sure about now. Taubeman plan service has some of these plans listed in their cataloge.
So is it in 1/35 or 1/48? Can you lay out some of the basics for us? (gun size, ramming, speed)? Not asking you to recreate the whole rulebook in a post, but just curious about the big pic stuff. I know that several people have mentioned how cool it would be to have a War of Northern Agression*/Civil War naval combat hobby. *speaking tongue in cheek; the only way the South has risen again was to inflict NASCAR on the rest of the nation!
You had a choice of scales. It depended on what your group wanted.Ramming is ramming. Not much to talk about there. Work calls now. I will be back on line at about 6-7pm Pacific and give you speed,gun sizes,balsa thickness.
OPS, I had posted this in the wrong place. So here it is in the right place: Yes, Dan, I find that the American Civil War is a very fascinating period. It changed the warfare forever. From wooden ship sailing ship to steam power, iron clad ships with turrets. From single shot muskets to machine guns. Air power played a part and so did submarines. It set the stage for trench warfare that last through World War 1. The largest US Sailing warship during the American civil war was the USS Pennsylvania, a 3241-ton (burden) 120-gun ship of the line, 210 feet long. She was the largest sailing ship ever built for the US Navy! The Largest warship in the US Navy at the time was the USS Niagara. (A steam Frigate) She was only 328’ 10” long. Hey, those would have been some good questions for the trivia thread! I captain a Mogador, she is over 575 feet long and it is too small to arm everything. That is why I say civil war ships would have to be built to 1:48 scale.
I bought a USS Cairo kit some years back after visiting her museum in Vicksburg, Mississippi. She was sunk in December of 1963 after striking a mine while on patrol. She sank and was rediscovered in the deep river mud in 1956. She had all her cannons and even though most of the wood had disinigrated, she was in remarkable shape. She was subsequently turned into a museum at the Vicksburg National Military Park where she can be seen today. Lots of photos and history about this gunboat on the web and it was really neat to see what sailors of the Civil War era used to battle on the rivers with. The company that sold the kit is still on the web, but when I checked today, the site was under construction again. The business builds the kits using fiberglass hulls and gives parts for construction which are pretty simplified. The instructions are very basic and it tells how the kits can be used for battling or the cannons used to “shoot” powder which would simulate their firing. They have a lot of Union and Confederate kits as Dan can attest to. Specifications Displacement 512 tons Length 175 ft Beam 51 ft 2 in Draft 6 ft Propulsion Steam engine driving a single paddle wheel Speed 4 knots Complement 251 officers and men Armament 6 × 32 pounder cannons 3 × 8 in smoothbore cannons 4 × 42 pounder rifled cannons 1 × 12 pounder howitzer http://www.rcnavalcombat.com/FileManager/Storage/633652224864313750.png http://www.rcnavalcombat.com/FileManager/Storage/633652226448220000.png http://www.rcnavalcombat.com/FileManager/Storage/633652225317126250.png []
You wouldn't be speaking of Columbus Ironworks would you? www.combatships.com I used to talk to him via email quite regularly about helping him get a good club and site going. He eventually said he was about to retire, and so things were on hold until then. After he retired, all he said was that business was bad. Since then, all I've heard is from updates on his site that said no more kits would be produced. The site actually went down for a while - not sure if he forgot to renew it, or purposefully took it down. Either way, I'm wondering what he'll come up with when the site gets back up!
Yes...that is the site. I tried to view it yeasterday and got the same message on the website. I thought his products were decent and could be made into some detailed kits if one took the time to do it. The sailing ship raider was cooool as was the cog that I think had a catapult!
OK. Here goes. I will give info on balsa here first. Balsa sheeting Application 1/32nd inch Any barge or raft 1/16 inch All wooden vessels 3/32 inch Tin Clad 1/8 inch Ironclad vessel,Monitor hulls,Floating Forts 3/16 inch Monitor turrets 1/4 inch Forts Frames Can be up to 1/4 inch inclusive. You may put the frames where the plans show.If you need an extra frame or two for a bend area put it in. Common sense You know do not put frames a 1/2 inch apart. Again common sense people. Decks. If there is a rise in the deck it must be balsa material. EG. Milwaukee class. Always use the maximum thickness of the hull for this.If it is level then plywood. Max thickness 1/4 inch. Next thread will be on Gun classifications (size of shot)[]
OOps! The order in the rule book was speed next Speed chart 100 foot course Knots 1/48th scale Alternate scale 1/35th 1-2 3 minutes 25 seconds 2 minutes 47 seconds 3-4 1 minute 42 seconds 1 minute 23 seconds 5-6 1 minute 8 seconds 55 seconds 7-8 51 seconds 41 seconds 9-10 41 seconds 33 seconds 11-12 34 seconds 27 seconds 13-14 29 seconds 24 seconds 15-16+ 27 seconds 22 seconds Alternate scale is used if you feel the vessels are too slow. Any vessel using sails and prop or paddle wheels are not govern by the above chart. Guns and more tomorrow.
I also have met the gentleman who found the Cairo and over saw the recovery of her. Mr. Burns. He also wrote a book called the Hard Luck Ironclad going into detail about this. Autographed my copy.
I want to also mention about plans. Click on to this site. Maryland Silver Company. Do a Yahoo search. They have not only Civil War but,many others of interest.In the future I will list books that I have that are very useful for this time period.
[8] I do not know this mess came up. If you reply to this it comes up the way I typed it up. Sorry[V]
You can do quick reply (type in the box at the bottom of the page); reply to topic, similar to quick reply but with more options; or you can click reply with quote, which includes the text of the message you clicked. If I were not occupied with the VUs and the WWCC, I would be building a screw frigate or something similar. Sailing is interesting, and the screw would help when the wind isn't cooperating.
