CSS Hunley by Renova

You are doing a great job. It really inspires me. When I begins the build of my model, I will follow your build as my guide.

Thank you.

I notice you live Barcelona. I have a model of Sagrada Familia that I am building. What a beautiful church and beautiful city!
 

cjwalas

Member
This looks like a great build and your additional custom pieces really make a difference. Thanks for sharing your techniques!
Chris
 

lriera

Member
Thank you. I agree with you, both are beautiful.

Gaudí was a modernist magician with wood, iron and stone. And Barcelona as you know, is a peaceful, modern and midsize city to live in. Again, thank you.

And about your build. I am learning a lot with all your craftmanship and explanations.

Please, keep sharing a so great build.
 
I am really excited by this build. I'll show some pics of the prop and prop shroud as well as how I dealt with these. After that, it's a matter of putting the torpedo together and adding all the little parts!

My enthusiasm for this project stems from a little known television program that aired in the early 60's when I was a boy. It was a weekly show that presented profiles in history with 1 hour stories. I remember one about the Underground Railroad, but my favorite was a recreation of the Hunley's attack on the Housatonic. I have always been fascinated with its story.

Thanks all for your interest in my build. I just love doing this!
 

logicman

Greybeard
I'm following this with great interest.

I have always been interested in the history of technology, and the Hunley is justly famous in the history of submarines. The crew were incredibly brave.

Good work so far.:thumb::thumb::thumb:

:wave:
 
Hunley on TV

For those interested, I did some internet research because that TV episode about the Hunley was playing on my mind. The television show was a series that featured episodes covering famous people and historical events. It aired on CBS, Friday nights during the 63-64 season and was called, "The Great Adventure." According to InDb the episode entitled "Hunley" aired 27 September 1963 (Season 1, Episode 1) and featured Jackie Cooper (from Our Gang comedies and who later played the editor of the Daily Planet in the first Superman movie in the 80's) as Lieutenant Dickson, Gene Evans as Sergeant Winn, George Lindsey, Stephen Lodge, James MacArthur (of Hawaii Five-O fame) as Lieutenant Alexander, and Wayne Rogers (of TV's MASH fame) as Tombs. Van Heflin, a Hollywood veteran narrated the series.

I was (and remain) such a history geek that I watched every episode. I was only 11.

Relief, now I can sleep at night!
 

Patty

King of Swaziland
Nice Hunley, i had to one for a school project, wished it turned out as nice as yours. Oh, By the Way, i am Gainer, but i logged out and forgot my pass word. :(
 
I almost forget it, in your build of the Sagrada Familia, if you needs any information, ask me. :thumb:

Thank you so much. That is very kind of you. I have put that aside so I can concentrate on Hunley. But, I will finish it after the Hunley and post more pictures. It is a beautiful building!
 
Prop Shroud

Next on the list is creating the prop shroud. Renova provides parts that must be doubled for strength, glued, then curved to the correct diameter. This is a tedious chore fraught with opportunity to make the part look like crud! Here is how I made my own:

1. I measured the total length of the Renova parts to find the circumference of the finished shroud. With the formula, C= 3.142 x diameter, I calculated a finished diameter of 1.25".
2. I fished around the parts box and found an undersized cylindrical container.
3. I wrapped it with card, not spiral wrap, but consecutive wraps to obtain a constant diameter. You can see the seams in the photo. Checking with a vernier caliper, I layered card until I reached the desired diameter.
4. I cut two pieces of card, one a tad longer than the circumference and trimmed it to fit. The other I cut .1" longer than the first and trimmed that one to fit over the first.
5. I colored them both and assembled them, staggering the seams 180 degrees apart, with Tacky Glue.
6. Finally I brushed on a couple of coats of normal viscosity superglue to make a rigid structure.

I will set it aside while I work on the prop.
 

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redhorse

Member
Every time I check in on this one I learn something new. These detailed instructions are really good and the build is looking great. Thanks!
 
Paper rolling

As a follow up to my last installment, I wanted to back up a bit and show you how I accomplished the replacement of the hatch covers by creating compound curved surfaces without seams. Paper is a flat medium with poor tensile strength and limited malleability. However, even with poor malleability, it can still be shaped into compound surfaces. If you take into account its limitations, you can successfully shape even complex curves like propeller spinners and achieve a round, seamless curve. It just takes some work. For the Hunley’s hatch, I did a couple of videos that you can access on YouTube. They are titled Paper Rolling pt 1, Paper Rolling Pt 2; both are tagged “card modeling.” If you need a better resolution video, PM me with your email address and I will forward the originals to you.

1. In Paper Rolling pt 1, you will see my showing my rolling surface. It is a piece of mouse pad rubber backed with a used section of LetraMax 2000 mechanical board. I have posted about this material as an excellent and cost-effective replacement for the standard cardboard card modelers normally use. You will then see me using a tool I designed and made to roll cardstock. <object width="425" height="350"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/-yUJgn3YbWo"> </param> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/-yUJgn3YbWo" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"> </embed> </object>

2. In Paper Rolling pt. 2, I have soaked the previously rolled card in Hot Fuel Proof Thinner to soften the fibers without destroying them. Thinner is not compatible with the binders used in paper manufacture. So, the card softens, making it more pliable, but it doesn’t fall apart. Please note that in both videos I am gradually using more force as I roll the paper. <object width="425" height="350"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/QCl0dWhT7rU"> </param> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/QCl0dWhT7rU" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"> </embed> </object>

3. This is the tool that I made for the big work. The different armatures turn inside the bearings which prevents the card from tearing. You can make similar tools from birch dowel stock available at your hardware store. Shape them to the desired profile with sandpaper and finish sand them to 320 grit. Coat the dowel with polyurethane lacquer so that the dowel rolls around without tearing the card.

4. For the really small work, I still use, from left to right, a dental tool (ask your dentist for used ones), a ceramics detailing tool (ceramics store), and a Letraset letter embossing tool (dickblick.com).
 

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B-Manic

Peripheral Visionary
The custom embossing tools look very practical. I think I'll get the guys in the shop to make me some of those. Thanks . . .
 
The Prop

The Prop

It’s the little details that add up to make a crisp and professional looking model. If you haven’t figured out by now, seams drive me nuts and I do everything I can to minimize them, even in the places where you might expect to see them. The simple fact is that at these small scales, seams aren’t usually visible on the real articles. Then again I grew up in the church of IPMS plastic modeling and old habits die hard.

I built the prop hub as is from the Renova parts. I liked the blades, but no matter how I fiddled and trimmed the actual hub, I couldn’t get it to look right. You can see this is photo 1. Right next to it, photo #2, is the scratch built prop. Here is how I did it.

3. I chucked an old paint brush in my table top lathe (Taig Tools) and cut the ferrule off. I then used a sanding tool to get a rough shape.

4. Using the cut-off tool, I trimmed the wood shaft to the correct diameter, checking with a micrometer and marked the length.

5. The tip is cut to length.

6. The prop hub is shaped and sanded to a 400 grit finish and the shaft fitting cut to the correct diameter.

I finished the prop assembly by painting the hub black with a magic marker, attaching the blades with super glue and coating the assembly with clear flat from a rattle can.

Some of you may conclude you cannot achieve the same results. Not true! I started this kind of thing over 30 years ago, hand-holding my Dremel tool (any rotary tool) and using an X-Acto blade in the other to cut various shapes. I graduated from that process when I found an article in a very old issue of Popular Mechanics which had plans for making a lathe for a rotary tool. I redesigned those original plans and made my own using drafting lessons I learned at tech school. For about 12 years, Ninfinger productions has been hosting those and other of my plans. I am so pleased to say that they are still there: Ninfinger Productions: Scale Models

Make your own lathe and enter a new phase of modeling. Finally, before I ever made that lathe waaaay back in the early 90’s, I previously purchased my current Taig Tools lathe even “waaayer” back in the early 80’s without even having a notion of how to use it. I finally learned how to use it when I had to start teaching machine tool technology in high school in 1998. I took a course at my local tech school and got my machine tool certificate. Get some education! Integrate that education with your hobby for even greater creativity and enjoyment.
 

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Hull Mounts

Well, I failed to plan this and paid the price for it. I do not like bollards, the traditional method of mounting a ship to a display. To my mind, it makes the model look land locked. I prefer to see the ship in its natural element. So, I perfected a system years ago for mounting a ship which give the appearance that the ship is floating; another of my little modeling quirks.

Photo #1 I forgot to predrill my mounting holes in the keel. So, I am going to have to do some sanding to fix this. I usually predrill, then add brass or aluminum tubing to carry the load. The highlighted part of the photo shows my botched drilling job.

Photo #2 This is how I mount my ship models. When viewed from the front, the ship appears to float in mid-air. To my mind, it makes the ship appear more organic, in its element.
 

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Display Base

Display Base

Any model this nice deserves a display base. I finally settled on simulated cast iron hull plate with raised lettering.

1. I cut two sections of Letramax 2000 mechanical board oversize, pre-rolled them the same way we do card and laminated them with Elmers. I needed something large and cylindrical to give a semi-circular cross-section. There you have it; my water heater! Once the Elmer’s set, it was rigid and held its 10” radius cross-section. I trimmed it to size with a table saw.

2. I cut a reinforcing braces and supports and glued the hull plate on with Elmers, clamped it and allowed it to set for a couple of hours.

3. Meanwhile, I went to work on the raised lettering which I made from scrap expanded polyurethane foam sheet, which you can acquire at a sign shop. They are usually more than happy for you to carry away their scraps! I downloaded a free font, UrsaSerif, to create the “CSS Hunley” logo. After to enlarging it to a size that would fit within my 12” x 18” hull plate, I laminated the letters to the foam with 3M Super 77 spray adhesive and cut them out individually with my Hegner scroll saw. You can use a jeweler’s coping saw because the foam cuts cleanly and easily.

Check photo #3 to see that I wrapped 50 grit sandpaper around the finished hull form and sanded the backs of the letters to the correct profile.

4. This is the semi-finished hull plate with the letters epoxied in place. Before I affixed the letters, I drilled and countersunk a rivet pattern. Hunley’s plates were drilled, countersunk and riveted from inside out. The exterior of the rivet was filed and sanded flush with the surface.

Because cast iron has a slightly rough texture, I misted a coat of “granite in a can” (simulated rock out of a rattle can), let it sit a couple of minutes and wiped it back. It doesn’t show very well in the photo because of the flash. When I finish detailing the hull plate and letters, the beauty shot will show the texturing to good effect.
 

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Prop Shroud and Rudder

Not much activity on this post, so here is the latest work to peak your interest. I have mounted all of the parts previously assembled to make up the prop shroud and rudder. You will notice the brass elements; why roll paper when you can use other materials?
 

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