Non-waterline vessels

gman95687

Member
Does anyone know if any Civil War era Ironclad kits exist that are full hull and not just waterline kits and if so, where can they be purchased? Thanks!!!
 
J

Jim Nunn

PMI has a model of the USS Monitor that is a full hull kit. The model is in 1:100 scale and has a complete interior. I have seen a built up of the older kit in a smaller scale and it was stunning tons of detail. The down side is that this is an expensive kit and I believe PMI is the only dealer selling the model and PMI will close at the end of this year so if you want it you had better order it now.

http://papermodels.net/catalog/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=&products_id=1879

Jim Nunn
 

Don Erdmann

New Member
Ironclads

I suspect that the problem is that in most cases nobody has any accurate ideas what the underwater parts of most of the Confederate ironclads looked like. Six (or so) were built on existing hulls and possibly could be reconstructed from them. The CSS Manassis was built on a tugboat, and maybe you could fake it with some generic tugboat hull. Like, let somebody prove you wrong! From what I read, things were pretty chaotic in the Confederacy, and things got lost. Don, Vancouver, USA
 

Ronson2k3

Member
Not to hard to find. I found some plans of the Ironclads. The reasoning behind them I'm thinking is the Armour Plating. They at the time didn't want to spend to much time making a full hull as the smiths and furnaces perhaps were ill equipped to handle that work. So they look like water line ships of todays modeling but that is actually how they were built. I think also they were designed that way so as to avoid the mined harbors of the time. With less hull in the water less chance of hitting/tripping a mine.

Plans of the USS Monitor
http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/h50000/h50954.jpg

The Merrimac CSS Virginia had a conventional wooden hull to which a Iron turret was added. In an effort to keep up with the 'New Technology' they had to work fast and couldn't get perhaps enough armoured iron to build an entire ship. Remember they were under embargo from the North and so what ever they had was what was on hand at the time of the declaration of sussesion.

Drawing of CSS Merrimac and USS Monitor
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25088/25088-h/images/plan11.png

Hope that helps.
 
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