USS Chickasaw Part 9: Stern-O-Plasty

Posted March 31st, 2013 by Devin and filed in Civil War, Ironclads and Gunboats, Modeling, USS Chickasaw

I’d planned on the joining of the upper and lower hulls on Chickasaw to be an ordeal, but it wasn’t as bad in some respects as I’d expected, but was worse in other respects.  While Chickasaw doesn’t have the full “raft over a lower hull” arrangement of the original Monitor or her follow-on Passaic class ironclads, it does exist.  While building the lower hull, I exerted too much moisture and force in getting the sheeting applied, and completely removed the curve from the lower hull.  I wasn’t prepared to clamp the two hulls together in an effort to straighten the problem out, as that would have just caused more.  My resolution in the photos below…

 

2 Responses to “USS Chickasaw Part 9: Stern-O-Plasty”

  1. Kirk Funk says:

    I’ve always been interested in the early iron ships, and in junior high built my own Monitor, and Merrimac in shop out of sheet metal. I like your Chickasaw, and wanted to know where you got the plans to build it, and if it is something I can get to build myself.

    Thanks, a fan,

    Kirk

  2. Devin says:

    Kirk,
    Thanks! The model is actually from a 3D computer model that was exported, laser cut into plywood, and then the frame and some sheeting was all assembled. I’m not sure what plans the initial designer used, but there was some extrapolation in the process. I’ve never been able to find any detailed drawings of Chickasaw. There are basic overall line drawings of the concept and the initial builder loft plans in Canney’s “The Old Steam Navy: Part II”, and there’s a guy on eBay that sells as DavesDryDock that will sometimes have larger sheets of those same rudimentary drawings.

    The guy who did the 3D model that this is based off of is working on upscaling her and after that he may offer the thing as a “kit” that you can buy directly from the laser cutter: you’d get sheets of laser cut wood shipped to you. I’ll definitely mention here when that’s ready to go.

    Take care,

    -Devin

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