CSS Columbia

[paperboy]

Hey Guys

I'm starting work on my second Confederate ironclad, the Columbia. This was a powerful 215 ft. ironclad built in Charleston SC in 1864. The Columbia was covered with 6in plate and armed with Brooke banded cannons. One 10 in Brooke was on display at the Washington Navy yard. The Columbia hit a submerged wreck near Ft. Moultrie and broke its back in January 1865. It was repaired and taken to Washington after the war. Curiously there were no photos made of it as were the Albemarle,Atlanta and Tennessee by Union forces.
As to the model, I've begun the keel and hull ribs and will be posting as I work.

Vernon

[Ziga]

That's great to see another CS Navy ironclad being built! I've been researching them for a long time and it's a shame that there are so few photos available. I will check your progress very often

[Gregory Shoda]

Hmmm. Confederate ironclads on the half-shell? Looking forward to your work. I love Civil War ships. Any thoughts of a later timberclad?

[westmalle8]

Looks to be yet another fantastic model. Please keep us posted.

Westmalle8

[lriera]

I will follow your build with great interest.

Thank you.

[paperboy]

Just a picture of the full hull to show and I'll get the main deck on and do some touch up work to the hull ribs. Its not a ironclad on a half shell any longer. Ha


Vern

[paperboy]

Hey the deck is on. Now I've got to figure the pivot gun positions and cover the hull. Great fun!
Vernon

[loadmat]

Awesome Modeling - I am gathering info. to convert a stearnwheeler model into a "tinclad". I ran across these ships when I was doing research for ironclads. I really enjoy ACW maritime subjects. I'll enjoy following ths-is thread.

[paperboy]

Hi all

I've had a little time to work on my model of the Columbia and here's a picture to show progress. I've cut templates for the casemate and have to pierce them for the guns. also I made templates for the lower knuckle and hull and will sheath it this week. Have a great week all.

Vernon

[col. kurtz]

hwere can i get this model id love to build it looks excellent !!

[gman95687]

Yes,these Ironclads are awesome! are any of them available for download?

[KenG]

Looks great! What did use to color the deck? --Ken

[Elliott]

If I'm not very much mistaken, Vernon designs these himself. As you can see he does excellent work.

[paperboy]

Hi Ron

The colour is called Goldenrod and is made by Prismacolor. I color in the whole deck area that is lined for deck planks and then detail it. as for durability I have watched other decks done the same way and after several years they still look great.

The models aren't available commercially, they are scratchbuilt. I've wanted to have a model of the Charleston ironclads and other ships for awhile and either none were available or they were 1/700 scale or cost alot. I'm working my way through the Charleston ironclads kind of like Gregg Shoda is working his way through the pre-dreadnought battleships. his scratchbuilding has been an inspiration to me. There are a few more complicated ships that I want to build such as the USS Charleston C-2,the USS South Carolina BB-26,SMS Kaiser Barbarossa a Kaiser FriedrichIII class linenschiffe,CSS Nashville/Rattlesnake and HMS Guerriere. These are the ones in my head and maybe if I live long enough I'll do them. Now mixed in there are the kits that I've bought of the Seydlitz,Scharnhorst,Bismarck,Prinz Eugen,Leipzeig,Indianapolis,Saratoga,Thuringen,Wie n and some airplanes that I'll get around to eventually. wow now I'll go and work on the hull.

Vern

[herrmill]

Vern,

You are doing a great job on Columbia! I happened across this site while researching CSS Tennessee which was based on the same class & fought in the Battle of Mobile Bay. I don't build card models, but focus on RC models, mainly kits, but am getting my feet wet in scratch building with 1/72 versions of Tennessee as well as USS Tecumseh, a Canonicus monitor.

I'm got a great set of plan & templates for the monitors & am building Tennessee off a Mahmood papermodel, but don't have a good hull drawing with cross sectionals to adequately do the job. Did you do your own drawing as indicated above or are using the Tennessee plans that are available from Taubmans or Maryland Silver?

Chuck