bdgiantman2

Thanks Chuck! Great to hear! Glad you’re planning on continuing your support of us for many years to come. I retired 7 years ago after 32 years with my company. Those years passed WAY FASTER than I originally thought they would. You’ve been a tremendous resource for me after being away from model making for decades. Thank you for all you do!!!

Alaskan yellow cedar.

Hi everyone, I started working on furled sails on my Badger build and posted a mini summary on my Badger build log.  At the suggestion of a couple of friends, I thought it might be helpful to repost my technique here on this forum, instead of it possibly being buried in my build log.
 
Here are the pictures of the topgallant yards, which still can use a bit of tweezer work before being set with diluted PVA.  I think there's some room for improvement, but overall I was pleased with how the furled sails are coming out.  I'd love to hear of other techniques or possible suggestions for enhancements.    Thanks!
 
 
 

Johnhoward (Part 2),
 
I was able to get pictures inside the museum as well.
 
For your viewing pleasure.
 
Ships Bell. I took these from all angles so that I can get my representation correct. One of the cool stories of the bell is that when it was discovered during the salvage, an air bubble trapped in it from 1862 was released and travelled to the surface.






 
Original cannon carriage with a fiberglass mock up of a burst barrel.


 
Deck Howitzer from the USS Pittsburgh. The Cairo's Howitzer was removed shortly before Cdr. Selfridge took command, so it was not on board at the time of its sinking.


 
Many of the artifacts on display in the museum.



 
One of the copper clad lanterns used in the powder magazine.










 
Original wood fabric and display model.


Cutaway model.



 
Cairo's Bilge pump.

 
One of my favorites. This painting hangs behind the front desk of the museum. I am not sure of the artist, but what intrigued me was the frame was made from some of the original wood taken from the Cairo.

 
-Brian

Great story, Brian! What an amazing experience, glad that you and your wife were able to reach out to those men at the museum like that and go behind the scenes. I am a little jealous, I confess -- LOL.
 
Question for you: Looking at the pictures provided of the grapeshot, I am guessing that they are eighteen inches to two feet in length and probably 6-8 inches in diameter??
 
Keep up this amazing model, you are doing a very accurate job and I enjoy following this thread.
 
Brian D.

Mark, these memories will definitely last a lifetime. I am right there with you. With so many people out there trying to to erase certain parts of our history (apologies if that sounded political) it would be a shame if this piece suffered that fate. It's is a beautiful exhibit, one that every one should see.
 
Keith, love what you did there with the pun. 😁 I still have a hard time believing my luck or fate, whichever way you want to look at it. I just look back and think that I wasn't even going to go back into the museum to see if Ray was there on the second day or not, and to run into him as we were leaving. It was just meant to be. The funny thing is that the day before, I was telling my wife, as we were standing at the stern of the ship, how much I would love to get down there and take some up close pictures.
 
The pieces are a true treasure. They will go along nicely with the Adm. Selfridge signature that you guided me to, to go along with my display. I just need to figure out how I am going to fit it all in and show it properly.
 
Snug Harbor Johnny, That is some very interesting information. I had not heard of the Hunley being made from a converted boiler tube, but it does make sense. The Hunley was definitely cramped for space. Not sure if that would be on my list for a scratch build. I have several projects in the works once my Cairo is completed. But you neve know, it would be an interesting build.
 
Eric, I was more than happy to share my experience, especially with those that can truly appreciate it. I know what you mean about placing a face to a person. I took over a new group with my company back in September last year. We are a 100% work remote group and I have yet to see what anyone on my team looks like. I like knowing what the person on the other end of the line looks like. Most of us on MSW know each other by what our hands look like, since that is usually all we get to see of them. 😁 I miss following your builds, hopefully you can recover soon and get back to building.
 
Pat, My pleasure. I do hope that they are able to do something soon to help protect it. I found an old picture that I had taken on my first visit to the Cairo, shortly after the exhibit opened in 1984. I did a side by side stare and compare to a picture I took this weekend. Over the past 38 years, there has been a noticeable change in the original fabric, especially on the more exposed areas. Although they did try and prolong the decay by building the new "Tent" structure that you see today, it still needs to be in a controlled environment to prevent any further damage.
 
Roger, Thank you. I am sure I made his day. My wife said that he was just as excited to talk about the boat as was seeing it. The great thing about it was that all I asked him for was to look at his models. Everything after that, he offered up without me asking. The only request that I asked him for was to take pictures and handle some of the artifacts. The tour was all his generosity. And after working at the Cairo for over 15 years, he was well knowledgeable on all aspects of the boat. He even agreed with a lot of the errors that I was able to find through research with the HSR and current display, like the skylights/hatchways and hammock nets.
 
Thank you for the kind words and following along Brian. As I mentioned to Roger above, I was just wanting to discuss some of my questions that I had about my build to make sure that I was getting the details as accurate as possible. I hadn't even give a thought to asking if I could get a VIP tour. I guess it wasn't something that I thought that they did. Thankfully Ray offered it up, I was not about to refuse that offer.
 
The grapeshot stand is about 10' tall and weighed about 75lbs (it was surprisingly heavy). From what I could tell was most likely used in the 8" Dahlgren, since it was a smoothbore cannon. I am not up too much on the ordinance (yet) but that is my best guess right now. The 42lb projectiles were about 14" long and about 7" in diameter and probably weighed in the neighborhood of 75lbs as well.
 
-Brian

The Sphinx is getting her teeth now! Keep up the progress on your model, she is coming along!
 
Brian D

Great story, Brian! What an amazing experience, glad that you and your wife were able to reach out to those men at the museum like that and go behind the scenes. I am a little jealous, I confess -- LOL.
 
Question for you: Looking at the pictures provided of the grapeshot, I am guessing that they are eighteen inches to two feet in length and probably 6-8 inches in diameter??
 
Keep up this amazing model, you are doing a very accurate job and I enjoy following this thread.
 
Brian D.

The Sphinx is getting her teeth now! Keep up the progress on your model, she is coming along!
 
Brian D

The Sphinx is getting her teeth now! Keep up the progress on your model, she is coming along!
 
Brian D

Great story, Brian! What an amazing experience, glad that you and your wife were able to reach out to those men at the museum like that and go behind the scenes. I am a little jealous, I confess -- LOL.
 
Question for you: Looking at the pictures provided of the grapeshot, I am guessing that they are eighteen inches to two feet in length and probably 6-8 inches in diameter??
 
Keep up this amazing model, you are doing a very accurate job and I enjoy following this thread.
 
Brian D.

The Sphinx is getting her teeth now! Keep up the progress on your model, she is coming along!
 
Brian D

The galley stove turned out great, Mark.  Your model of Sphinx is looking great.

Thanks.    I am giving thought to 74 or maybe a razee.  I'm not minding this.  I just wish my new glasses were here and I could work longer.
I'm keeping that as an option just in case.   Once they have all the their wheels I'll put them into position and if needed, adjust accordingly.  

Mark, put in the quion. There is bound to be that "one" that will need it. Easier to do now than later.

Great story, Brian! What an amazing experience, glad that you and your wife were able to reach out to those men at the museum like that and go behind the scenes. I am a little jealous, I confess -- LOL.
 
Question for you: Looking at the pictures provided of the grapeshot, I am guessing that they are eighteen inches to two feet in length and probably 6-8 inches in diameter??
 
Keep up this amazing model, you are doing a very accurate job and I enjoy following this thread.
 
Brian D.

Hello again Everyone,
 
I don't have an update ready yet, but I do want to share a few pictures from my recent trip to Vicksburg NMP.
 
The admiral and I wanted to get away for the weekend, so on the spur of the moment we decided to go to Vicksburg. She didn't care where we went, as long as it was away. So, since I was needing more reference pictures for my build, I suggested Vicksburg and she agreed. Lucky me. 
 
The first day we spent the morning driving through the battlefield, looking at the monuments and taking in nature. By noon we had reached Cairo museum and I started snapping pictures. While we were touring the museum I got to talking to the Ranger at the desk about the boat and my build. I showed him some pictures that I had on my phone and then introduced him to my build log. He seemed genuinely fascinated by it and asked if he could show it to the powers that be. Of course I told him by all means. So while we were talking, I had noticed a couple of models on a shelf in the office behind the desk. I inquired about them and he said that they belonged to the Site Supervisor for the Cairo Museum, but he was off today and that he couldn't let me go back there to look at them. I understood, I wouldn't want some stranger wandering around my office while I wasn't there either. So we talked a little more, I thanked him for his time and we left. That night in the hotel, I was going through my pictures and realized that there were a few shots that I forgot to get. So I sweet talked the admiral into stopping by for a few more pictures. She was fine with that, she wanted to tour the National Cemetery just across from the Cairo exhibit any way. 
 
The next day, I managed to get the shots that I needed and we moved over the cemetery. We walked around there for an hour and a half or so until it started to get hot. We were getting ready to leave, but needed a restroom break before getting under way. As we were literally walking out the door of the museum, we bumped into the Site Supervisor Ray Hamel. We started chatting and I asked him about the models in his office and he was more than happy to let me come back there and take a look at them. They ended up being the Cottage Industries USS Cairo & CSS Arkansas. We got to talking about my build and that we had come here to do a little more research on some areas that I was having problems with. 
 
That was when my day really got good. Ray then asked if we had some time to take a walk with him. Well of course I wasn't going to refuse, so we set out on what ended up as what I would call a VIP tour.  We went down stairs from his office to the air handler/storage room. This is where they keep a few overflow items that didn't make it to the actual artifact storage facility. Once we got down stairs I was totally in heaven. You may recall that at one time the admiral said I looked happier than a toddler with a lollipop, well at this point I was even happier, like a toddler with a box of lollipops. In the storage room were hundreds of cannon balls and projectiles recovered from the wreck, Stacked all over the floor. There were also other artifacts such as a box of coal, timbers from the hurricane deck and other odds and ends. I asked to take pictures, which he said I could and not to push my luck, but asked him if I could handle some of the artifacts. He allowed that as well.
 
Some 8" & 32lb cannon balls.

 
32lb cannon ball.

 
42lb projectiles and Grape Shot


Grape Shot

 
30lb Parrot Rifle projectiles

 
A couple of different 42lb projectiles.


 
Gun Port Doors


 
Box of coal. From what Ray told me, the coal was loaded on board in big chunks like this and then broken up before being shoveled into the firebox.

 
A few other artifacts

 
Playing around with a few pine wood fabric pieces that survived. 

 
One of the knee braces still attached to one of the stanchions.

 
More of the stanchions and pieces of the hammock rails

 
After I was done perusing through the room of artifacts, Ray asked if I wanted to go see the boilers? Again this was an offer I just couldn't refuse. So we proceeded through the next tunnel in the room to the lower level of the outside display. Now I was happier than a toddler with a whole case of lollipops.

 
Take a mental note of my left hand in this picture and file it away for a moment. I'll explain this in a bit, but let me tell you I was buzzing with excitement.

Ray was kind enough to let me explore the entire boat and take as many pictures as I wanted.
 
Boilers & Mud Drum

 


Paddlewheel

 

 

 

 
Port Engine

 
Starboard Engine

 
Port Rudder

 

 
Starboard lower armor plating.

 

 
Starboard hull bottom. 

 
Waterway wall, Starboard side. These boards were in relatively good shape compared to some of the others. This area was buried in the mud for the longest period of time.
 
 
Torpedo damage and bow area.

 



 

 
The bow area. One thing that I missed on my build that I am going to have to go back and make is the bow reinforcement plate. I will have to go back and look at the documentation, but I don't recall any mention of it. Either way it is there and I will get it added. This plate was used to protect the stem timbers from shoreline rocks as well as taking out any makeshift bridges that were built across the rivers these boats were patrolling. I can't believe that I missed this part.

 

 

 

 
I was trying to get a look at how far back the bow plate goes, but the supports cover most of it, making it impossible to see. I do know that it goes back at least 10' or so along the center keel from what I can tell.

I was ordered by the admiral to post at least one picture of my mug in front of the boat. Just because.

 
What an exciting tour this was, and Ray was very informative. Some of the topics that we discussed we the slow decay of the original wood fabric and how the Polyethelene Glycol (PEG) that they use to treat and preserve the wood is doing a lot of harm to it as well. Unfortunately budget concerns have also limited the treatments, with the last one being in 2013, whereas before they were every four or five years. He also told me that he has submitted several proposals for an enclosed, environmentally controlled facility to house the boat in that will help protect it and make it last longer. He said a few years ago that he was close to having one proposal passed, but funding was pulled just before being pushed through. It's a shame that a rare, beautiful piece of history is slowly deteriorating and the government wont step in and help preserve it. There are only four ACW Iron Clads still in existence, Cairo being the most intact one. You'd think that it would be somewhat of a priority to help save it. Fortunately, there are a few groups out there doing what they can to help see that the ship doesn't completely fall apart, one of the being the Friends of Vicksburg group.
 
Other topics that we discussed were the positioning of the skylights, and the fact that the original drawings from the 1981 HSR do not show that there were also skylights (hatchways) amid ship and at the aft of the Hurricane deck. This proves my theory and research that I was correct with the placement of my hatchways between the hog chain support posts and that the two on the back just above the aft guns are also there (these are visible on the old photos of the St. Louis, Carondelet, Cincinnati and Mound City, but more on that when I post an update). Also, he did confirm that the hammock nets on Cairo were indeed constructed of wood, no netting. Some of the remains were in an above picture, along with the stanchions. Great information to make sure that I get my build as true to the original as I can. 
 
So, once were were done with the tour, we went back to Ray's office where he wanted to give me a card and his cell number to give him a call if I had any other questions. As a second souvenir he gave me a piece of coal that was recovered from the boat.
 
Oh, going back to the picture I said to take a note of. While we were talking, shortly before the admiral took that picture, We were discussing the slow deterioration of the wood. Ray looked down and saw that a small piece of the wood hull had fallen off the boat onto the ground. He picked it up and aske me if I wanted it, my first souvenir. So now I am happier than a toddler that owns a lollipop factory. And again, I didn't refuse his offer. That is what I am holding in my left hand.
 
So now my new pride and joys are here:

 
They may not be much, but to actually have a piece of the boat, just brings joy to my heart. I am currently looking into how to preserve the wood fragments from further deteriorating and I think I'm going to incorporate them and the coal nugget into the display.
 
Anyway, hope you enjoyed my story and that I wasn't too long winded. I should have an update on the build in a few days.
 
Thanks for stopping by.
 
-Brian
 

Still slogging away at the coal face, so to speak.   Waiting for the new glasses but still working.   Currently I'm at the gun building stage.  Work maybe 15 minutes then back off and rest the eyes for a bit.  Definitely some fiddly bits.   Anyway, below is a photo.  I have one finished and ready to go as it was my test.   I'm now doing a production line.... assemble gun and carriage, next shape axes, install the cross bar and eyebots and finally the wheels.  So, currently shaping the axles at this point.  As this point, I'm unsure if the quion will be needed as my first one looks good in all ports without it.
 

I used to live in San Diego, I was in East Central San Diego -- the La Mesa and El Cajon areas.  An uncle lives in the Escondido area. While I was in San Diego I used to be with the San Diego Maritime Museum. the model shop was always my favorite part. The club at the San Diego Maritime Museum is good if you want to drive there, have meetings on Tuesday nights. Long Beach has a good model club if you want to drive up there also.

I used to live in San Diego, I was in East Central San Diego -- the La Mesa and El Cajon areas.  An uncle lives in the Escondido area. While I was in San Diego I used to be with the San Diego Maritime Museum. the model shop was always my favorite part. The club at the San Diego Maritime Museum is good if you want to drive there, have meetings on Tuesday nights. Long Beach has a good model club if you want to drive up there also.

I used to live in San Diego, I was in East Central San Diego -- the La Mesa and El Cajon areas.  An uncle lives in the Escondido area. While I was in San Diego I used to be with the San Diego Maritime Museum. the model shop was always my favorite part. The club at the San Diego Maritime Museum is good if you want to drive there, have meetings on Tuesday nights. Long Beach has a good model club if you want to drive up there also.

Welcome to this group, sir, and thank you for your service. Which part of Southern California are you from if I may ask?

Welcome to this group, sir, and thank you for your service. Which part of Southern California are you from if I may ask?

Welcome to this group, sir, and thank you for your service. Which part of Southern California are you from if I may ask?

I'm being able to find time to get back working on Winnie,  so a  small update is due, sanding the hull continues, I keep finding areas that need a better finish. 

I have started to fit the wales, hopefully she will look better and more shipshape when these are finished and painted.
With hindsight I wish I'd ordered some of Vahur's lovely black hornbeam for the wales. 
Thanks for your continued support everyone. 
Also for the likes.
Cheers