USS ST LOUIS by thorn21g - 1:24 - POF - Civil War Ironclad - Gateway Model Shipcrafter's Guild

[thorn21g]

Civil War Ironclad, USS St. Louis -  !:24

Sequence of Assembly for USS St. Louis Model Rev C

 

Notes:

Rev A: This revision modifies Steps 5 thru 13 to permit direct use of the NPS plans to locate the structural elements yet allows installation of tempered hardboard sheets to add longitudinal stiffness to the lower hull structure.

Rev B: This revision adds Steps 14 thru 18 with details for constructing and installing the hurricane deck as a removable sub-assembly.

Rev 😄 This revision adds refinements to the sequence of assembly which were developed during model construction thus far.

1. Make a copy of sheets 3 & 4 of the "USS Cairo" National Park's Service plans at 1:24 scale and secure them to a sheet of 1/8 inch thick tempered hardboard.

 

2. Fabricate the three keels with scarf joints necessary to achieve about 4" longer than plan apparent length. Secure them directly on sheets 3 & 4 of the NPS hull floor plans with several 1/8" wood screws. (The keels will be trimmed to their final lengths in Steps 6 thru 9.

 

3. Fabricate all full and half frames up to the gun deck level chines using the three assembly jigs, locate them to the plans using small try-squares, and secure them to the keels with "Titebond III" wood glue and .052" diameter treenails in .055" holes. Place temporary wood support strips, which are the same thickness as the keels, under the lower frame floors at their outboard edges. (Do not glue or treenail the frames to these strips) Make a dozen or more wooden combs about 9" long by 1" wide by .25" thick which are dadoed to the "room and space" dimensions of the lower hull framing. Use these combs to temporarily locate and support the outboard ends of the frames as they are being secured to the keels. This is especially important for the aft half frames at the paddle wheel opening since they are only attached to one keel at this juncture. (By overlapping these 9" combs most of the hull structure can be made very rigid in preparation for installing the keelsons, deck clamps and other longitudinal structural members.)

 

4. Make the five keelsons & port and starboard gun deck clamps and secure them to all frames.

 

5. Attach about 6 temporary spreader beams, especially at the stern where the hull is split into two booms between the port & starboard gun deck clamps to maintain the lower hull shape.

 

6. Invert the partially completed hull structure and support it on jig locators to the inside of the hull floor timbers.

 

7. Make two longitudinal strips of 1/8-inch tempered hardboard approximately 4.5 inches wide which will fit snugly between the 3 keels and secure them to the lower surface of the frames with glue and treenails.

 

8. Add the cant frames, bevel the frames of the bow and stern to achieve a faired surface on the lower chine and install one or two rows of planking along the lower edge of the chine.

 

9. Make two additional strips of 1/8-inch tempered hardboard which abut the outer edges of the port and starboard keels and trim them to the outer surface of the lower chine planking. Secure them to the frames with glue and treenails.

 

10. Return the model to its upright position and install portions of ceiling, floor planking and longitudinal stanchions.

 

11. Frame and plank the waterway leading to the paddlewheel.

 

12. Add hull mounting provisions for the engines, paddlewheel and other machinery.

 

13. Add selected portions of the gun deck beams and planking which provide support for the armament while maintaining desired visibility to lower portions of the hull.

 

14. Based on further research of contemporary Civil War photographs we are convinced that unlike the flat decks shown on the NPS "USS Cairo" plans, the hurricane deck actually has a significant round-up (camber) of about 6.5-inches or .27-inches & a 15-foot arc at the 1:24 scale of our model. For accuracy this deck will be fabricated as a sub-assembly directly upon sheets 7 & 8 of the NPS plans and subsequently located over the lower hull structure and attached via the upper casement frames with removable pins thereby providing good internal hull access throughout the remaining model construction. The lower surfaces of the deck beams will remain flat since the distance between the gun deck planking and hurricane deck beams is over 7-feet and therefore an additional 6.5-inches on centerline would have been an unnecessary expense.

 

15. Make the 43 hurricane deck beams (carlines) from hard maple stock with identical the round-up (camber) formed into their upper surfaces using a special sanding fixture for the 15-foot radius mounted on a 4-inch table equipped vertical belt sander.

 

16. Construct the hurricane deck consisting of the port and starboard carline clamps (deck clamps), deck beams, and additional longitudinal framing members for the stacks, skylight, and wheelhouse. The present plan is to apply deck planking to at least one side (port or starboard) and additional selected planking to be determined later.

 

17. Locate the hurricane deck sub-assembly above the lower hull assembly on temporary supports or internal hull bulkheads while installing upper casement frames which are permanently fixed to the chine knuckles and pinned to the hurricane deck beams.

 

18. Frame in the gun ports and apply selected exterior planking to the upper casements. Temporarily un-pin and remove the hurricane deck to provide access for installing selected upper casement ceiling.

 

19. With the hurricane deck removed, continue with installation of the bulkheads and partitions around the wheelhouse, cabins and boilers and any other features on the gun deck.

Method used to Construct the Lower Hull Frames (Rev A).doc

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Jig #3 Set-Up and Procedure for Use 26 Mar 2015.doc

Method used to Construct the Lower Hull Frames (Rev A).doc

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[Omega1234]

This looks like a very interesting ship. I'll enjoy following along.

 

All the best

 

Patrick

[dgbot]

I rarely see enough models like this should prove interesting and informative.

David B

[Canute]

May I pull up a seat and follow along? It's a favorite era of mine.

[tomG667a]

Here are some additional interesting facts and pictures on the Civil War Ironclad USS St. Louis project

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Criteria & Initial Plan for the Model of USS St Louis (Rev A).doc

Introduction to Ironclad Build Log.doc

Method used to Construct the Lower Hull Frames (Rev A).doc

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Jig #3 Set-Up and Procedure for Use 26 Mar 2015.doc

Sequence of Assembly for USS St.Louis (RevC).doc

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Edited April 5, 2015 by tomG667a

[Gerhardvienna]

Just signed up for this one! Great work so far

 

Regards

Gerhard

[johnhoward]

Gerhard,

Attached is a photo of our USS St. Louis ironclad taken a month ago. Unfortunately we found it impractical to manage or maintain the real time log on this forum but we have retained all the data and I am trying to retroactively bring the log up to date. We have 9 of our Gateway Model Shipcrafters participating part time on this project which has been in continuous construction since September 2014 and we expect to take at least another year to complete. As you have independently recognized for your USS Cairo, researching to verify or correct the enormous amount of conflicting or missing data for the City Class Ironclads is a full time job by itself.

 

johnhoward

[Gerhardvienna]

Johnhoward

Indeed it is an extra piece of work, to find missing datas for that ships. I`m awaiting all of your research results, so maybe there will be more to come into my model of the Cairo too. But as I`m making a floating model, there will not everything be made after the newest results, but I intend to make all the outside parts correct. Your model will be (and is!) a beautiful piece of artwork, I`m fascinated from it!

 

Regards

Gerhard

[johnhoward]

Attached is the Revision E(draft) of our Gateway Model Shipcrafters  Research Outline which identifies issues with existing data being used to define the Civil War era City Class Ironclads.

We are following the results of this research as we scratchbuild our 1:24 scale model of the USS St. Louis for the Missouri Civil War Museum but wanted to  start sharing it with with all  interested model builders

 

 

johnhoward

Secretary, Gateway Model Shipcrafters

St. Louis, Missouri

Research Outline for City-Class Ironclad Source Issues (Rev E draft).doc

[Gerhardvienna]

High interesting stuff! I will take some time tomorrow to study all of that things and try to bring it to my Cairo model. Thank you for sharing!

 

Regards

Gerhard

[johnhoward]

Thanks Gerhard,

We have a plethora of additional issues, notes and back-up data on this subject that we haven't yet assembled into readable format but I will concentrate on those for the exterior view of the ironclad which are probably most important to modelmakers.

 

johnhoward

[Gerhardvienna]

Johnhoward

 

Took some time to read that file, a lot of new things to discover! There is so many information for ALL City-Class interested, I will have to change some things on my Cairo model too!

 

Regards

Gerhard

[johnhoward]

Research for "City Class" Ironclad bilge pump configurations for our model of the ironclad "USS St. Louis".

Attached are several photographs taken by Bob Hill during a visit several years ago to the National Parks Service "USS Cairo" Museum at Vicksburg, Mississippi which appear to show a manually operated bilge pump possibly recovered with the Cairo in 1963, however Bob couldn't remember their exact context. 

So far, I haven't been able to find any corroborating detailed data or drawings showing this or any other unique bilge pump configuration or its possible location on these ironclads which undoubtedly had a chronic leakage and "hogging" problem. In her study on, "Artifacts of a Gun Boat", Elizabeth Joiner reported that the bilge pumps on the USS Cairo were made from hollow logs and one 7.7-foot length with a 5" diameter core hole was actually recovered and this agrees with practices on most wooden sailing ships of the pre-Civil War period.   The "Doctor" auxiliary steam engine also served in the bilge pump capacity when necessary and was mounted just aft of the boilers for its primary role.

One possibility is that the "bilge pump" on display at the museum was another auxiliary device and its most logical usage appears to be to pump bilge water out of the "hogged" stern booms adjacent to the paddle-wheel.

We therefore are building a bilge pump model, sized for manual operation and hope to uncover evidence permitting its inclusion on our model of the USS St. Louis. (sister ship of the USS Cairo)

Any additional information or comments would be welcomed.

 

johnhoward

St. Louis Gateway Model Shipcrafters

[Gerhardvienna]

Hi johnhoward

 

When this pump was driven by the "Doctor", there must have been some linkage to this engine! Maybe this was one of the things driven by the "other" auxiliary engine? But even in this case there must have been some linkage too!

 

Regards

Gerhard

[johnhoward]

Gerhard,

Thanks for your thoughts.

I don't think this particular pump was ever driven by the "Doctor" or any other steam engine. It appears to simply be a manually powered bilge pump and function similarly to an "Elm Tree" pump or some of those unpowered "wobble type" bilge pumps on small boats today. The "Doctor" auxiliary steam engine had 4 pumps of its own which were designed to directly intake dirty river water. To serve as a bilge pump all they had to do was switch the "Doctor" input from river water to the water in the bilges. The  multi-function "Doctor" provided this dirty water to the boilers, to dampen the firebox or as a firehose in an emergency. I guess it would even provide this bilge water to the boilers "mud" drums which would just clean it up a little before turning it into steam.This wouldn't be considered to be "good engineering design practice" but it worked. In any case, these ironclads had plenty of extra manpower available, except during combat.

 

johnhoward

[AntonyUK]

Hi.

What a wonderfully project. So much information missing but I think you people have got your work cut out. At that scale you will get a real good idea on how the original ship was constructed. 

Will you be making a set of drawings on your findings and publish it ?.

Gonna follow this build with great interest.

 

Regards Antony.

[Gerhardvienna]

 

1 hour ago, johnhoward said:

Gerhard,

Thanks for your thoughts.

I don't think this particular pump was ever driven by the "Doctor" or any other steam engine. It appears to simply be a manually powered bilge pump and function similarly to an "Elm Tree" pump or some of those unpowered "wobble type" bilge pumps on small boats today. The "Doctor" auxiliary steam engine had 4 pumps of its own which were designed to directly intake dirty river water. To serve as a bilge pump all they had to do was switch the "Doctor" input from river water to the water in the bilges. The  multi-function "Doctor" provided this dirty water to the boilers, to dampen the firebox or as a firehose in an emergency. I guess it would even provide this bilge water to the boilers "mud" drums which would just clean it up a little before turning it into steam.This wouldn't be considered to be "good engineering design practice" but it worked. In any case, these ironclads had plenty of extra manpower available, except during combat.

 

johnhoward

I would not consider this as bad engineering, but space saving practice. Even if the City Class ships were not too small, space is always limited in ships. And taking water from the rivers was usual practice too in european ships, although the water in the danube or in swiss lakes is a lot cleaner than the muddy rivers they were used to work. So the mud drums make sense, and the "extra" steam drum above the boilers is in my mind an extra for the conditions this ships were used in. They allow a bit more of volume for the water, and extra volume for steam. A similar steam drum was used on the boiler for the swiss RIGI, but even smaller.

The photo shows the RIGI Boiler during resauration

 

Best Regards

Gerhard

[johnhoward]

Thanks Antony & Gerhard,

Every comment and opinion on this project helps us plan our next step forward. It is indeed a daunting task and we have accumulated so much information over the past 3 years that we are having trouble finding the time for organizing it in a logical sequence for posting. As I mentioned before we currently have a team of 9 Shipcrafters involved in various aspects of the planning, research, material procurement and actual construction of this model. One member is making TurboCad drawings of any details which require machining or casting whenever existing data is incomplete or incorrect and we are continually updating our "Research Outline" which I posted earlier and which describes any problems we have uncovered with existing data. We willingly share all this information with individual modelers but are not at present planning any total drawing package. Unfortunately, our focus has to be on completion of the model. The attached photos show 8 of 9 participants and the model as of mid-April which we hope to complete next year..

 

johnhoward

[Gerhardvienna]

Hi johnhoward

 

Would be great, to know the names behind the project

Now that we see so many of participants to the project we can imagine the size of the model, really big!

What I miss in all the drawings is the steam exhaust from the engine. I have read that the exhaust was used for pre-heating the water intake, but steam had to leave the system after that. Had the City class ships usual funnels trough the top of the superstructure? And where have they been placed?

 

Regards

Gerhard

[AntonyUK]

Hi.

Now that what I call co-operation. Looks as if you are great bunch. And down to the taven for a pint afterwards.

Well done to all of you.

 

Regards Antony.

[johnhoward]

Gerhard, Antony,

Thanks for your nice comments. The participants in the photo, left to right, are: Fred Hecker, Tim Jovick, Tom Stahl, Vince Murphy, Howie Smith, Bob Keeler, Dr. Mike Orgel, & Bill Kammermeyer, [Scott Safranski was missing]

Gerhard, I'm not sure I totally understand your question on the City Class funnels but I've attached my reconstruction of the corrected propulsion system schematic (versus Ashley's NPS version) showing the engine steam exhaust entering the boiler water pre-heaters and exiting thru a 2-way valve either aft into the wheelhouse to prevent paddlewheel icing in the Winter or  forward thru the firebox exhaust plenum into the 2 main smoke stacks, not a separate exhaust stack. I think I have also correctly depicted the "Doctor"engine operation and its piping connections in this schematic.

 

By the way, Bob is working on a TurboCad drawing to construct our brass 12-pdr lightweight carriage by re-scaling some un-dimensioned drawings we have, based solely on the known howitzer barrel length dimension. I noticed a nice drawing in the background of your recent carriage model photo and wonder if it has any other actual usable carriage dimensions.

 

johnhoward

[Gerhardvienna]

7 hours ago, johnhoward said:

Gerhard, Antony,

Thanks for your nice comments. The participants in the photo, left to right, are: Fred Hecker, Tim Jovick, Tom Stahl, Vince Murphy, Howie Smith, Bob Keeler, Dr. Mike Orgel, & Bill Kammermeyer, [Scott Safranski was missing]

Gerhard, I'm not sure I totally understand your question on the City Class funnels but I've attached my reconstruction of the corrected propulsion system schematic (versus Ashley's NPS version) showing the engine steam exhaust entering the boiler water pre-heaters and exiting thru a 2-way valve either aft into the wheelhouse to prevent paddlewheel icing in the Winter or  forward thru the firebox exhaust plenum into the 2 main smoke stacks, not a separate exhaust stack. I think I have also correctly depicted the "Doctor"engine operation and its piping connections in this schematic.

 

By the way, Bob is working on a TurboCad drawing to construct our brass 12-pdr lightweight carriage by re-scaling some un-dimensioned drawings we have, based solely on the known howitzer barrel length dimension. I noticed a nice drawing in the background of your recent carriage model photo and wonder if it has any other actual usable carriage dimensions.

 

johnhoward

 

Hi johnhoward

Thanks for "lining up" the participants of the project!

You did understand the request for the steam exhaust system correct. So I dont have to worry about the stacks for the engine, and build some tubes from the engine via the preheater back to the big funnels from the boilers. Paddlewheel icing will be no problem here in Vienna, but the water preheating system will be made.

 

The drawing for the 12-pdr came from the civilwar-website, I scaled it down to the correct size of the barrel and made the carriage from the scaled drawings. Would be interesting if my scaled drawing will fit to Bob`s TurboCad drawings!

 

Best regards

Gerhard

 

 

[Eddie]

Hey howya goin all, like a few people said interesting build I to shall follow along.  

[johnhoward]

Thanks Gerhard,

The only other stack I've found is for smoke from the cook stove.

 

johnhoward

[Gerhardvienna]

Hi Johnhoward

 

And....................

Where was this located??

I`m ordering all the wood material for the Cairo this upcoming week, so this would be good to know before I continue, dont want to go wrong

By talking about the stove, found some pics from the Southern Belle stove

 

Best Regards

Gerhard

[johnhoward]

Gerhard,

You have the correct stove configuration. Attached is some of the information we used to model and locate our cook stove and exhaust vent for our USS St. Louis model. For confirmation, we also contacted the supplier who built the stove replica for the Cairo Museum at Vicksburg.

 

johnhoward

Cook Stove Location on NPS plan.bmp

cook stove & boilers,USS Cairo.bmp

Cook Stove-Cairo(4).bmp

Vent,Cook Stove,Cairo,Questionable.bmp

[Gerhardvienna]

Hi johnhoward

 

I found one phpto at the NPS Site, and searched then for the Southern Belle stove. Was pretty easy to find, and looks like the original thing. Most important is the location for the vent, which is clear now, thank you! Those infos are worthful for anyone who likes to build a City Class ship!

 

Regards

Gerhard

[johnhoward]

Attached are photos of recent activity covering the planning for items to be located on the Hurricane deck for our model of the City-Class Ironclad, "USS St. Louis"..

The first photo depicts a mock-up of the port side "Hog Chain" (Cable) which runs from the forward hull floor frame at station #73, over the two support posts (which extend down to the outboard keels) and then aft down to the hull floor frame at station #21. The mock-up rods will eventually be replaced by continuous cables for the port and starboard "Hog Chains". The "Hog Chains" were obviously required to help support the aft twin hull booms which straddle the paddlewheel and tended to "hog" due to insufficient buoyancy. The path of these "chains" through the lower hull framing is amazingly tight but tends to verify the accuracy of the hull framing drawings.

The second photo represents the first step in a layout of the aft Hurricane deck-house which is incorrectly depicted in most of the existing "USS Cairo" drawings and models because they lack the deck-house roof camber and the Hurricane deck camber. The Hurricane deck camber is already included and when the roof camber is added to this layout, it will clearly intersect the straight ridged wheelhouse roof in an arc (in its plan view) instead of a straight line. In addition, the twin stern facing doors will be replaced by two smaller sliding windows which are all clearly visible in contemporary photos of the "USS St. Louis" (Baron DeKalb).

 

johnhoward

[Gerhardvienna]

Hi johnhoward

 

Good progress, the deck camber turns things a bit away from all what i have seen of city class models. I`ll keep watching.....

 

Regards

Gerhard

[johnhoward]

Gerhard,

Attached is one of the contemporary photos I was referring to in my previous message. This is identified as  the "USS DeKalb" which was originally the USS St. Louis and clearly shows the deck and roof cambers and window arrangement. The Dekalb was sunk in 1863 so this can't represent some post-Civil War  peacetime modification. All decks  and roofs were similarly cambered to shed rain water and accumulation of snow to the scuppers.

 

johnhoward