Wood Hull Screw Frigate USS Tennessee 1869 to 1886 by Keith Black - scale 1:120

[BANYAN]

As good a 'solution' as any could determine, and it makes some sense Keith.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[mtaylor]

Good detective work.  The beauty of it is... who's going to argue with you about it?   

[Keith Black]

7 hours ago, mtaylor said:

who's going to argue with you about it

Myself...revision in thinking about grease canisters.

After muling this over through the night, a canister at each firing station is a heck of a lot of grease and would have been awkward to access in the heat of battle. What few views exist don't seem to support my first thoughts to a canister being at every firing station. I do think that the unknown canister is a grease canister but it's the only one and is the main distribution point of grease for all the guns. I now think that grease was transported in a bucket to whatever firing station a gun occupied. I think the four buckets hanging underneath the flying bridge are grease buckets, one for each gun, four buckets, four guns. The 60 pound Parrott on the bow would have been excluded from this arrangement due to distance, it's grease requirement would have come from elsewhere. 

So it'll be just the one canister to replicate but now I have to make the four buckets that hang beneath the flying bridge as seen in the picture below. 

[BANYAN]

Hi Keith, it is possible that the rounds were passed up to the upper deck through a hatch/trunk/hoist from the shell room.  It would make sense then that only a single greasing station would be required as the crew would grab the round from the hoist, grease it and pass it to the required gun station.  Could the device be a combined hoist/greasing station?  Not trying to complicate the matter, just a suggestion.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Keith Black]

2 hours ago, BANYAN said:

Could the device be a combined hoist/greasing station

Pat, it could be but I'm not sure they would have wanted to lug around a greased 65 and 100 pound shell (even if just the base of the shell were greased) from a central location to the individual gun stations. That would make some sense to do it that way but let's say they did. Then tell me what the four buckets are for. See, my guess answers two questions 

I wish Roger Pellett would jump in and add his thoughts. 

Edited March 20, 2020 by Keith Black

[mtaylor]

There's what... two guns on the top deck?  All you'd need is one "grease station" on each side between them as they would both most likely be pointing off the same side when firing.   Those guns, if I remember right, we're not exactly fast firing.

 

As for the "buckets"... are they metal or canvas?  If metal, probably fire buckets for water or sand.  If cloth, then they would be for carrying the shot and powder.

[Keith Black]

2 hours ago, mtaylor said:

There's what... two guns on the top deck

 Five total, two XI smoothbore Dahlgren converted to VIII rifle (shell weight 65 LB), two 100 pound Parrott Rifles (shell weight 100 LB) and one 60 pound Parrott rifle at the bow (shell weight 60 LB) 

 The buckets appear to be metal with rope handles. 

[Keith Black]

Ladders, fairleads, bollards added. Redoing the pin rails will/sould be next.

[paulsutcliffe]

Looking good Keith, Nice work

 

[Keith Black]

 Thank you Paul for the comment and a "thank you" to all for the likes. 

 Pin rails 2.0 installed. Next on the menu is to tidy up the anchors and add the support chains for the stacks. 

[BANYAN]

Very nice work Keith, she is looking great.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[paulsutcliffe]

Very very nice, I love the shine on that deck, I've just polished mine to a nice sheen, you might want to put some gloss on that door while you're stuck indoors😁😁

[Keith Black]

Pat and Paul, thank you for the complements and thank you Gary, Mark, and GrandpaPhil for the likes.

All the bow elements are in place with the exception of the 60 pound bow gun. Added the support chains to the forward stack(still need to do the aft stack) but needs a turn in the paint shop.

The links of the chain measure .05 x .025 inches, twenty links to the inch.Getting the four chains attached to the attachment points and taunt is at the limits of my stubby shaky ole fingers. 

 

Edited April 6, 2020 by Keith Black

[mtaylor]

Keith, the iron work looks spot on.  

[Keith S]

I'm new to the forum and only just spotted this log. It's a pity the era of screw driven steamers with full sailing rig was so transient, because I consider them to be the most beautiful of all ships. I like the details you're creating for this one. With respect to that large white bullet-shaped object, is it possible it was a fire extinguisher? Had they invented those yet by this time? It's the same size and shape as the ones you still see around small airports, although they are painted red and have big spoked wheels on them.

 

Also with respect to the white tub with handles you see in the pictures, could it have been the grog butt? Did American sailors do that? If they had a grog tub it was probably their favourite thing in the whole world. Maybe they liked having their pictures taken with it! (I'm being cheeky) 

 

Another thing I'm curious about are the funnels. Were they retractable for some reason? In every photograph of this ship, they seem to be a different height! 

Edited April 7, 2020 by Keith S

[Keith Black]

43 minutes ago, Keith S said:

I consider them to be the most beautiful of all ships

Keith, thank you for the kind words. 

I couldn't agree more. The transitional period from sail to steam, wood hull to iron then steel, smooth bore guns to rifled, and battle tactics that no longer relied on the wind was a rush of change. Naval ships around the world became almost unrecognizable to the old salts who had apprenticed aboard square-riggers only 35 years earlier. What sails they carried would disappear on the horizon forever. 

 

1 hour ago, Keith S said:

is it possible it was a fire extinguisher

I considered that but I couldn't find anything about extinguishers for the time period and none in that sophisticated of a form till much later. 

 

1 hour ago, Keith S said:

If they had a grog tub

That are smiling a lot that's for sure. 

 

1 hour ago, Keith S said:

Were they retractable

Yes, I've displayed them fully extended because I think they look really cool that way plus I'll not be doing sails. When the ship was under full sail they would have been fully retracted because the steam engines would have been silent, no sense in burning the sheets.   

[Keith Black]

Mark, thank you for the compliment and thank you to everyone for the likes.

I finally finished the companionways. 

In this H and H photo,  the companionway opening is to starboard, no foot wipe roller.  

 This is the same companionway viewed at the closed end showing the canvas cover rolled up. 

This is the adjoining companionway opening to port with a foot wipe roller. The companionways were only wide enough for oneway traffic. Because the port side opening has a foot wipe, this makes me believe this companionway was intended for going down and the one that opened to starboard (no foot wipe) was for coming up. 

My attempt at foot wipe roller

and rolled up canvas cover. All the companionways had birdcage covers. Replicating these is beyond my abilities and it's best they be left off than offer up a poor representation.

A lot is happening in a very small space. Running the wire for the double stanchions was the most difficult. It's 24 GA and (in hindsight 26 would have made my life much easier) is home run from stanchion opening to stanchion opening. I glued in the front six stanchions and left the two end stanchions loose. I pulled both top and bottom wires completely through all eight stanchions with the two ends left dangling. As I pulled both railing wires taught, the two end stanchions pulled toward the rear of companionway. Once they were within striking distance of their peg holes I then tilted them into position as I pulled the railing wire through the other six stanchions. It would have been nice to have had four hands but I was working in a two finger space. 

The sense of depth in .1 inches of height still trips my head. 

Edited April 9, 2020 by Keith Black

[FriedClams]

 

On 4/6/2020 at 5:27 PM, Keith Black said:

Getting the four chains attached to the attachment points and taunt is at the limits of my stubby shaky ole fingers.

I dislike working with chain as it can be so fiddly.  Just when you think you've got the end landed, it slips from your grip and the length of it collapses into a tiny pile - followed by the muttering of coarse language.  Your forward stack turned out great, with all chains taut and nicely symmetrical side to side.

 

I also like the companionways, such tiny work nicely executed.  Great progress Keith - she's looking terrific!

 

Gary

[rwiederrich]

She's looking so nice.....

 

Rob

[KeithAug]

Keith, I am liking the way the detail is building - it is bringing her to life. The chain work looks particularly good.

[Keith Black]

Gary, Rob, and Keith thank you for the compliments and thank you to all those for the likes.

 

Stack chain work completed.

At the rear of the ladders leading to the flying bridge and attached to the aft stack platform are the flying bridge support columns. Ladders and columns attached to the stack platform allow for sliding into place and out as a unit allowing for further deck work as required.

Starboard view showing ladder and support column. 

Forward view underneath flying bridge detail and ole Bob's backside. 

Views of companionways in place (see previous post) 

[mtaylor]

Love it.   Looking super.   I was worried for a bit that with the ladders that you were doing the "Starirway to Heaven"... 

[BANYAN]

Some very nice detailing Keith; looks great.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Keith Black]

A good day to be dockside as we're being inundated with a late season snowstorm.

 

View out the front porch windows.

As things currently stand. I'm about to enter the next phase, deck guns. I've looked forward to this part of the build for what seems to be a very long time. 

[KeithAug]

5 hours ago, Keith Black said:

View out the front porch windows.

Keith - shirt sleeve weather here for most of the week - but as we are on restrictions it might as well snow. I look forward to the next stage of the build.

[Keith Black]

I'm sorry for the lapse in my manners, somewhere, Mum is scolding me.

Thank you Mark, Pat, and now Keith for the complements and comments and thank you to all for the likes. 

[FriedClams]

Sweet progress on the Tennessee Keith - she is looking great and your stacks turned out very nice.  That was a clever idea to place the support columns and stairs on the stack base - I like it.  Waiting to see your approach on the deck guns.  

 

Nice looking craftsman era bungalow across the street from you.  I love the older neighborhoods with the grass strips and old trees between the street and sidewalk.  Granite curbstone?  Does Ward and June Cleaver live next door?

 

Gary

 

 

[Keith Black]

1 hour ago, FriedClams said:

Does Ward and June Cleaver live next door?

Nope, Eddie does.

Thank you Gary for the compliment. 

Edited April 19, 2020 by Keith Black

[Keith Black]

Every now and then I'll search "USS Tennessee" on eBay and today up came a winner. There was a listing was for a original page from the December 4th, 1880 issue of Harper's Weekly about the Tennessee. I'm now the proud new caretaker and I'm stoked because it's a little piece of history that could easily have not survived. I think being able to add this along side the Tennessee (when completed) will add that much more interest to the model. 

[mtaylor]

Now that is cool, Keith.  Will it go behind the model in the display case?