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

[Keith Black]

59 minutes ago, mtaylor said:

Will it go behind the model in the display case

Thank you, Mark. I plan on having it framed and when the Tennessee is cased, hang it on the wall and as near to the case as practical. 

[Keith Black]

I've started with the forecastle pivoting 60 LB Parrott rifle. In one way it's the easiest because I only need to make one and it's the hardest because it's the smallest.

60 LB Parrott statistics: Bore, 5.3 inches.  Barrel length,  111 inches (9.25 FT.)  Barrel weight, 5,430 LB.  Shell, 50 or 60 LB.  Charge weight, 6 LB.  Maximum range, 7,400 yards at 30 degrees.  Flight time, 30 seconds.  Crew size, 14. This from Wikipedia. I wasn't able to find anything on effective range

Turned the barrel with drill and started the carriage. More carriage pieces need to be added, that's why the insides have been left unpainted. The elevation control rod's length will be shortened to the correct length when the carriage is completed. The barrel length is .925 inches. I am going to try and add a sight and percussion pin, we'll see how that goes. I'll probably work on the slide carriage while still working on the gun to give my eyes a rest. 

[rwiederrich]

Fantastic job Keith...it's coming along so nicely....love the small details.

And that magazine page is awesome.  Great addition to your historical info.

[paulsutcliffe]

22 hours ago, Keith Black said:

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. 

Nice catch Keith, it will look awesome next to the ship

[BANYAN]

And, will help considerably with identifying the your rigging details for the ship.  Nice catch!

 

Very nice work on the Parrot guns; you would never know that was wood.

 

cheers

 

Pat

Edited April 23, 2020 by BANYAN

[mtaylor]

The wood cannon came out looking like metal.  Beautiful work.  Way back before I had a lathe, I did the cannons for the Constellation in brass using a drill and files.   Very slow and painful work and in hindsight, I should tried wood.

[Keith Black]

 Thank you to Pat, Rob, Mark, and Paul for the complements and kind words and thank you to all for the likes.

  I want to take this opportunity to thank Gary (FriedClams) for the tip he mentioned in his build log on using pencil on black paint to create the illusion of forged iron. I tried it this morning on the 60 LB Parrott rifle that I'm working on and I like the results a lot, in some respects. It works fantastic on a smooth flat surface. I try to be extra careful when applying CA, I take a Q-tip and try to absorb as much of the excess CA as possible. In some spots on the carriage I was unable to get as much of the excess CA removed as usual. Had I know what the pencil effect wold look like I wouldn't have wasted my time with the Q-tip. The excess once dried, painted, and highlighted with a pencil creates wavy shadow lines just like you'ed expect to see on on a real forged piece or, even a cast iron piece. I once worked in a open pour casting foundry and cast iron can come out with less than a smooth surface. Where this didn't work for me was on the riffle barrel because of the wood grain, the graphite highlighted the heck out of the grain in the wood and makes it look anything but smooth. I think it's going to be pretty easy to reverse the process because I was using a Q-tip (I love Q-tips) to blend the graphite and a lot of the graphite was removed doing that. I need to take all the graphite off the barrel with Qa -tip soaked in water or repaint which is not a big deal either way. Thank you again for the tip, Gary. It is differently something I will play with in the future. 

 Update on the riffle and carriage. I'm not adding any addition bits to the carriage till after the trucked sliding rail carriage is completed. I would love to make this a functioning piece, both pivoting and the rifle and carriage's  ability to slide back and forth on the tracks. Sounds kinda like a receipt for disaster, I just need to get into the building process and see how it goes. Probably the best bet is to CA everything in place and forget it, that would sure be the easiest route. 

 Regarding the last picture. 60 LB Parrott rifle version 1.0 is on the left and my version, 2.0, is on the right. Version 1.0 was original to the model when it came into my stewardship. 

[mtaylor]

That did come out looking great.   After the pencil, you apply anything else like a flat clear?

[Keith Black]

On 4/24/2020 at 10:24 PM, mtaylor said:

That did come out looking great.   After the pencil, you apply anything else like a flat clear?

Thank you, Mark.

I apply polyurethane on everything after it has been painted, it's great protection but it comes with the cost of being too shiny. Minwax's polyurethane comes in satin, semigloss, and gloss, I've used all three and I can't tell any difference between the three of them. Minwax makes a water based product called Polycrylic that comes in a matte finish but I've never used it.  I need to buy a small amount and see how it reacts being applied on top of polyurethane. When I have a chance to do that I'll post results unless someone in MSW has already plowed that ground. 

[Keith Black]

Thank you to everyone for the likes.

The 60 LB Parrott is done, will start on the tracks next.  

Edited April 29, 2020 by Keith Black

[rwiederrich]

Wonderful job on the canon...very convincing.  She is coming along very nicely.....love the clean, crisp workmanship.

 

Rob

[paulsutcliffe]

Very nice keith

[BANYAN]

You have created a very good model cannon there Keith especially noting the scale.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[KeithAug]

Nice work Keith - and as a bonus I now know what a Parrot rifle is - Isn’t the internet clever.

[Keith Black]

Thanks you Mark, Rob, Paul, Pat, and Keith for the kind words and thank you to all for the likes. 

The 60 LB and track is finished and fixed in it's stowed position. On to the 100 LB Parrott rifles on pivoting carriages stationed amidships.

Edited May 1, 2020 by Keith Black

[Keith Black]

The first photograph taken in 1869 is of the Tennessee's deck looking forward. It was sent to me by Pat's (Banyan) friend Chris Ramsey, thank you to Chris and thank you to Pat for his insight and advise. The second and third photographs by Hatton and Hart taken in 1885 from the same vantage point show a marked difference in ship and crew. That's a motley looking bunch in the first photo. One wonders if there was a morale issue in US Naval crews and US forces in general following on the heels of the Civil War? If so, morale seems to have significantly improved by 1885, that's a smart looking group of men in both the second and third photos. 

Edited May 10, 2020 by Keith Black

[Roger Pellett]

The period following the Civil War for the US Navy is referred to as The Doldrums by naval historians.  Many of the vessels that fought in the war were disposed of and many of those remaining were placed in ordinary (mothballed).  By the 1880’s the government began to wake up to the fact that the fleet was obsolete, so reform began, leading to the up to date fleet that fought the Spanish American War in 1898.

 

In a way the U. S. was lucky as they didn’t have to build and pay for all of the false starts that the major naval powers did during the Naval Revolution of the 1870’s.

 

Roger

[Tony Hunt]

They are a wonderful series of photos for a modeller.  Fascinating to look at what has changed on the ship (and amongst the crew), as well as what hasn't.  The missing ventilators near the funnel are particularly striking, quite a major change.

[Keith Black]

On 5/10/2020 at 8:19 PM, Tony Hunt said:

They are a wonderful series of photos for a modeller

Tony, yes they are and I'm very fortunate to have access to them for reference.

[FriedClams]

Excellent work on the 60 LB gun.  Nice clean shape and edges - not easy to do in wood.  Nicely detailed as well.

 

The Harper’s Weekly page has to be a rare piece.  It’s amazing to think that such a fragile piece of ephemera, something intended to last maybe a few months, has survived for 140 years and will now find a good home alongside your model. It’s in good condition too and will make a great complimentary display.  Nice find.
 

Your Tennessee is looking beautiful Keith.

 

Gary

[Keith Black]

Thank you Roger, Tony, and Gary for the comments and kind words and thank you to all for the likes. 

The two 100 LB Parrott breech loading rifles are done with the exception of the circular deck tracks. I'll be making those next. 

 100 LB Parrott breech loading rifle statistics: Bore, 6.4 inches.  Barrel length,  138 inches (11.5 FT.)  Barrel weight, 10,266 LB.  Shell, 80 or 100 LB.  Charge weight, 10 LB.  Maximum range, 7,810 yards at 30 degrees (80 LB).  Flight time, 32 seconds.  Crew size, 17. This from Wikipedia. 

[BANYAN]

Those parrot guns came up a treat Keith; nicely done.  How are you determining the the sweeps for the 'races' (tracks) for these pivoting guns?  Do you have a plan?   I am still trying to determine these and using pivoting points based on the probable port locations as I have no plans etc.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Keith Black]

Thank you, Pat.

 For these two guns the races are a simple circle. The next two guns, the XI Dahlgren converted to eight inch shell are beast sitting amidships facing forward. Their races appear to be complex, I'll be getting as much information from the H and H photos as possible and I'll also study the race configurations from the USS Kearsarge to help fill in the blanks should the need arise. 

 There is also this from the Alabama. 

https://deadconfederates.com/2012/10/21/moving-the-big-guns-on-alabama/

 

[mtaylor]

Keith, I just learned something from you.  I never knew they had breech loading Parrots.  For some reason, I thought they were all muzzle loaded.   

[BANYAN]

Hi Keith, I would be surprised if that sweep arrangement on the Alabama is correct (for the rear/after sweeps anyway).  The British guns, and assuming the US gun slides also, used iron on the bottom of the slide transoms which ran on the iron sweeps (all could be bronze/gunmetal also).  In the shown arrangement, the after transom could not be maneuvered correctly without damaging the decks.  Even by this stage if rollers had replaced the transom plates, they would still needed sweeps. 

 

Just food for thought

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Keith Black]

21 hours ago, mtaylor said:

Keith, I just learned something from you

Mark, it is a small repayment for all that I have learned from you.....KB

[Keith Black]

Pat, it didn't look correct and I have no clue where they came up with that configuration. 

In the above Alabama build by Jonathan11, these sweeps make sense and appear correct. He's doing a nice job on his build. 

[mtaylor]

Looking at the iron "tracks" in your historical photos, Keith, I'm thinking that the carriage had anchor pins at the front and the rear for moving the cannon about.  I can't quite put my finger on it but Jonathna's looks "off" to me.  I think it's double arcs near the bulwark and that there should be a large circle in in the center. If I remember right, they had "wheels" at all four corners of the carriage which were iron shod.   

 

Look again at the photos in post 106.   I wish there were photos without all the sailors in the way. 

 

As for learning from me... I'm humbled but then we all pass knowledge back and forth. 

 

[J11]

11 hours ago, Keith Black said:

Pat, it didn't look correct and I have no clue where they came up with that configuration. 

In the above Alabama build by Jonathan11, these sweeps make sense and appear correct. He's doing a nice job on his build. 

These tracks for the Alabama are wrong per historical configuration. I used the supplied tracks on the molds for definition and cleanliness of the build.

 

Here's the correct historical tracks for the Alabama:

Here's te historical confiruration for firing:

 

Hope this helps.

 

 

[Keith Black]

I have to agree with Pat, getting from stage 3 to stage 4, it would appear that the shifting carriage's rear trucks are maneuvering across unprotected deck.