USS Cairo 1862 by MPB521 – FINISHED - Scale 1:48 - American Civil War Ironclad - First Scratch Build

[mbp521]

Bob,

 

Thank you so much for the kind comments.
 

I started building model ships back in my tweens, graduating to full rigged plastic models in my later teens. For a while I had abandoned ships altogether and moved over to planes (a direct result of serving in the Air Force). It was only until about seven years ago that I got into building the wood ship models. With each build comes new experiences and learning. I look at my first wood build HMB Endeavor, while proud of how it turned out, I still see many flaws and things that I should have, could have, done differently. But, it gives me something look back on and see how my skills have progressed. While I am not in nearly the same league as some of the builders on this site, I’m happy with my results so far. Along with this it’s helped me gain the confidence to tackle a scratch build like this.
 

In the end though, it's not totally about the end result, but rather how much you enjoyed getting there. 
 

-Brian

[KeithAug]

16 hours ago, mbp521 said:

my focus has been on projects around the house

Brian, isn't it annoying when life intrudes.

Great job on the stove, I particularly liked the aluminium tape technique.

[mbp521]

3 hours ago, KeithAug said:

Brian, isn't it annoying when life intrudes.

Great job on the stove, I particularly liked the aluminium tape technique.

Thank you Keith.
 

I definitely agree, the aluminum tape technique works great for giving wooden parts a metal look and provides an easy way to simulate the rivets, especially after painting. I wish I would have used it on my Chaperone build, it would have given my stacks and boiler a more realistic look. Oh well, all part of the learning experience. 
 

-Brian

[vaddoc]

Just catching up Brian, the stove came out great. What paint did you use and did you use any primer?

[mbp521]

On 11/22/2020 at 3:22 PM, vaddoc said:

Just catching up Brian, the stove came out great. What paint did you use and did you use any primer?

Vaddoc,

 

Thank you. No primer, I just used an ordinary rattle can of flat black. I then dry brushed the highlights with a gray acrylic and finally coated it it all with satin clear lacquer. I used the same technique on the paddle wheel and boilers. Seems to work fairly well. 
 

-Brian

[mbp521]

Hello Again Everyone,

 

I have finally hit the six month mark on my build and figured it was time for another update. It has been slow going and I realized that it has been several weeks since my last posts, so I guess it is about time to get something out there. I am still chickening out on building the engines. For some reason, I just cannot get my head into them (not sure if it is mental or what). So instead I worked on the casemate framing for the gun deck.

 

To start the framing, I set me up a jig that would allow me to keep the frames in a straight line and equal height. I use a couple of scrap blocks glued to both ends of by build frame and some 3/4" aluminum angle for this. For the top beam, I marked out the framing positions to also line up with the build frame and set that into place on top of the blocks. Then the beam and aluminum angle were lined up and clamped into place. The two middle blocks were left loose so that I could slide them next to the frames as they were going in to maintain a consistent height. Even though I use a solid piece of angle there was still some flex in the four foot span and I didn't want to risk my frames drooping in the middle.

 

 

First few frames going in on the port side.

 

 

More frames going in.

 

Looking pretty straight.

 

Starboard and port frames in place.

 

 

 

 

After the side frames were installed, I started work on the forward casemate frames. These were twice the thickness of the side frames for added protection on a frontal assault. On the real Cairo, the side frames were about 12" thick, the forward frames were 25" thick. This was not counting the armor plating that added an additional 2 1/2" of thickness.

 

 

While I contemplated how I was going to form the curve of the top beam at the forward end. I started work on one of the deck features. I built up a couple of water/beer/wine casks (not sure what the preferred drink of the day was) and got them into place next to the stove.

 

 

 

I went ahead and temp installed the stovepipe since I wasn't sure that I would be able to get my drill down in the deck once the forward frames and ceiling beams were in place.

 

 

Then the fun began where the top beams started to curve in at the bow. I built up one of the ceiling beams to keep the port and starboard casemate frames equidistant apart while I made the bend in the beams. The ceiling beams have a slight bow to shed the water from the hurricane deck. I calculated these to be about 4mm in rise to the center to give them the correct radius. I glued the pattern to the beams and sanded them down on my disc sander.

 

With the first ceiling beam in place, I then cut out a pattern and form to use for a consistent and even bend on the forward frames. 

 

A second and third ceiling beam were added to keep the curve in place, along with the forward casemate frames.

 

 

I was having some trouble keeping the top beams from going back to their original form. My attempt at steaming them with a steam iron was not working all that great, not to mention the look the Admiral gave me when she caught me using her iron for something other than what it was intended for. So I drilled some holes through the side beams and into the ends of the ends of the ceiling beams and epoxied some toothpicks into them. I also added a small piece of scrap wood to the bottoms to hold it  all together. The scrap wood should be out of the way where it is not seen on the inside.

 

Once the epoxy was set, I trimmed the top beams and finished out the port and starboard casemate frames to tie into the forward ones.

 

 

Next I finished out the aft frames. Again, I temp installed a ceiling beam to keep the sides at their proper distance then installed the framing.

 

 

 

With all the framing in place, I have now removed her from the building frame. This makes it a whole lot easier to work on not having the bulky jig to deal with. Here is where she sits right now. She is starting to come together.

 

 

Finally, with the framing completed, I tried my hand at some more wood turning. I wanted to see if I will be able to make my cannons from wood. I think I have the concept down, just not sure if I can make them consistent. Here is my first attempts on the 30lb Parrot Rifle and one of the 32lb Smoothbores. I'd be glad to hear any thoughts on them.

 

 

 

That is all for now. Hopefully I can get more done since the colder weather is starting to set in. Of course the holidays are also around the corner so that may put a delay on some of it. In any case, thank you for looking and all of the kind comments and likes.

 

-Brian

 

Edited November 29, 2020 by mbp521

[Cathead]

Looks wonderful, so crisp and even on the framing. Nice fix using the toothpicks to strengthen those joins. The guns look nice to me, though I'm hardly an expert.

[Keith Black]

Brian, beautiful work. I am enjoying your build and look forward to each new installment.

One thing if I may, while your turning of the 30 lb Parrott rifle is beautiful, it looks like there is too much muzzle swell. I've seen photos of 30 lb Parrott rifles that have no swell as per the attached photo but then other 30 lb photos show a very slight swell. I once had tons of Parrott rifle photos when doing research for the Parrots on the Tennessee but have since deleted them when I finished the guns. 

Please don't take this as criticism, merely a small point that you may want to look at more closely......Keith 

[mbp521]

5 hours ago, Cathead said:

Looks wonderful, so crisp and even on the framing. Nice fix using the toothpicks to strengthen those joins. The guns look nice to me, though I'm hardly an expert.

Thank you Eric. That toothpick method has come in handy more than once on this build. 
 

-Brian

[mbp521]

4 hours ago, Keith Black said:

Brian, beautiful work. I am enjoying your build and look forward to each new installment.

One thing if I may, while your turning of the 30 lb Parrott rifle is beautiful, it looks like there is too much muzzle swell. I've seen photos of 30 lb Parrott rifles that have no swell as per the attached photo but then other 30 lb photos show a very slight swell. I once had tons of Parrott rifle photos when doing research for the Parrots on the Tennessee but have since deleted them when I finished the guns. 

Please don't take this as criticism, merely a small point that you may want to look at more closely......Keith

Keith,

 

No worries about the criticism, I openly welcome it. Any tips, guidance or pointers I’ll gladly accept. To be honest, I really didn’t do a whole lot of research on the guns for Cairo, I just took it for granted that the HSR document was correct on her armament. I based the guns off of the below sheet that was part of the HSR. This drawing has a significant muzzle swell on it. However, now you’ve got my curiosity up again on how they really looked. Time to do a little investigation. If you do happen to run across any other pictures of the Parrots that you may have, please feel free to share. 
 

Please pardon my coloring. I color coded them for positioning on the deck. 
 

-Brian

[Keith Black]

Brian, this is a museum owned 30 lb Parrott rifle showing a little muzzle swell.

 

 

This is a 10 lb showing no muzzle swell. 

 

A 20 lb showing a very slight muzzle swell. 

 

I know the 60 lb and the 100 lb had no muzzle swell. Tis a bit of a puzzle this Parrott muzzle.

[mbp521]

Keith,

 

Thanks for the additional pictures. What a plethora of puzzling Parrot problems. 
 

-Brian 

[Cathead]

And this...

 

 

is an ex-Parrott.

 

Sorry.

[mbp521]

YIKES!  That is a serious parrot problem. 
 

-Brian

[Keith Black]

41 minutes ago, Cathead said:

And this...

 

 

is an ex-Parrott.

 That gun acquired the nickname "short round". And like Reesse's......not sorry 

[wefalck]

Reminds of the old joke: what is better than presence of mind in the case of an accident ... absence of the body. Sometimes guns can be more dangerous to the crew than to the enemy.

 

Nice project btw ...

[mbp521]

So after a little more research, I determined that you were right Keith, The muzzle swell on the 30lb parrot rifle was a little bit much.

 

I found some pictures I had taken a few years ago when I visited Vicksburg NMP. Now given the assumption that these are the original guns that were brought up with the rest of the USS Cairo then the 30 pounder has a slight swell at the muzzle, a little less than what is shown on the HSR.

 

 

Compared to the HSR drawings, the real guns have less muzzle swell.

 

So with that all being said I decided to turn it down a bit. It might not be perfect, but I do think it looks closer to the actual gun than the drawing.

 

Thankfully there was only one 30 pounder on board. Now to build the carriages and figure out how to duplicate the other guns.

 

-Brian

[FriedClams]

Excellent workmanship Brian and a wonderful result.  Your model is looking fabulous.

 

Gary

[mbp521]

Hello again Everyone,

 

It's time again for another episode of "Ask the Audience".

 

I have been working on getting my hull faired and completed so that I can get it painted to where I don't have to flip the model over anymore. I getting to the point where the deck structures will prevent the boat from being turned over without the risk of breaking something off. So in the process of researching the hull painting, I ran into another quandary that I cannot seem to find any information on. 

 

I know that the regular packet steamer hulls were generally painted, along with everything else above the waterline. And I know from research that the Iron Clads were also painted above the waterline as well, given the numerous pictures available on the internet and in books. This stands to reason that their hulls would have been painted too, to give the hull some form of protection from water absorption, even if their expected life span wasn't that long. The problem that I am having is what color was the hull painted? I have found several instances where the model builder painted everything below the waterline something of a Red Oxide color, similar to that of more modern steel warships (and other ships). In my limited knowledge of modern ships, I have come to understand that the Red Oxide hulls were a rust preventative and to help with keeping marine parasites like barnacles from fouling the hulls. This is all fine and dandy, but the USS Cairo was a wooden hull boat that travelled in fresh water. So what would be the reason for the red hull? Since the Cairo spent over a 100 years at the bottom of the Yazoo river, none of the paint survived, which makes it really hard to determine what colors were used.

 

My ultimate goal is to get my build as close to accurate as possible. I like the red hull color scheme, but was it authentic? This may be one of those time where "Builder Liberties" come into play, but if anyone out there has any input that would help it would be greatly appreciated.

 

These were some pictures of the model in the USS Cairo Museum that I took on my last trip there. It shows the red painted hull. There are a several other pictures that I found of models on the internet that have red hulls as well as black ones. I didn't post them here because I wasn't sure of their copyrights.

 

 

 

Thanks for looking.

 

-Brian

Edited December 17, 2020 by mbp521

[Keith Black]

 Brian, it's probably going to come down to your personal preference or coin toss.  I can't see the Navy taking the extra time/money to paint the hull below the waterline red when that didn't seem to be the practice with wood hulls of that era. You're doing such a nice job on your Cairo I don't think anyone is going to challenge whatever hull color scheme you chose. 

[BANYAN]

Brian, as Keith says, who can challenge unless they have a 'wayback' machine.  For my two cents worth though, but I have no experience with US ships at all, is that if the museum model has a red hull, then you would like to think they researched this properly?  My leaning would then to be to follow the museum model (unless you are aware the model was not that well researched?)

 

cheers

 

Pat

Edited December 17, 2020 by BANYAN

[mbp521]

Keith, thank you for the kind words. I have a feeling you are correct, given the stringent time frame these boats were built on. I would probably say that they just slathered them down top to bottom with a coat of black paint and sent them on their way. Cairo’s service life was so short she probably never made it to a dry dock to have my hull work done, so it most likely remained its original color.
 

Unfortunately there are no records to prove or disprove this. It may all boil down to a coin toss, which will be heads on both sides, meaning red it is. That is, unless I happen across some hidden document that calls out her original paint scheme, or someone out there has done extensive research on how the hulls were treated. 

 

Pat, what I wouldn’t give for a “way back” machine, not just to get a picture of what she looked like, but to also see these beautiful machines in action (from a distance of course). 
 

On a different note, I have done some studying up on the model in the museum and there are several discrepancies with it, in comparison with the HSR. And not to discredit the builder(s), they did a beautiful job on it, and for the most part it’s fairly accurate. But I do think they took a few “builders liberties” with it as well. I’ll be more than happy if mine comes out looking as good as this one. 
 

-Brian

[Cathead]

Have you tried contacting the museum with this question? Current staff may not know, but they may well be able to reach out to someone who does.

[mbp521]

Eric, great idea! Hadn’t thought about that. I’d have to email them though, unfortunately the museum has been closed since summer due to the ‘Rona’. 
 

I guess I could also pose the question on the log for the St. Louis. I know those guys have done extensive research on that build. 
 

-Brian

[Cathead]

Brian,

 

The park may be closed to visitors but staff may still be working or at least available. The core NPS jobs are permanent hires, it's not like everyone's been let go, and they can't just shut the gates and ignore everything. So there's a decent chance someone is still monitoring contact info and could get back to you. They give basic contact info (phone # and an email form) at the link below, could try that and see if anyone responds. If you can make contact, the rest might work as the right staff member might be able to pass you along to the right historian or whoever.

 

https://www.nps.gov/vick/contacts.htm

[Roger Pellett]

All contemporary US Navy information that I know of relates to major warships intended for salt water service and of course these were coppered.  On the other hand I believe that there were compelling reasons for applying some sort protective coatings below the waterline of these river vessels prior to launch.  These would include minimizing leakage, rot, and providing rudimentary protection from fouling.

 

So the question is what was available, cheap, and easily applied.  Cheap paint pigments would include black, made from soot, and red ( iron oxide ).  It would also have been necessary to pay caulked seams to waterproof the caulking.  Materials for this could include white lead, red lead, or tar. Of these, I believe that tar was the most likely.

 

It would, therefore, seem to me that a possible approach would be to assume that after paying the seams with tar, the rest of the hull would have been coated with the same stuff so it would be black.

 

If you wanted to avoid having an all black model you could subtly make the underwater coating a very dark brown.

 

You might also want to check the “Resources” section of the NRG website for an article by Eric Ronnberg about Nineteenth Century paint colors.

 

Roger

 

[wefalck]

How were houses painted in the area ? I gather in some areas of the USA wooden houses were painted in red ochre, as is for instance common in certain Scandinavian areas. So, if red ochre paints were around they could have used those to mimic the common practice in other areas of shipbuilding. In the 1860s ship bottom paints (for iron ships) became available in quite a range of colours, but red seems to have been always popular, probably because people were used to the brownish-reddish colour of copper sheathing.

 

Otherwise, I would concur with Roger, that some sort of tar would have been the most likely alternative.

[Roger Pellett]

Here in the US, red oxide paint used to be known locally as Barn Red paint to distinguish it from bright red.  It was called this because most wooden Barns were painted this color.  This paint had one attractive property that appealed to tight fisted farmers.  It was cheap!  It also covered well.  Even as late as the 1990’s a gallon of this paint bought from a local paint manufacturer cost $14.00; a fraction of the cost of other paints.  Iron oxide was plentiful throughout the country.

 

There were also significant deposits of lead in Galena, Illinois on the Mississippi River nearby.  Red lead has until recently also been a commonly used industrial primer.  I am not sure when it began to be used but that should be easy to find out.  Red lead color has an orange tint unlike red iron oxide paints.

 

If the bottom was not tarred, I agree that red oxide or possibly red lead would be a logical color.

Edited December 19, 2020 by Roger Pellett

[mbp521]

Roger, Wefalck,

 

Thank you both for the information. It’s very much appreciated. I had no idea that farmers used the same red on their barns. That would explain why you can still see remnants of red paint on some of the old dilapidated barns, as well as some still standing. The paints actually last longer than the wood.

 

I am seriously considering going with a reddish-brown hull, it seems the general consensus points that direction anyway. I have a few inquiries out to others, a couple of which are outside of this forum, with the same question, and so far the answer has been the same, “not a lot of info on it” and “go with your preference”. I think I’ll play around with some colors and see what comes out. I still have some time. 
 

-Brian

[wefalck]

Red ochre, iron-oxyhydroxide (FeOOH ... I am a geochemist ) is rather stable in most environments. Its the same mineral the colours red sandstones and also a component of most iron-ores. So it is not terribly surprising that it may outlast wood. Depending on the actual composition of the mineral and heating processes during the pigment production, it's colour can vary from a pale orange to deep red to a reddish violett. Assuming that no a very high-quality pigment was used in 'barn-paints' a brownish red is probably the most likely colour.