- Joined
- Apr 15, 2021
- Messages
- 6
- Points
- 3
Well, I'm very excited to have discovered such a vibrant forum for the practice of this dark art! I'm from southeast Texas, which has been a very important area for shipping since time immemorial. I'm primarily a 1/72 AFV modeler, but being a serious student of the American Civil War, I've long harbored a desire to model US and CS ships.
This area of Texas, and indeed the entire Texas coast, saw dozens of ships on both sides during the war. As far as I can tell, all the CS vessels, with the exception of a few captured USN, were lightly-armed, shallow-draft river steamboats. I understand that steamboats are a completely different animal from the more prevalent sailing vessels, and I have the Western Rivers Steamboat Cyclopedium to help me there.
On the US side, I really want to model the Unadilla class 90-day gunboats. Many of them served in Texas - just of the top of my head, Aroostook, Chocura, Cayuga, Itasca, Owasco, and Katahdin. USS - later CSS, after her capture - Clifton is also a subject near to my heart. She was a Vanderbilt ferryboat intended for the Staten Island service, but the US Navy purchased her as soon as she was completed and converted her to a gunboat. She saw extensive, and quite bloody, action during her short naval career, and was captured by the CS at the second battle of Sabine Pass, Texas. She briefly served as a CS gunboat before being stripped down and outfitted as a blockade runner. On her first sortie out of Sabine, she missed the channel and grounded on a mudflat at Texas Point. Her crew set her afire and waded home. Though her hulk is buried now by ten feet of marsh mud, Clifton's steam drum was visible for decades before hurricanes finally destroyed it. I've been to her final resting place many times over the years - odd to stand on (somewhat) solid land and realize there's a shipwreck literally beneath your feet.
Being a plastic modeler and a complete novice to shipbuilding, plastic would be my preferred medium.. a friend of mine recently mentioned that wood is preferred for the hull, but plastic is fine for the deck structures and some fittings.
Anyway, I'm excited to finally branch out into this new, for me, branch of modeling. I'm both intimidated and inspired by the vast knowledge and skill that I've seen in the forums!
Thanks,
Matt
This area of Texas, and indeed the entire Texas coast, saw dozens of ships on both sides during the war. As far as I can tell, all the CS vessels, with the exception of a few captured USN, were lightly-armed, shallow-draft river steamboats. I understand that steamboats are a completely different animal from the more prevalent sailing vessels, and I have the Western Rivers Steamboat Cyclopedium to help me there.
On the US side, I really want to model the Unadilla class 90-day gunboats. Many of them served in Texas - just of the top of my head, Aroostook, Chocura, Cayuga, Itasca, Owasco, and Katahdin. USS - later CSS, after her capture - Clifton is also a subject near to my heart. She was a Vanderbilt ferryboat intended for the Staten Island service, but the US Navy purchased her as soon as she was completed and converted her to a gunboat. She saw extensive, and quite bloody, action during her short naval career, and was captured by the CS at the second battle of Sabine Pass, Texas. She briefly served as a CS gunboat before being stripped down and outfitted as a blockade runner. On her first sortie out of Sabine, she missed the channel and grounded on a mudflat at Texas Point. Her crew set her afire and waded home. Though her hulk is buried now by ten feet of marsh mud, Clifton's steam drum was visible for decades before hurricanes finally destroyed it. I've been to her final resting place many times over the years - odd to stand on (somewhat) solid land and realize there's a shipwreck literally beneath your feet.
Being a plastic modeler and a complete novice to shipbuilding, plastic would be my preferred medium.. a friend of mine recently mentioned that wood is preferred for the hull, but plastic is fine for the deck structures and some fittings.
Anyway, I'm excited to finally branch out into this new, for me, branch of modeling. I'm both intimidated and inspired by the vast knowledge and skill that I've seen in the forums!
Thanks,
Matt
