Hi Mike...

Well...hmmmm... actually no!
Can you post some pictures so that I can understand the problem better?

Skipepr

Ok....

My plan is that once I finish painting the cannon I will install then in the casemate and then glue it to the hull. My issue is that since I effectively have no openings in the casemate, the armament needs to be in place, correctly posistioned, before I glue the casemate in place.

These (foreground) need to go in that (background)...


Close up of the cannon. Have only painted the barrels so far...one broadside and one pivot shown here:


You might begin to get an idea of what I'll have to go through...basically I have no way of manuevering and glueing said guns if the casemate is glued in place first, so I have to align them with the gunports and glue them in place on the deck prior to dropping the casemate on the hull:


Here's the CSS Albemarle I'm also working on:


Same scale, 1/192, as the Virginia...The Virginia was a monster in comparison:

And for those who are interested, Mike West of Lone Star Models informed me this week that he's sold all the molds and tooling for his ironclad models to Flagship Models and they will now be making/selling them. Bost websites subsequently make note of the changes.

Just to let everyone know, all the molds and masters for the Lone Star Models kit have been acquired by our good friend Rusty White, of Flagship Models, who will be releasing them under his banner.

Cheers,
John Snyder
White Ensign Models

bump

CSS Albemarle progress:

Primer, note the CSS Tennessee in the background:

They're coming along really nice Mike. How many hours do you suppose you have in them thus far?

I look forward to seeing the finished products!

Take care
Steve

Mike (Woodstock74),
Could you fix a piece of stiff wire or similar to the nozzle of each cannon, suspend the casement above the gundeck somehow then thread the wire through the gunports leaving the cannon near the centre of the deck. Spread some 5 minute epoxy on the deck where the guns will finally be positioned then glue the casement and hull together and drag the cannons into position using the wire.
Let it all dry and remove the wire. You'll just have to be careful with the epoxy or hope that it's not visible through the gunports when everythings finished.
hope to have helped.
Tom

Steve,

Not all that many ultimately. The Albemarle builds up pretty quickly and other than the styrene frames for the grated areas there wasn't too much to do. Though the casting did have many pinholes and that caused some issues though I think I have a work around for the Tennessee. One thing I wish was "better" is that from a scale perspective I think the stays holding up the smokestack are too large in diameter. I found the smallest dia. styrene rod and used it. Though I think I would have been better off with brass (or some kind of metal) then dia wire. You ship guys know better than I about where to find such, any ideas? About all I have left to do on the Albemarle is add the anchor and chains and paint and finish the life boat. I assume it should be white (the life boat), but with the rest of the ship looking so "war weary" I'm not sure how I'll weather it....ultiamtely I think I went a bit over the top with the weathering. After all it was iron in a salt water environment, but I'm unsure of the salt water proofing methodology at the time (the gray paint was supposed to be the anti-rust coating) much less the military discipline of this period of the CSN. So ultiamtely I'm not sure if it is "right" to have it so rusty...oh well.

Tom,

Thanks, good idea...I'm realising that I'm going to have to add a proper gun deck as the height of the top of the lower hull vs. the height of the gun portals is sufficient enough to require an elevated platform above the hull to host the guns. So I'm going to have to deal with creating a styrene deck and all the fitment headaches associated before I can get back to the issue of placing the guns properly. Your idea sounds as though it might work though it is going to be a fiddle I can tell!

I think what i would do is to set the guns in the gunports and glue a piece of sheet styrene under the cannon and to the wall of the casemate. After it dries and sets, then glue the casemate to the hull piece. I do love the way all those confederate Rams looked. The VA, TN, ARK, ATL and the ABER.

Another good idea and perhaps more practical (or, one that better fits my patience level!).

Got another question. I'm about to finish painting the Virginia's ordanance, any ideas what colors the gun carriages were? I can't find any references. The broadsides are on Marsilly carriages (wooden) and the fore and aft guns on pivots (again, wooden). Guess the question is, were the wooden gun carriages painted and if so, what color? The Civil War Naval Museum has a firing 9" Dahlgren on what appears to be a Marsilly type mount, but from the single image I've seen on the site I can't tell if it is a Marsilly mount, and if so, if it is painted or not...

Finishing up the Virginia's battery:



Next I'll begin finally getting down to installing it...