I'm not sure how many actual plans are in it, but my guess is that Don found whatever was extant. Don Canney is a fine scholar and the book is well-illustrated. I don't have the book, and it apparently is out of print, but it's the sort of thing a good library would have - and I'm sure used copies can be found. The best source on Union ironclads is Donald Canney's The Old Steam Navy:Vol. Neuse, which resides about 25 miles away from her, in Kinston, North Carolina.
And just a couple of years ago my students and I did a class project around the remains of the C.S.S. Quite a few years ago I got hired to design a paper model (for kids) of the Monitor, for use by the Monitor Marine Sanctuary's educational programs. I'm not a Civil War expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I've had to dip my toe in these rather murky waters a couple of times. The Osprey book does not show this, which makes me doubt the colours shown in its drawings. I know some of the Confederate ships, such as the Arkansas, were painted in a reddish-brown colour (red oxide?) presumably for camouflage against muddy river water. Some models I've seen have the armour represented as unpainted metal, but this seems unlikely to me due to the problem of rust. Similarly, were the wooden areas (hull and deck) left unpainted or painted to match the rest of the ship? And did painting vary significantly between Confederate and Union ships? (For that matter, is there actually reliable information on the painting of any of these ships?) What colour were the iron armoured parts of the ships (in the case of monitors, everything above the waterline) generally painted? They are shown as dark-to-medium grey in all of the Osprey books. I do have a spare 1/96 9" Dahlgren gun left over from the Revell Kearsarge kit which I could measure and scale down to 1/144. (I could build the models with the gunports closed, but this would look rather dull considering how simple and functional most of the ships are in the first place).
Similarly, do any plans exist of the guns they were armed with (Dahlgren guns, Brooke and Parrott rifles, etc.?) I have various photos of these guns, but for scratchbuilding purposes I need to know the actual dimensions of the guns and their carriages. Hence a book on the subject with basic plans/drawings would be preferable to buying detailed plans for each ship individually (considering my limited budget and the fact that the plans will probably have to be ordered from the US)
The plans don't have to be large or complex just clear and reasonably accurate. However, the two books on Union ships only have side drawings of most vessels. Are there any good sources of plans for these ships? The Osprey book on Confederate ironclads has side and top profile views of most of the ships covered in the book, which will be adequate for my purposes (although these drawings are fairly small, the vessels are so simple in design that there isn't much need for detailed close-up views). However, there are still many areas I'm unsure about, and I also don't have plans for many of the vessels I'd like to build (such the City-class Union ironclad, and the later Union monitors). I know there are a number of modellers here interested in Civil War ships, so I've got a few questions - hope someone can help!įor reference material I have three Osprey/Vanguard publications - Union River Ironclads, Union Monitors, and Confederate Ironclads - as well as a number of books on 19th century warships, and many downloaded photographs of the various 1/192 and 1/96 resin kits available of these ships. I'm planning on scratchbuilding (in the fairly near future) some models of American Civil War ironclads and monitors (both Union and Confederate), probably in 1/144 or 1/150 scale.
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