Following the death of a model maker in LA, I was asked to complete the model of the ironclad CSS TEXAS he had started. Having seen photographs of his completed models, I have taken on that responsibility for the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Maritime Museum in Madisonville. LA. This work was sidelined while I completed a model of the shipyard which was based in that comunity since before WWI. With the diorama complete, I began assessing the work to be done on the ironclad. The frame of the model had been partially been built from drawings scaled up from the original 1/8" scale plan on an office copier and spliced together. This created a creeping error which had caused the frame to be slightly over seven feet long and off scale, 13/32" = 1'.
To date, the hull has been planked, the fore deck and after deck have been sheathed and covered with plexiglass scribed to the standard CSA armor dimensions and the bolts for same installed. The gundeck has been planked and the pivot points located for the 4 8" cannon mounts. Due to errors on the original drawing, construction of the casemate will have to wait until the gun mounts are completed. The guns are waiting for the completion of the gun carriages, the wood for which was cut today. The casemate will be half open to show the inner workings of the gun deck, with all its tackle, gun accessories and crew members.
I apologize for not taking more time to explain this background as well in a previous post. Hopefully the remainder of my posts on this project will be in better context.
To date, the hull has been planked, the fore deck and after deck have been sheathed and covered with plexiglass scribed to the standard CSA armor dimensions and the bolts for same installed. The gundeck has been planked and the pivot points located for the 4 8" cannon mounts. Due to errors on the original drawing, construction of the casemate will have to wait until the gun mounts are completed. The guns are waiting for the completion of the gun carriages, the wood for which was cut today. The casemate will be half open to show the inner workings of the gun deck, with all its tackle, gun accessories and crew members.
I apologize for not taking more time to explain this background as well in a previous post. Hopefully the remainder of my posts on this project will be in better context.
