Confederate Ironclads

thingiverse

You're standing lookout on the deck of the USS Cumberland anchored in Hampton Roads. The cold morning air cuts through your coat like a knife. Through the fog rolling over the bay you see a shape emerging, but you dismiss it as just another late-night illusion. You take a swig of coffee from your canteen to clear your head and focus on the task at hand. Suddenly the shape materializes out of the fog, its massive hull low in the water and black smoke billowing from its smokestack, flying the flag of the Confederacy with pride. You sound the alarm, and watch as this behemoth begins to make its way towards your ship, causing chaos among your crewmates who start barking orders left and right. The guns open up with a deafening roar, FDOOM! FDOOM! FDOOM! Cannonballs fly through the air at incredible speeds, CLANG! CLANG! You stare in horror as the shots bounce off the shape's iron hull like they're made of rubber. Suddenly your ship lurches violently underneath you, throwing you to the deck with a jolt. You regain your footing and see the nose of the beast buried deep into the hull of your ship, its engines reversing as it slowly pulls itself out, creating a gaping hole in the process. Your ship starts taking on water at an alarming rate, sinking fast. The Battle of Hampton Roads has begun, and everything we thought we knew about war is about to change forever. These simplified Civil War ironclads are designed for tabletop games, modeled at roughly 1/600 scale but easily scalable to any size you require. The Confederate set currently includes: CSS Albemarle CSS Atlanta CSS Fredericksburg CSS Manassas CSS Neuse Added on October 27th: CSS Virginia CSS Palmetto State CSS Virginia II CSS Arkansas CSS Baltic Corrected orientation for the following ships: CSS Albemarle, CSS Atlanta, CSS Fredericksburg, CSS Manassas, and CSS Neuse. Added on October 29th: CSS Charleston CSS Chicora CSS Colombia CSS Huntsville CSS Louisiana CSS Mississippi CSS Missouri CSS Muscogee Added on November 2nd: CSS North Carolina CSS Raleigh CSS Richmond CSS Savannah Updated on November 12th: Converted all model dimensions to metric for easier printing, and added: CSS Tennessee CSS Tuscaloosa Update on March 25th: Added separate models with bases removed. These ships are modeled without cannons or gunport shutters. If you want your ships to have visible cannons, simply use small pieces of toothpicks painted black, and paper can be used for gunport shutters. Some ships, like Charleston, Chicora, Palmetto State, Raleigh, and Richmond, had spar torpedoes fastened to their bows. If desired, a small hole can be drilled and a piece of fine wire inserted. These aren't the most detailed models out there, but with some paint and a little creativity, they'll look great! I'll add more as I finish them, and then move on to creating a separate set of Union ironclads.