Thanks for the info Jerry.

The color of the carriages is right from the Naval Ordinance manual of the period 1852-1858ish

Hi Jerry, these cannons are masterpieces within a masterpiece.
Of this era and type, they are the most beautiful, well-made and accurate that I have ever seen to date.
A question: is this type of green the result of historical research or is it your personal choice?

Masterpiece.

Gotta love those pivot guns and tracks! Great job Jerry.

Lew
Florida, USA

The Dahlgren firing video is at:

https://youtu.be/OYOJ2mEha_Q?si=ttrrVEsYtbL_FXXX

Jerry - Some photos of the 12 pounder (USCG) I took in 2007 at the Mariners' Museum's Monitor Center are attached. (My son is the marine sergeant at the breech of the gun.)

I also found my old video of the gun firing and will upload it to YouTube ASAP.

Lew
Florida, USA

Jerry, the Dahlgren boat howitzer is an amazing artillery piece. Years ago I had the opportunity to discuss it with the "reenacting crew" in Virginia. ( This particular one was owned by the USCG.)

There are several histoy accounts on how it was used with naval "infantry" ashore and transported in pieces across rough terrain. There was also a mount on some of the launches.

Brings back some neat memories of my Civil War naval reenacting days. Thanks for sharing this. Without a doubt, you are the best modeler of that period, period!

Lew
Florida ⛱️, USA 🇺🇸

These cannons are true masterpieces.
I am progressing very slowly with my much smaller Dalghrens.
I wish I had learned about this site and your work ten years ago, instead of just now.
Excellent.

Any chance of stl file being posted? I’d like to scale to the Revel Constitution kit I think it’s 1:96 scale. Tnx it looks great

I was aboard when she came back from dry-dock in March 2011. I lived in Baltimore city from 1969 to 1989, and in it's suburbs, since. I worked on the water on tugs, a skipjack, the first Pride of Baltimore's construction, and later as crew. My best friend, who I've sailed with since we were teenagers, is a tug captain on the bridge site right now.

When I was volunteering at the Naval Academy Museum, I got to see a glass-plate photo of Constellation on the Severn in 1879 where you can see the widened gun-port for the XI Dahlgren (port-side). The "proposed" set-up was marked on her original gun-deck plan from 1854, I put a portion of it here.

Jerry, I found this in the US Navy records:

Recommissioned on 25 May 1871, she took midshipmen (also classed as “naval cadets” at varying periods) on their summer training cruises for the next twenty-two years. In 1871-1872, she received further modification so she could also be utilized for gunnery instruction with a main battery of eight 9-inch Dahlgren guns, plus one 100-pound Parrott Rifle and one 11-inch Dahlgren gun.

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Side note: The photo shows the USS Constellation sailing under the Francis Scott Bridge in Oct 2022. The bridge collapsed last week after being struck by a 900+ ft container ship.😔

Lew
Florida, USA

The Constellation folks showed me plans for a 30# Parrott pivot carriage and slide. They said that Constellation had that and a 20# pivot during the Civil War, which they said was the time frame they were working toward restoring ship.
My model is of the ship in 1856, when she was new. They said she was armed with 10" shell-gun pivots then, and showed me plans for a 10 inch gun & pivot carriage for the Mississippi dated .
I made that gun by hand for the model, intending to learn to photo-etch to detail it, but then I got a 3D printer and 3D modeled and printed both guns with all their details.

The Mississippi gun is 8,600 pounds, the 10 inch Dahlgren is 12,000 pounds; but the Traversing Carriage and Slide modified for the Dahlgren is shorter, but wider, and the Dahlgren mounts lower, lowering the center of gravity. It actually fits Constellation's better fore and aft.

Constellation was the last sailing warship the Navy built, launched in August 1854, and commissioned in July 1856. The Mississippi gun plan is dated July 1855, and Dahlgren's drawing is dated July 31 1850. Both guns are referenced as "10 inch shell-gun on pivot."
The frigates and razzees, such as Cumberland, were all armed with 2 10 inch Dahlgren pivots on their spar decks.

I'm still looking for data that will confirm things one way or another, or yet another, as it may turn out, but I'm acting on a hunch that she should have 10 inch Dahlgrens.

BTW: if you notice the last image attached of the new deck tracks being worked on, you can see the back ends of the old guns slides in the image of the deck, and see the difference in the length of the old and new guns.

Wow!!! Jerry, it looks like you came out of the wood work with this project. I'm a big fan of American Civil War naval ships and technology so I appreciate, even envy, what you are doing and have done.

Out of curriousity, I see you have been registered here for about 7 years but have not shared that much with this
community. I sincerely look forward to seeing more of your progress on this little seen aector of model boats.

Now about the 10in Dahlgren and the Constellation... the pivot gun takes up a lot of deck space so I am not sure about compatibility here. I would like to see the results of your research on that.

Your 3D resin prints look great. Lots of details.

Lew
Florida ⛱️, USA

I was familiar with 3D modeling, and researched how 3D printing worked a long time ago, but is wasn't till the last couple of years that reliable-ish printers got to where I could manage to buy one.
My modeling skill isn't so great, and I've yet to manage what it takes to reproduce the sort of carving shown in the attached picture, which is something I need to learn for both Constellation and Macedonian. Figures are also a skill I've yet to acquire, but I've never been good at drawing people.

How I envy your ability to 3D print parts.
So many times I could have done with this facility whilst boat building, invariably when trying to reproduce fixtures and fittings to scale.
It can be quite frustrating to spend hours making a small item, only to find it looks clumsy or wrong in some way and it ends up in the scrap bin.
I wish you the best with your boat build and look forward to seeing the completed job. 😉