Crude Kit

Cool, whats the copyright date on the instructions? th kit may be worth something as is to a collecter. If I were to hazard a guess probably late fifties or early sixties.

armornut, there is no copyright date.  In the lower corner it just has "Arcadia-Craft".  The instruction sheet does not appear to be yellowed from age.  This thing may not be that old.  It don't mean much but there was a rolled up newspaper in the box for padding and it was dated 1997.  This could be something produced in the last 10 to 15 years in limited numbers and could also not be worth the box it came in.  On the other hand it might be an old wood kit in good condition.  I am sure someone on this forum has seen one somewhere and has some info.

Its worth a try. If you are good with a jigsaw it should work out.

Well, I googled "Arcadia-Craft" and came up empty.  It does look about like the CSS Arkansas.  Here's a link to some pictures of her:  https://www.google.com/search?q=css+arkansas&client=firefox-a&hs=PhX&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=sb&source=lnms&sa=X&ei=h-F2U-2rMYSRqgbamYLgDw&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAA&biw=1920&bih=891&dpr=1 .

Click on "Images" at the top of the page.  I'm not a Civil War buff, but I question whether any of those plans on that page are genuine primary sources.  On the basis of the pictures, though, it looks like the hull and casemate of the kit are about right.

I'd be concerned that the hull appears to have been cut out of pine.  That's a nasty wood for a ship model.  It's soft, and over the years it's likely to secrete sap right through the paint.  On the other hand, a person could cover it up with "iron" sheathing (maybe styrene strip?) so none of the wood was exposed to the paint....But if I were taking it on I'd probably replace the hull and casemate with basswood or poplar.  They appear to have been cut out of a board with a bandsaw; if you don't have one of those, a fretsaw would do the trick.

I can't tell enough about the fittings to comment on them.  But it looks like the basis for a serious scale model may be here.

Over the years quite a few "cottage industry" kits have produced models of Civil War ships - and still do.  It looks like Arcadia-Craft was one of those companies.  I can't recall having heard of it before, though, and I have no idea what the date of the kit might be.

The company was in business several years ago, may still be.

They seem to concentrate on CSA navy gunboats.

You have a neat little thing there.

a little more. I called them and the number was disconnected, a company in Bossier City LA.

I will hazard the opinion that they sold kits at museums on historic battlefields of the Civil War.

That looks like a really neat kit,

GMorrison, your opinion makes sense, there are a number of Civil War battlefield museums scattered around this area.  I might jump on this at some point but I doubt it.  It looks pretty cool in the pile of stuff that I will never build.  I am sure all you guys have a pile like that.

Who? What?  A pile of stuff never built..... blasphomis...... I will build everything in my stash.....BAAHAAHAA HEE snort yea right. Sorry your little treasure turned out to not be such a find, however if it's a find to you then thats all that matters, I do have a few kits that won't be built but I know what your up against. Sometimes the model unbuilt is more interesting than the finest rendision.

Hi :

Being from ARKANSAS I will state that historically the ship was "the dangedest , ugliest thing settin in the water." From a witness to her move down river . If you build it or try to , Do indeed move to poplar or basswood or you'll be sorry . Pine is good for house framing , NOT model building .

But you were only a young boy at the time, tanks!

If it is pine, it's a pretty small piece, it's probably been cut a dozen years ago, and in the context of the rest of the fine detail on the kit, probably would respond well to a coat or two of paint to seal it.

It's always interesting how regional wood species are. Out in the west pine is scarce and somewhat hard to come by except for pre milled shelving.

Douglas Fir rules the day, and that is a completely unsuitable wood for modeling. For one thing it's rather hard, has lots of pitch streaks, warps easily and smells bad.

Ph, and it's pink.

I dunno about that. There's some white-painted pine molding in our house that's still leaking yellow juice - almost fifty years after the house was built.

In this neck of the woods (North Carolina), white pine is the standard construction timber. I make it a policy never to use it in model building - except stuff like temporary work bases.

But pine does smell wonderful when it's cut.

Well see there you have it. I'm not familiar with pine.

When I see that kit, I imagine some poor 8 year old in the back seat on the way home from Vicksburg opening the box of his or her new toy, and...

Guys, I have a good supply of pine on my place.  It has its uses, like pine needles are great mulch for strawberries, I have an endless supply.  As far a building this crude kit, I thought maybe building the hull from evergreen sheet or maybe casting it in resin using the wood after I carve it up the way I want it.   And then there is leaving it in the box and never building it.  Who knows?  The whim might hit me some day and it shows up here on the forum.  I don't think I would hold my breath too long waiting for that.

About 20 years back I bought an Arcadia kit of the USS Cairo from the NPS Vicksburg Battelfiels visitors center & book store.  

Arcadia (as in Lousiana) is a local supplier to them.   The kit was little more than a couple of shaped pieces cut from some 2x6 pine framing lumber.    The wood was so raw that I think the birds were roosting in it the week before.   The addition of wood planking on the decks and something to replicate the vertical planked armor sides did nothing to help this thing.

IIRC,  it did burn well in the fireplace.

Box the kit back up as a memento of how kits used to be made and what you had to do to make a replica of an item 'back in the day'.   Pull it out and look at it whenever you feel that a modern kit has let you down.