I'm no Civil War expert, but I may be able to help a little. I've bumped into some blockade-runner-related projects, though the most recent was a long time ago.
The basic modern source on the subject, as you probably know, is Stephen R. Wise's
Lifeline of the Confederacy, which was published a few years ago by the University of South Carolina Press. As of a few minutes ago, used copies were available via the "Used and Out-Of-Print" section of the Barnes and Noble website ( www.barnesandnoble.com ) for as little as $11.00.
I'm trying to remember what the situation is regarding blockade runner plans. I know there's one relatively-easily-available set: the plans of the
Hope. They're available through Taubman Plans Service ( www.taubmansonline.com ). I don't recall who made these drawings, but I've looked at them several times and they seemed pretty good - and detailed.
That name
Banshee rings an enormous bell. It sticks in my mind that the Liverpool Maritime Museum may have a builder's model of her. Why that sticks in my mind (which is a decidely strange organ) I'm not sure; I've never set foot in the place. But I do seem to recall that it has quite a library of information on blockade runners.
On the North Carolina coast, somewhere near Wilmington, there used to be a small private establishment called the Blockade Runner Museum. It went bust at least 25 years ago, and its collections got absorbed by the Cape Fear Museum ( www.capefearmusum.com ) in Wilmington. The centerpiece of the old museum was a 1/48 diorama of the Wilmington waterfront as of 1864 - complete with several nice modern models of blockade runners. That diorama is now in the Cape Fear Museum; a photo of it can be seen on the website. I believe the old museum's document collection, which was extensive, also went to the Cape Fear Museum. A letter or e-mail to that establishment probably would yield some good information. It's a fine, professionally-run museum.
Quite a few years ago one of the grad students at the university where I work, Kevin J. Foster, wrote a master's thesis about blockade runners. Kevin is a conscientious researcher (and a model builder in his spare time); he now works for the National Park Service. (I think I could track down his e-mail address if you're interested.) In his thesis he tried to compile all the extant information on individual blockade runners - plans, documents, paintings, etc. He graduated in 1991. I was on the committee that reviewed the thesis, and I remember being favorably impressed by the thoroughness of his work. I think Kevin found just about everything that was available at that time - though it's entirely possible that some additional tidbits of information have surfaced since then.
I don't think Kevin's thesis ever got published, but if you have access to a library that takes part in the Inter-Library Loan Service you probably can get hold of a copy. The rather cumbersome title is "Phantoms, Banshees, Will-of-the-Wisps and the Dare, or, The Search For Speed Under Steam: The Design of Blockade Running Steamships." It's a master's thesis from the East Carolina University Department of History, and the call number (according to the ECU Library website) is E600.F67x1991. With that data the librarian should be able to order it. I think there's also a mechanism by which, for a price, it's possible to get xerox or microfilm copies of such theses. Your library should be able to help with that, too.
My weird brain is such that if I sleep on this I may think of something else. If so, I'll do another post. In the mean time, I hope this helps a little.