Monitor VS Merrimack
Reviewed by Timothy Dike
| The Civil War was a defining moment for naval combat. No longer would wooden ships rule the waves. Now a new breed of ships clad in iron would engage each other on the waters. The armored skin was designed to deflect the cannon shot that devastated the more vulnerable sailing ships. Against those wooden ships there was no doubt as to who would emerge the victor. The only thing that could stop an Iron Clad was another one. The Union and Confederacy developed two different styles of ship. The Confederate Merrimack was more like the conventional gun layout of the sailing ships of the time with guns arranged on port and starboard and one aiming over the bow and stern to provide 360 degree's of fire. The Union ship was the more revolutionary of the two with twin cannons in a turret that could be rotated at any angle. Thus the ship did not have to be coming alongside the other vessel to bring it's cannons to bear. Both sat low in the water to minimize the silhouette presented to the enemy. While their engagement ended in a draw it never the less changed the shape of naval warfare for the future. | ||||
| My kit came well packed in a sturdy cardboard box and the hulls were secured in bubble wrap to prevent shipping damage. There are two complete kits in the box; a Monitor and Merrimack. | ||||
| CSS Merrimack
The casting on the Merrimack is pretty good with deck planking pretty well done. The cannon windows will need a minimal of cleaning to allow the guns to be mounted. There is an excessive amount of resin over-pour that will have to be removed on the bottom of the hull. Gun barrels are pretty well formed as is the stack. But the whale boats will need a little work to separate them from the casting block. |
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| USS Monitor
The Monitor is cast with raised lines running across the hull to represent
the plating. This doesn't look correct and you might consider sanding it
off and scribing your own plating. The turret is and two cannon barrels
complete the kit. This kit also has the excessive over-pour on the bottom.
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| The instructions are plain and consist only of plan and elevation views. This is a simple kit and I'm sure most modelers will have no problems building it, but a few extra views would be helpful. |  |
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