1/600 Civil War Ships
The C.S.S Arkansas slips by 2 of the city class Union boats. All three models are Throughbred 1/600 scale kits. The commanding officer of the Arkansas reported that the vessel had a 6 foot freeboard. I added a layer of 1/16" inch plastic to the bottom of the model to reflect this.
The last moments of the C.S.S. Tennessee. Throughbred's Tennessee (center), U.S.S. Hartford(top), U.S.S. Onondaga(right) and a Passaic class monitor (left). Gorgeous models all.
My favorite ships always surrender! The C.S.S. Atlantahas always been my favorite ironclad, but here it gives in without a fight to the U.S.S. Weehawkenand U.S.S. Nahant. More beautiful Thoroughbred figures.
Civilian ships pressed into wartime service.On the left is one of my scratchbuilt ferryboats, the U.S.S. Commodore Perry, on the right is one of Thoroughbred's gunboats. My ferryboats were built up out of styrene sheet plastic, aluminum tubing and modeling clay. I then made a thin latex mold and cast resin models. The latex molds were too thin and fragile to make more that a few ships but I learned a lot. Once I get around to making RTV molds I'll have many more of the minor Civil War ships in my games. (Hey Thoroughbred, can I buy some walking beams for my ferry boats?
Farragut's flagship gets what it deserves! This is a true gem of a model. Toby Barrett has really out-done himself with this release of the U.S.S. Hartford. As you can probably tell, I think this kit is the cat's meow in civil war miniatures. The casting is wonderfully clean and superbly designed--a real joy to assemble. The only modification I made was to cut down the masts to fighting order. One of these days I'll get around to rigging it and adding some boats.
Union ships East and West. The shortlived U.S.S. Indianola (left) and one of the work horses of the East coast, the U.S.S. Commodore Barney.The Barney is one of the trio of ferry boats I cast from epoxy resin. The Indianola is scratch built out of sheet styrene. I like this interpretation of the Indianolabest. I worked from plans drawn up many years ago by an employee of the Confederate Naval Museum in Columbus, Georgia. Unfortunately, no one is positive as to what the Indianola really looked like.
Confederate troops cheer the James River squadron. Three of my earliest scratch built ironclads, the C.S.S. Virginia II, C.S.S. Fredericksburg, and C.S.S. Richmond. The models are not very accurate but they still hold a special place for me; Trent's Reach is one of my favorite scenarios to run at conventions. The gun emplacements, tug boat and the barge are from Thoroughbred, the 6mm infantry are Ross & Heroics (weren't all Confederate soldiers 12 feet tall?) and the wharf is from Peter Pig. The buildings are from Valient Miniatures 1/900 ancient ships line.
Leviathan of the blockade. The U.S.S. New Ironsides was a floating behemoth but this figure will never float. It's just too darn solid! There are some details I don't like on this model, namely the bulwarks are too bulky and the masts are too fragile. Nevertheless, it's one hefty gaming piece. I'll eventually install my own bulwarks and replace the lead masts with flexible, shaped plastic ones and rig them for more stability. Some of the details are terrific, however. The anchors alone (not shown) are almost worth the price. I've dirtied this model to represent the state of the Ironsides after months of tedious blockade duty. Manufactured by Thoroughbred, of course!
The original Brown Water Navy. Three of Toby Barretts' earliest releases, a cottonclad, a tinclad and a side wheel river steamer. I was thrilled when Thoroughbreds' first realeases (after the Monitor and Virginia, of course!) seemed designed for battles on the Mississippi. I had been scratch building in this scale for several years and had just finished writing Iron & Steam when these three beauties caught my eye. My only complaint is that each time I spend weeks researching and scratch building a ship, within a year Thoroughbred comes out with the same one! And they do it better!
Two workhorses and an oddity. Three more scratch built models: the U.S.S. Commodore Morris, the U.S.S. Spuyten Duyvil and one of the ubiquitous 90 day gunboats. There were dozens of ferry boats pressed into Union service, more than 20 "90 day gunboats" were hurriedly constructed, but only 1 Spuyten Duyvil ever saw the light of day. Historically this armored, semi-submersible torpedo vessel was a disapointment but it's made for some really interesting games. The Morris and the gunboat are resin cast, the Duyvil is built up sheet styrene.
