February 2021 Virtual Zoom Meeting

Capital Marine Modellers' Guild will have a virtual Zoom meeting on Tuesday, February 2, 2021 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Please contact club management by email for information on how to participate. cmmgottawa@gmail.com

U.S.S. Monitor

This is the 1:210 scale model from Life-Like Hobby Kits of the U.S.S. Monitor (kit #09527). The ship is most famous for being the first turreted iron-clad warship to engage in combat with another iron-clad, the CSS Virginia, on 09 March 1862. The lower and faster Monitor had the advantage, but the Battle of Hampton Roads saw neither emerge victorious. The Monitor could fire the two Dalhgren guns every eight minutes. The battle lasted about four hours. The ship had a life of only eleven months when lost in a storm while being towed.

This kit is remarkably simple and needed almost no bodywork other than drilling out of vents and grills and boring the cannons. I added the cannon flash and smoke from the funnels and the gun. Paint is a mix of Vallejo burned iron and jet exhaust, with a mix of Tamiya reds for the iron hull. The toughest thing to paint was the flag.

This comes boxed with the CSS Merrimac (actually the CSS Virginia) in 1:300 scale. The Virginia is so much larger that the makers decided to make both hulls the same size by altering the scales.

John Clearwater

C.S.S. VIRGINIA

This is the old 1970s 1:300 scale model from Life-Like Hobby Kits of the Merrimac, or more properly, the C.S.S. Virginia, iron-clad steam ship (kit #09257). The Virginia was made from an older vessel, the USS Merrimack, in 1862 and had a life span of just under 90 days. It was built to break the blockade around the slave staes by ramming United States' ships and sinking them. The response from the USA was to send the USS Monitor to battle the Virginia at the Battle of Hampton Roads on 09 March 1962 - the first ever battle of iron-clad vessels. The Virginia limped out for repairs and was eventually scuttled.

The design and moulding is atrocious. The upper structure does not fit properly at all, and the upper deck is a disaster. You need significant skills to be able to assemble this kit.

The decks were scraped and sanded to remove the iron plate and rivet raised lines, then engraved with board lines. Chains were added. Cannons were bored out.

Paint is Vallejo burned iron and jet exhaust for the superstructure; with a mix of Tamiya paints for the hull.