Launched only 100 days after she was initially laid down in the shipyard, USS Monitor was commissioned on February 25, 1862. She promptly left for Hampton Roads where she confronted the Confederate ship CSS Virginia on March 9th. While the battle was a technical draw, it did mark the first time armored warships met in battle. After the battle, Monitor remained in the Hampton Roads and James River theaters of operation. In December of that year she was ordered south. While being towed off of Cape Hatteras, she sank in a heavy storm on December 31, 1862. Her wreck was discovered in 1974, certified a national marine sanctuary, and since several artifacts have been recovered from the wreck site, including her massive gun turret. All relics from Monitor are being conserved and displayed at the Mariner’s Museum Monitor Center.
This is the Thoroughbred Miniatures 1/600th scale kit, in white metal, of the American Civil War ironclad. Great kit, easy build. The only modifications I did were to remove one of the protruding guns, as she couldn’t have both guns run-out at the same time. I drilled out the barrel on the remaining gun. Besides adding a single photoetched crew figure, that’s pretty much it for construction. I did minor weathering on this build, as it was done quite some time ago, and I wasn’t up to speed on the weathering process yet.
