{"id":11512,"date":"2026-08-10T12:01:27","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T17:01:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/devinjpoore.com\/?p=11512"},"modified":"2026-08-10T16:04:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T21:04:48","slug":"armory-models-uss-monitor-construction-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devinjpoore.com\/?p=11512","title":{"rendered":"Armory Models USS Monitor – Construction Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Some months ago, I started construction on the Armory Models 1\/200 scale injection molded kit of the U.S. Civil War ironclad USS Monitor. My post that links to the review on Modelwarships.com can be found HERE<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a short run kit without locator pins, I anticipated issues during the construction process, but it’s been pretty smooth sailing. Even without pins, there are locators, such as the hull, which has a nice shelf where the hull sides sit. Even though I’m working without a net, (instructions), after some test-fitting of the sides of the hull, it was easy enough to figure out where each part went and align everything. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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There was an issue where there’s a small gap on either side of the hull due to short-shot side plates (I’m working with a test-shot of the kit). These were easily enough patched with 1mm and 1.5mm wide styrene strip. After priming it’s hard to tell where the patches are, even though they lack the plating bolt detail. If it bothers me that the detail isn’t there after I get the base coat of paint on it, I’ll add in some bolt heads with drops of CA or the like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before adding the main deck, I built the anchor well at the bow. This internal structure, along with the rudder well aft, provide support for the deck in addition to the hull sides. The anchor well and chain mechanism went together fine, but, as things that slot together have too tight of a tolerance due to the short-run nature of the kit, there’s a bit of sanding and test-fitting required. Nothing major, but this is not Tamiya or Bandai quality. Before the main deck went on, I also embedded threaded inserts into Aves Apoxie Sculpt, to accept the bolts that will eventually hold the model to its base.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Adding the main deck was nearly a non-event. The hull sides are beveled, as is the outer edge of the deck, so it just drops right in. There was a very minor gap at the bow, not even enough to slip a piece of paper into, which likely comes from some little extra space when I assembled the lower hull assembly. If I were to do it over, I’d likely built the hull sides attached to the upper deck first, then add the lower hull. But, as it is, an extra pass of Tamiya liquid cement dissolved enough of the plastic to fill the offending seam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The turret goes together smoothly. The lack of locator pins is overcome by the edges of the turret floor having a scalloped edge, which perfectly matches scalloped cutouts on the bottom of the four turret sides. Again, I was concerned about seams on these sides, and if I hadn’t committed to building the kit out-of-the-box, I’d likely have 3D printed a one-piece replacement (already drawn, in multiple scales), but honestly it went together so well that a replacement isn’t needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Library of Congress photo showing USS Monitor’s turret post-battle, with visible dents from enemy fire, and showing the turret recessed into the deck.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

One thing I’ve never seen any kit of USS Monitor get correct is the turret-to-hull join. All previous depictions have the turret sitting on the deck, yet the real turret was recessed into the deck when at rest. When in use, the turret was raised up on a central spindle to allow it to rotate. Going against my “just build it out of the box” mindset, I decided to do something about it, as it was an easy enough fix: I laser cut a template where the inner diameter matched the turret’s outer diameter, taped it down, then used a moto-tool to enlarge the hole. A laser-cut styrene donut was attached to the underside of the deck — I had to cut it in half to fit it through the hole — and now the turret sits as it should. Of course I didn’t take a photo of the modification yet, as that would’ve made sense. I’ll do so once I remove the painting supports.<\/p>\n\n\n

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That’s mostly it for the main component assembly. I’ve cleaned up the rudder and prop parts, and have started on other small sub-assemblies, such as the pilot house, stacks, and gun carriages. But next it’s on to paint for the hull and turret.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some months ago, I started construction on the Armory Models 1\/200 scale injection molded kit of the U.S. Civil War ironclad USS Monitor. My post that links to the review on Modelwarships.com can be found HERE. As a short run kit without locator pins, I anticipated issues during the construction process, but it’s been pretty […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8,19,3,1,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-civil-war","category-ironclads-and-gunboats","category-modeling","category-uncategorized","category-uss-monitor-armory-models"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pha1lg-2ZG","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devinjpoore.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devinjpoore.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devinjpoore.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devinjpoore.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devinjpoore.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11512"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/devinjpoore.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11512\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11544,"href":"https:\/\/devinjpoore.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11512\/revisions\/11544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devinjpoore.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devinjpoore.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devinjpoore.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}