TCS, who now produces the line of Houston's Ships (ironclads & predreadnoughts 1860's-1900's), has brought out four new historical models. They are: three Russian Coastal Defense Turret I Ships- Smerch 1865, Charodeika 1868, andAdm'rat Lazarev 18697 and the Italian Protected (light) Cruiser Dogali 1887 . The Russian ships clearly show design progression and make a welcome addition to the early Baltic Fleet lists. The scale of these ships is 1: 1000, a good size for the gun ranges of the time. So let's look at the shipsthe earlier ships, such as the Russians generally had 'cleaner' lines which mean less 'fiddly' bits, and they each have about 10 pieces to complete. The Italian cruiser has 17 pieces many of which are the vent castings which are a real bitch to get them all standing nicely however the finished model is certainly worth the effort. Not too much flashing found anywhere, and only minimal tweaking was required for a good fit of parts. The two earlier Russians use piano wire for the pole masts, which is a really good idea. The other two did not have pole masts and therefore a pewter casting has to be used -- this of course looks good and gives a nice feel to the subject, but I have bent so many of those damn things! (Just clumsy I guess). More info on all these ships is available in Conway's 1860-1905. This was an interesting era with many unusual ship designs (seen from a 21st Century viewpoint). I was pleased that Leo Walsh took over production to keep the line going, and I am even more pleased to see that he is now expanding it. Prices are in the $5.00- $8.00 range. Available from: Tactical Conflict Systems, 545 Newport Ave. PMB# 155, Pawtucket RI 02861 More Reviewing Stand Castaway Arts 25mm Ancient Hebrew and Biblical Ranges Essex 25mm Samurai B&B Minitaures 20mm AMR Dixon 25mm AMR Redoubt 25mm ACW Dismounted Cavalry GHQ 1/285th Pewter Buildings GHQ 1/285th WWII Micro Armour GHQ 1/285th Modern Micro Armour BP Casts 1/72nd Soviet Tank and A/C TCS Houston's Ships GHQ 1/2400 Wichita Merrimack Miniatures 25mm OK Corral DJD Miniatures Arc Gauge Miniature World Maker Terrrain GHQ 1/1200 HMS Shannon Napoleonic Ship Scale Specialties 1/160 WWII Decals Hot Wire Foam Factory Foam Coating 1870 Franco-Prussian War Grand Tactical Rules Hail Caesar! Gladatorial Rules Melees Gloriosus Ancient Warfare Rules Face of Battle WWII Skirmish Rules Brookhurst Hobbies Overlord Angels 15 WWII Air Wargaming Rules Red Cloud' War: Wagon Box Fight World War II Ballistics: Armor and Gunnery Back to Table of Contents -- Courier # 83 To Courier List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2001 by The Courier Publishing Company. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com