What's new in 1/600 Civil War naval miniatures? This issue's installment provides an in depth review of the timberclad gunboat and a summary of a new manufacturer arriving on the scene.

First up, the timberclads! Commissioned in mid-1861, these three vessels were merchant steamers converted to gunboats with thick timber walls and a number of cannon. The name timberclad comes from the thick timbers designed to resist small arms, but of little use against heavy cannon. The three timberclads -- USS Conestoga, USS Lexington and USS Tyler -- participated in many of the actions along the western rivers, but are best remembered for their role supporting General Grant's army at the Battle of Shiloh. The 1/600 naval gamer can now choose from timberclads produced by two manufacturers -- Peter Pig and Thoroughbred Miniatures.

Thoroughbred Miniatures - TS68 Timberclad

The Thoroughbred entry is based on the USS Tyler and USS Conestoga, though general instructions are also included for conversion to the USS Lexington. The kit consists of 10 pieces: the hull; pilothouse; two stacks; two funnels; two side rails; flagpole; and a flag. All parts are cast in high quality pewter. The casting is up to the usual high standard of detail for which Thoroughbred is renowned. The pilothouse, stacks and funnels are all stock parts used in several other earlier Thoroughbred kits. The hull is one large piece encompassing the wheelhouses, paddlewheels and aft superstructure. This greatly simplifies construction and is a marked improvement over earlier castings such as the Ellet ram and tinclad that required superstructure, wheelhouse tops and paddlewheels be attached to the hull separately.

The kit measures out at 91mm long and 20mm wide (26mm from wheel to wheel). This scales to 182' long, and 40' or 52' wide respectively. The available data for the USS Tyler in Paul Silverstone's "Warships of the Civil War" indicates that Tyler was 180' long by 45.5' wide. Silverstone does not indicate if width is for the hull or the paddlewheels. The Thoroughbred team has done an outstanding job, again, of capturing the scale of the model almost to the millimeter. The actual width of the vessel falls at the midpoint between the hull and paddlewheels and minimizes any actual distortion.

Assembly is mostly straightforward. The toughest part for me was attaching the side rails, which form the timberclad bulwarks. The rails on my kit required a tiny bit of bending to match the curve in the hull and a bit of filing to match up to the deck of the casting. Otherwise assembly was a breeze. The holes for the stacks, ventilator funnels and flagstaff were all clean and free from obstruction.

Visually, the kit captures the "essence of timberclad." The only variation that I can find is that the Thoroughbred kit omits the small deckhouses that were immediately forward of the paddlewheel housings on the upper deck. No masts or boats are included, but can be added by the talented modeler.

Overall grade: A

Peter Pig 7-51 Timberclad

The Peter Pig timberclad is similar to many of their newer releases. Hulls continue to be cast in resin, but detail is greatly improved over earlier releases. This kit consisted of three pieces - the hull and two stacks. No assembly instructions were included. Again, no masts or boats are included with the kit. The stacks are cast in a pewter/lead metal that are the "stock" smokestacks you see with many of the Peter Pig riverboat kits. From a wargamer's perspective, this is ideal as you get a very tough "gamer friendly" casting. It's not quite as pretty as the Thoroughbred kit, but you are less likely to have bits of miniature snapped off by a careless player.

Peter Pig's timberclad kit measures 91mm by 20mm (21mm at the paddlewheels). This scales out to 182' by 40' (42' at the paddlewheels). This gives a kit of the correct length, but that is 88% of the expected width.

The resin hull of the Peter Pig kit lends itself to some simple modifications. I found it easy to add masts and some standing rigging to capture the look of the ships as depicted in many photographs. The resin was easy to drill and easy to bond to the new masts and rigging. Details are a bit off. Most glaring is the placement of the smokestacks on the aft superstructure. This bears up with some period artists renderings, but does not match the photographs that I've seen. A positive note is that the sculptor for the Pig did capture the deckhouses on the aft superstructure, and as is common to some Peter Pig kits, deck guns are cast onto the miniature. Overall grade B+

So, you've got choices out there. Some folks like a tough gaming piece while others want museum quality miniatures. Both kits have their merits. Cost varies, especially if you are importing the Pig from the United Kingdom. The main US distributor of Peter Pig continues to be Brookhurst Hobbies in California. I've ordered from them several times with excellent results. Brookhurst lists the Timberclad on their website at $7.25 with the Thoroughbred casting costing $13.50 on the grandiosity.com website. The Peter Pig would be easier to convert to Lexington than the pewter hulled Thoroughbred casting, but that's a question of my modeling skill and comfort level.

Bay Area Yards Line

Last up is news of a new manufacturer of 1/600-scale ships -- Bay Area Yards (BAY). Located in the San Francisco Bay area, BAY is a home-based Internet business run by Stephen Taylor that manufactures a growing line of 1/600th model kits, most unavailable from any other manufacturer. Examples from the Civil War period include the steamers Sacramento (perfect for that late war game against the CSS Stonewall) and Monongahela, the late (post) war Union ironclad Dunderberg and CSS Mississippi (destroyed at New Orleans shortly before completion). Other ships include a number of generic steam frigates, plus ironclads such as the French Gloire, the British Northumberland and a host of Austrian and Italian vessels. Price is typically between $8 and $10, depending on the ship.

I have the Sacramento, and several of the generic steam frigates. The hulls are cleanly cast with excellent detail. Smokestacks were either cast to the hull, or included as styrene tubing. One word of caution -- these castings do not include deck guns, ships boats, masts or other deck fittings. Deck guns and boats can be acquired from Thoroughbred. Masts must be scratch built, but anyone with minimal modeling skill can construct passable masts from styrene or brass rods.

I had an excellent order from Bay Area Yards. It took a little time to get the order produced, but Steve kept me informed as to when the order shipped and it arrived via US mail in less than week. I plan on ordering again! You can contact Steve and the Bay Area Yards via e-mail at scafcom1@attbi.com. Alternatively, visit their website and you will find a list of all available products with prices, plus ordering information. Web site: http://pweb.jps.net/~marthins/

What's up for next issue? So far, we've got detailed reviews of the Bay Area Yards USS Sacramento kit and my conversion of a BAY generic frigate into USS Minnesota.