U.S.S. Tyler (ACW Timberclad) Finally! Toby Barrett has sculpted the US Timberclad. This boat was the the first real Union attempt to float a gunboat on the Mississippi. The Timberclad was a civilian side wheel steamer with all of its superstructure covered with heavy oak planks. There were three in the class, the U.S.S. Tyler, Conestoga and Lexington. Tyler and Conestoga had the same configuration, however Lexington was slightly different. Toby has included conversion instructions which tell how to make the Lexington from the same basic model. The U.S.S. Tyler and Lexington were both present at Shiloh providing support to Grant and Buell's men ashore. The model is up to Mr. Barrett's usual standards. All lines are clean, crisp and without flash. When I say without flash, I mean it. All I did was prime, paint and attach the stacks and guardrails. I go an additional step and mount mine on bases from Bill Ballinger (see previous review) with full water effects. This prevents gainers from actually handling the model and adds to the overall esthetic appeal of the ship. Also introduced at Historicon were Confederate "Davids", an iron, semisubmersed, boom torpedo-armed launch. They come in packs of four. Maury gunboats were also new at Historicon. Of course, I had to have one of each. I am always amazed at the detail of these models in 1/600 scale. For those of you interested in this period of naval warfare, this line cannot be surpassed. They are pricey, but worth every penny. The only competitor, Peter Pig, is not even a distant second in quality. Some Yankee gunboats are pursued by CS "Davids". I have collected these models for about two years now and they are very easy to paint due to the superb detail. Having started from zero in March 2000, 1 now have over 40 vessels painted and mounted on magnetic bases. Some of the other models include Floating Batteries, two different forts and an complete line of ocean- going or river-fleet vessels. You can either focus on blockade running, shore battles ie Ft. Morgan and Gaines in Mobile Bay, or a number of different battles fought on the Mississippi River such as Memphis or Island Number 10. There are several sets of commercially available rules with which to game this period. Some of these are Age of Iron, Smoke on the Water and Ironclads. I intend to review some of these in later issues of Rebel Yell. If you wish to purchase any of these fine figures, Thoroughbred is available online. Http://www.Thoroughbredmodels.com Regimental Colours also carries the full line of Thoroughbred models. If you attend the HMGS South cons, Rhett always keeps a full line on hand. Last year at Recon I bought ten ships at once. Http://www.RegimentalColours.com These figures are easy to paint and assemble and come highly recommended by myself, the Courier and many other gaming magazines. Try them, you won't be disappointed. Back to Rebel Yell No. 20 Table of Contents Back to Rebel Yell List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 2001 by HMGS South 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