Hi, this is my 3rd USS Monitor & it is the best yet. nino, Jim gave it to me & between warship guy & nino ,they keep me building. The Battle Axe kit is rare & was made in France. It is mainly a model of the Monitor the way it looked in the big battle between the Monitor & Virginia. I built it the way it looked after its last refit only about 10 months later. At that time it had a lot more detail.
I always add wood to my hull before I close it up. That is to hold screws from my base. here are some pictures of the base.
The turret come in 3 pieces & is about the most time consuming work on the whole ship. I did not use the kit floor & wanted to show a wood floor so I made it out of grooved plastic sheet, 2 pieces thick.
This is the start of my turret interior. Jim & I talked about showing the drill marks that they left in the gunports in the rush to get the Monitor in combat with the Virginia. The parts I put in to show this were very small , but still overscale. My nearly 90 year old, next month ,fingers will only work so small. They show in the next picture.
This is the way I finished the turret inside.
This is the new prop & shaft & parts to carry the prop I made. Here is one picture of the Monitor as I finished it today.
A lot more to come . Gene