Civil War monitor USS Weehawken, 1/96th scale

Sweet!

Looks great!I wonder why you painted it such a light shade of gray?Weren't they flat black like the original monitor?

That's a big misconception about the monitors.  The original Monitor was indeed overall black, but the majority of the dozens of others were not.  Weehawken was stated in several period documents by both Union and Confederate observers as being "lead" in color, a medium shade of gray.  There were many combinations of the basic colors of white, black, lead and light gray among the Passaic class. For example, the Catskill had a lead-gray hull but white turret and black stack with a white band.  Lehigh had a lead-gray hull and stack with black turret.  Nahant had a lead hull, black and green turret, black and white stack. 

Thanks for the info!The old photos are of course in B&W so judging color can be a bit tricky!

Excellent build of an unusual subject. Very crisp and clean.

Julian

Thanks for the compliments guys. 

Yes, the color aspects of these ships are not easy to lock down.  For instance the hull red; I'm certain that it was red, but how high it came up on the hull is unclear.  Obviously it makes sense that it would come up halfway or so along the vertical sides of the "raft" portion, as that is where the waterline lay, but I could find no proof one way or the other.  Most colors have to be taken from written accounts, and then you have to balance that against when the account was written, if the author ever actually even saw the subject, etc. 

The Weehawken was particuarly difficult to research as I found only one photo of her, and it shows a dark silouhette on the horizon off Charleston.  That's all.   Perhaps there are some photos buried in an archive somewhere, or maybe some were taken and then lost after the war.  

Very nice job and an interesting subject.

Fred ( proud graduate of Weehawken High )