| The USS Keokuk was a twin turret Ironclad
Ram weighing in at 677 tons. She was built in New York City and launched
in December 1862. She featured a large ram just below the waterline and
twin turrets that could be aimed and fired independently. She also featured
an experimental armor system of alternating rows of wood and iron. After
commissioning she was sent to Port Royal, South Carolina to aid in the
blockade of the South. In April 1863 Keokuk and seven other monitors attacked
Fort Sumpter at Charleston, South Carolina and came under heavy fire from
well defended shore batteries for over 30 minutes. Keokuk took many hits,
ninety in all and was holed in several places. Her armor had failed to
protect her and she was forced to withdraw. She anchored out of range but
damage control efforts failed and she sank the next morning after a short
career. Keokuk would probably have performed better against other ships,
but she was no match for Fort Sumpter.
Flagship has released this new 1/192 kit to represent this lesser know
Ironclad. |
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| HULL |
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| The hull on this kit is cast waterline style with a separate lower
hull. Casting is clean and the surface detailing is nice. The lower hull
features a wooden plank look. The upper hull features the experimental
armor bands cast on the surface and plenty of really nice raised rivet
detailing. |
click images
to enlarge
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| RESIN DETAILS |
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| With such a simple ship, there are not a lot of parts. There is a funnel
with a hollowed out appearance,. Several bits are separately cast on a
resin block. These are well shaped but really should have more room on
the base to allow them to be separated without breakage. The two ships
boats are very well done, and will look really cool with the included photo
etch decks shown below. |
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| METAL FITTINGS |
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| Metal parts include two white metal cannon barrels, two propellers
and some brass rod for the masts. There is a lot of flash on the propellers,
but with a little work they will be usable. |
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| PHOTO ETCH |
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| The relief etch photo etch fret is very well done. The grates on the
turret roof look really cool and give some depth to the ship. The stantions
for the turret roofs are all separate so that you can rig them with thread
or thin brass wire. The anchor assembly is just smartly done and when folded
up will give you a realistic scale anchor. |
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| DECALS |
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| A simple US flag decal is supplied in paper. |
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| INSTRUCTIONS |
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| The Instructions two pages with assembly notes. They show
plan and elevation views with plenty of notes to show where everything
goes. The awning and rigging details are well illustrated as well.
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| CONCLUSIONS |
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 This
is kit #FM19210 USS Keokuk Twin Turret Ironclad Ram listed for $75.00,
available direct from Flagship
Models via it's online ordering system. A light wash and some
weathering will really make the unique armor belt stand out on this kit.
Yet another cool release from Flagship Models in their growing line of
Civil War Ironclads.
If you have never worked with a multimedia kit then check out Flagship's
line of How to CD's that will help you out in many topics from Building
Resin Ships and Working with Photo
Etch Parts to Making Realistic Water. |
