Monitor and Merrimack by robert952 - FINISHED - Metal Earth - 1:370 and 1:393

[robert952]

As I write this, contractors work downstairs doing a kitchen and living room renovation.  Since I have to stay out of the way, I decided to work on a model. 

 

This is my first build log.  I intended to use another model for that.  However, we some times have to go with the flow. This will let me get my feet wet in the process of logs. 

 

I have an unconventional workspace for this project since so much stuff is in storage during the reno work.  I am working on an end table while sitting on the floor or bent over from a chair.  I find it hard to work on the model for very long. However, the steps are relatively short.

 

The model I chose comes from Metal Earth (Link).  They produce models of many items, genres, and scales.  They have a few ship models in their portfolio. 

 

When I bought the kit that includes the Monitor and the Merrimack, I thought the model an interesting interpretation and concept.  The number of tools needed for their models is minimal: cutters, needle nosed pliers, and tweezers.  Add in some form of work magnifier and good lighting.  And while the packaging says, “no glue required,” the key word is ‘required’ but with a caveat.  (More on this later.)

 

That answers the question, why this model at this time, which is good question to ask yourself before a building project.  Additionally, I had assembled a previous model (Golden Hind) from Metal Earth.  That process went well with decent results.  I also want to point out that while the models have a sense of authenticity, I am building it for display over historical accuracy.

 

As a point of interest to some: I paid $25.00 (US) at a game/hobby shop for this model of the Monitor and Merrimac. 

 

As I start posting I am up to step 9 of 29 steps outlined in the instructions.  So, I will have some hindsight and previews of upcoming parts.

I will 'post' with logical breaks in the flow so it's not one long thread.  This is such a stop point.  

 

[robert952]

Step 00 - Review of the package contents.

 

I realize this isn't the usual model build by virtue of the kit I am using.  However, I think the uniqueness will provide a different modeling experience. 

 

This post will give a detailed look at the model’s components and instructions

 

I am going to call this Step 00 since the actual assembly starts with Step 1, which I will call Step 01 later.  Side note: the Merrimack has 22 steps; the Monitor has 9.  Each step may fit several components together, so there may be several sub-steps.  Example:  The first step will cover hatch covers (3) and vents (3) which each have to be formed/assemble and then installed/assemble to a larger part.  Not unusual for those of use who build models of any kind.  But I didn't want to give the impression or oversimplify the build. 

 

 

This is the package – tools sold separately.  The tool kit is available through Metal Earth.  I bought the tool kit when I got one of the previous models. I use the tools in the photo as a sense of scale for the package.  I made sure to have plenty of decent tweezers on hand, too.  Any fine needle nose works, the finer the better. If you have a smaller cutter, that would be helpful as this tool barely fits in where the cut is required. 

 

They chose to use two different scales for the ships: Monitor - 1:370; Merrimack – 1:393.  Not too far apart, but one would wonder why.  I would assume it has to do with supplying parts in a laser etched format while staying to a specific size for the laser cut sheets. 

Time for a skill set check.

Age 14+:  Check plus, plus, plus.  The instructions are clear and easy to follow for this age.  If they can handle LEGO instructions, these instructions will be no problem.  The skill set is a bit more complex than LEGO.  

Difficulty level:  8 on their 1 to 10 scale.  They call it challenging.  The Golden Hind I did previously was 'moderate' which is 3-5 on the scale.  I think I can handle the challenge.

 

The kit includes three sheets of laser etched metal sheets.  They call them (but do not mark them) A, B, and C; that becomes important later.

I think the detail very nice and includes colors on the various pieces. There was an issue with the corners being bent.  But I did not run into an issue as a pair of flat pliers from the tool kit fixed any bends of the small piece. 

 

Here’s a detailed look at one section of sheet A.

You can see the sheets are colored/etched which should add visual appeal to the model. 

 

They include 4 double-sided sheets of instructions, all symbols, and detailed drawings.  Only a bit of text as shown below.  

The only text shows up in the 'general instructions.'

To attach the pieces together it’s the ole ‘put the tab A into the slot B.’ You then either bend the tab over (the blue circle callout) or twist the tab 90 degrees (the green triangle callout).  I found that without really deforming the metal (which will occur anyway), the small pieces never get secured.  They always wiggle a bit with few exceptions.   Consider that you attempt to bend something on a curved plane and expect it to be a tight joint.  I think you can understand the problem. 

 

The metal will get deformed as you assemble pieces.  That deformation may loosen some other pieces more.  Hopefully, I will be able to straighten the pieces out.  But that leaves the loose/wiggly pieces. 

 

The solution:  PVA.  I put glue on the tabs to hold them in place.  

 

Fortunately, most of the glue sites are internal to the model when it is completely assembled. My sloppy gluing will not be seen.

 

In several cases the glue broke free as I progressed.  Those times required I clean the joint and reapply the PVA.  Also, I had to clean out some of the slots because I was messy with the glue.  (In my defense, you will see the tininess of these components.)

 

In summary, Glue Not Required is true.  However, I highly recommend the use of glue PVA or 'Superglue' to help hold the tabs in place. 

 

Here’s detail of one of the sub-steps on the instruction.  This aspect of visual instructions proves to be an excellent method.

Remember that A, B, C aspect I said would be important?  Here’s why.  You see the letters in a blue box.  That points you to the proper metal sheet.  Then they provide a number which identifies the part.  I followed the adage that the part number represents the assembly sequence.  So far that works.  You will also note that the piece is colored.  Another aid to finding the parts you need.

 

Here’s a detail from the instruction page which locates the part on the sheets. 

In the above photo, I call your attention to number two at the bottom left column.  Note it points to a color-coded piece. The color is the same as on the instruction step.  Further note that for this part you will see multiple pieces of the same shape and color, though rotated to fit the metal sheet.  When the instructions say something like X2 or X4, that’s the number of assemblies/pieces you will need for that step.   You then just locate the piece(s) on the appropriate metal sheet, cut them from the metal sheet and assemble as pictured in the instructions. 

 

Though I have done several steps, I will pause here as I do a bit of photo editing.  I will post in the next day or two a couple of the next steps.

 

Any feedback on this log presented so far will be appreciated. 

Edited October 18, 2022 by robert952

[Canute]

Robert, it's very handy to have the parts layout like you show. And in color. Nice. 👍

 

Couple of other glues you could consider are Canopy Cement and Gator glue. They seem to be thicker white glues and can be cleaned up with water. And if you have a sensitivity to CA fumes, they become suitable substitutes.

[robert952]

Thanks, Ken.  I'll look into those.  I don't have issue with CA but figure a PVA or something like you mention will do the job.  

Edited October 7, 2022 by robert952

[robert952]

Ok... More than "a day or two"  has passed.  RL getting in the way a bit.  (Minor issue with subfloor during reno, family gathering over the weekend).  

 

Step 01 Hatches and vents 

 

The process begins with the roof deck of the Merrimack.  (Yes, I know that to be accurate this is really the CSS Virginia at the time of the battle.  I am just keeping with the nomenclature used by Metal Earth.)  

 

I do want to illustrate the scale of the model (1:393).  Besides being a strange scale, the parts are small.  You might ask "How small are they?"  

Glad you asked.

 

The first piece to put in place are covers (millimeter scale) for hatches on the deck.   

Two of these go onto two small hatches.  On a larger hatch there's four similar (but smaller) pieces.

Here's the three hatches placed in approximate location.  

And installed...

That completes Step 01.  (The instruction sheet calls it step 1 but use leading zeroes with the correct number of significant digits.  A habit I developed in my software writing days to keep track of variables, file names and other things that may need to be sorted. )

 

Again, the true size of the model is shown. 

Edited October 18, 2022 by robert952
Put the "Step ##" in bold. Cleaned up a couple of grammar items.

[robert952]

Step 02 Ladders and cannons

 

This step works on the port side of the model.  I get to install the ladders and cannons. Again, as is usual with model building, each step of the process has several sub-steps.  

 

First, the size of the ladder pieces.  The one on the left shows the 'etched' side and the right side the back side.  You need to keep these in mind when putting the model together.

 

Now the part that probably requires having done many of these metal models to learn a good technique: keeping things straight.

 

You will note the ladders are not quite straight  (OK, the lean a lot.)  No matter what I did, during the process of bending the tabs, I couldn't keep them straight. A tiny shift creates a  big visual difference. 

 

I didn't want to push my luck with 'unbending' and 'rebending' the parts.  The instructions warn that more than two times bending and straightening risks breaking the part.  (Spoiler alert:  The starboard side won't be any better. I am a slow learner.)

Now come the four cannons for this side of the ship.  

Here is the cannon in flat form.  The grooves help roll the barrel.  

My method used a 1/16" drill bit as a mandrel.  The front of the barrel gets bent over after forming the barrel  The cannon barrel then mounts to the box which in turn gets folded and mounted to the bulkhead from the inside of the model.  

I did that four times and completed Step 02.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 18, 2022 by robert952

[robert952]

Step 03 Starboard side

 

I'll quickly cover this step.  For all intents and purposes, the steps for starboard duplicate the port with ladders and four cannons. There is a bit of a curving of the bulkhead for the aft.  I didn't do a lot of bending because, having done the right thing of looking at all the instructions before starting, the bend will have to match the deck curve and line up with the port side.  The ladders and guns followed the previous methods for assembly and installation.  

Two shutters were added to the aft gun port.  

Completed starboard side (crooked ladders and all).  

 

 

Edited October 18, 2022 by robert952

[robert952]

Step 04 Forward bulkhead with pilot house

 

This is very short and quick.  The step shapes the bow bulkhead with pilot house.  As before, enough bending of the piece to generally fit as the next step (Step 05) joins all the assemblies of Steps 01 through 04.  I figured (and correctly so) this step will take a lot of finagling and finesse to get everything to fit.

 

But, I did have my first catastrophe.  In shaping one of the gun port shutters, the piece broke.  Not sure why.  I bent it once, but must have applied too much pressure.  It was a 180 degree bend. 

 

So, the image shows the one gun port in place.  

At the end I may be able to use a scrap piece and create something that looks like the shutter and match colors with paint.  (Or I will call it battle damage if anyone asks.)

Edited October 18, 2022 by robert952

[robert952]

Step 05 Putting sub-assemblies 1 through 4 together.

 

The step is simple sounding enough. 

 

Remember that adage about reading the instructions through before starting assembly?  It pays off.  You can see potential issues and they won't be as likely to surprise you.  

 

When I assembled the cannons and other bits to the bow and stern bulkhead sub-assemblies, I anticipated quite a bit of adjustments to get all the Tab A's to line up with Slot B's.  I was not disappointed and the amount of work was as expected. So, with a lot of jiggling and wiggling along with a bit of cussin' and fussin' I got the parts to bend and fold properly.  

 

Here's the four pieces to be assembled.

 

And a couple of views of the final results.

 

Port side view.  

 

(Yes, the step to bend and fasten the rail on the aft portion of the deck comes later.  I keep worrying about that piece as it has been bent a couple of times. )

 

A more oblique view of the assembled upper portion. 

[robert952]

Step 06 Outer deck with edge

Step 07 Bending the deck edge; adding the smoke stack and center rails

 

Some of the steps require only a couple of operations.  So, I will combine these two on this post. 

 

Here's the deck piece removed from the frame.

 

 

After putting the deck in place, I did do some minor bending of the edge for test fitting.  

 

The above ends step 06.  Step 07 starts with bending the edge, curving along the bow and stern, and bending the tabs.  

On an subsequent evening after taking the above photo, I tweaked the bends a bit more to get a better shape and fit.  

 

The smoke stack was formed using a 3/16" bolt as a mandrel.  

The stack is installed on the upper deck.  A support piece for the stack required bending and installation.  As before, PVA glue on these two pieces help secure them into proper position.   Finally, rails that run along the centerline was installed. 

With this done,  I will get back to working Step 08. 

 

Again, during this build, I have contractors in and out doing a downstairs renovation.  I'll probably do more on step 08 since the painters will be doing their thing over the next couple of days.  

 

As a preview, Step 08 covers bending and attaching the davits, life boat support, life boat, and smoke stack supports for the port side.  Step 09 repeats the process for the starboard side.  

 

Thanks to those following this build.  I hope you find it interesting.  

 

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

   'Love it so far.  I did the U.S.S. Arizona (small scale), so I know about the cussin' and fussin' ...  The larger Missouri (in may stash) awaits, but this pair of history-making warships certainly captivates the imagination - definitely on my want list.  One trick I used to 'stabilize' some elements and reinforce others was to use JB weld 'kneadable' epoxy.  One cuts a small section off the 'log' (one component surrounds a core of the other component), then knead it until it starts to get warmer (thats the chemical reaction starting to 'kick').  Doing the kneading with disposable nitrile gloves will keep the fingers clean.  

 

  Then  the compound was forced into tight spaces, or to surround bent tabs - and even to repair a side that broke off a small part of the superstructure and also a small gun turret.  As long as the repairs/reinforcements are done to an interior space (or anywhere not seen on the finished model), JB putty works fine, as it hardens quite solid ... and can even be drilled, filed, etc. once fully cured.

 

  Fair sailing !    Johnny

Edited October 19, 2022 by Snug Harbor Johnny
typos

[robert952]

54 minutes ago, Snug Harbor Johnny said:

   'Love it so far.  I did the U.S.S. Arizona (small scale), so I know about the cussin' and fussin' ...  The larger Missouri (in may stash) awaits, but this pair of history-making warships certainly captivates the imagination - definitely on my want list.  One trick I used to 'stabilize' some elements and reinforce others was to use JB weld 'kneadable' epoxy.  One cuts a small section off the 'log' (one component surrounds a core of the other component), then knead it until it starts to get warmer (thats the chemical reaction starting to 'kick').  Doing the kneading with disposable nitrile gloves will keep the fingers clean.  

 

  Then  the compound was forced into tight spaces, or to surround bent tabs - and even to repair a side that broke off a small part of the superstructure and also a small gun turret.  As long as the repairs/reinforcements are done to an interior space (or anywhere not seen on the finished model), JB putty world fine, as it hardens quite solid ... and can even be drilled, filed, etc. once fully cured.

 

  Fair sailing !    Johnny

Thanks for the tip about JB Weld.  As I get closer to finishing an area I may look at that.  (Like while I can still get to the insides of the model, before I mount the bottom hull. 

[robert952]

Step 08 and Step 09 mounting the ship's boats and smoke stack support/braces. 

 

Real life, as usual, has a way of interrupting a build.  In this case, I found it too hard to bend over the low table I had been using as a temporary solution.  So, I stopped work on the model. There were also a couple of 'road trips' to visit parents and brother.  

 

Then after renovations work was done, we had to put final touches on living area (rugs, blinds, unpacked kitchen ware, etc.).  That took longer than I thought it would.  We are still looking for some items we know we packed back in September, 2022.  My favorite tea mug among them.  

 

Also, I reworked an older computer desk to make a workbench to assemble models.  I had to promise the Admiral I'd keep it neat since it sits just off the living room.  So, far so good.   (I even bought some odorless thinner for later work.)  

 

It's not an official part of the build. However, I am pleased with my efforts on the workbench.  So, here's a couple of pics of my finished workspace.   

 

I put VYCO (vinyl material used on drafting tables) on the top, and had to repair one end of the desk that had holes I drilled for computer cables.  The keyboard tray makes a great lower work area and photography stage.  The pull out printer tray is a convenient storage area using boxes to organize stuff. 

Picking up at Step 08, this step assembles the ship's boats and supports for the stacks on the port side.  

 

The davit pieces attached to the ship.  The "Exacto" knife gives a sense of scale for these pieces. 

The boats are folded and the support pieces mounted to the boats.

Again, at this scale, objects and assemblies are quite small.  Here's the boat as cut from the sprue.

After mounting the boats, support pieces for the smoke stack are installed.  This completes the port side portion of the assembly steps.  Since this photo was taken I tightened the bend on the bow of the boat. 

Step 09 repeats the process for the starboard side.  As before, I used some PCV to secure the parts in place on the underside.  Also, as I was handling the model, the support pieces got bent.  Once I am finished handling the model, I will see what I can to to straighten and flatten them.  

 

Here's a shot with both boats and all stack supports in place. 

For the next part of the build log, I'll put Steps 10, 11 and 12 together as they are small sub-assemblies for the fore and aft decks.  I should be able to do those in next day or two. 

 

Edited January 31, 2023 by robert952
Added photo I left out.

[Knocklouder]

Nice job , I started The Queen Anne's Revange  by piece cool yesterday  just have 6 sails left to put on. So I did a search for metal ship to see if we make a logs for it  and yours pop up. You can thank @Glen McGuire for getting me hooked on small things  lol

Anyway nice model talk soon 

  Bob M.

[Glen McGuire]

30 minutes ago, Knocklouder said:

So I did a search for metal ship to see if we make a logs for it 

Are you going to do a log for your Queen Anne's Revenge?

[Knocklouder]

40 minutes ago, Glen McGuire said:

Are you going to do a log for your Queen Anne's Revenge?

I could but its finished lol

 

[Knocklouder]

14 minutes ago, Knocklouder said:

I could but its finished lol

 

Sorry Robert did not mean to Hijack your thread.

[Glen McGuire]

55 minutes ago, Knocklouder said:

Sorry Robert did not mean to Hijack your thread.

I'm glad you posted on Robert's thread.  I would have never seen his work if you had not.  

 

Robert - really cool project you've got going here.  I had no idea that there were metal model kits like this (and only $25 - wow!).   Very nice work so far!

[robert952]

On 1/31/2023 at 3:39 PM, Knocklouder said:

Sorry Robert did not mean to Hijack your thread.

No problems, Bob.   It's all just part of the conversation.  Glad you pointed this thread to Glenn.  The more the merrier.  

 

On 1/31/2023 at 4:39 PM, Glen McGuire said:

I'm glad you posted on Robert's thread.  I would have never seen his work if you had not.  

 

Robert - really cool project you've got going here.  I had no idea that there were metal model kits like this (and only $25 - wow!).   Very nice work so far!

Thanks for stopping by and for your comments, Glen.  For what you get, the Metal Earth models are reasonably priced (IMO).  I have a few others from ME in my stash.  No ships (at least I don't think so) though I did do their Golden Hinde a while back.   

[Knocklouder]

Hey thanks, I got two of these at Christmas.  The Queen Anne's , which I did and the Viking ship Iron Star that I am about to start soon.  They are fun little models to put together though  lol. Looking forward to seeing  more progress.    

[robert952]

Steps 10 (aft deck lower piece); Step 11 (bow ram); Step 12 (aft deck upper piece)

 

Overall, the steps do not take an inordinate amount of time. But, it's a hobby.  What else do I have planned?

 

The assembly of these three sub-assemblies took a bit over an hour.  The time consuming part is taking care not to over-bend the pieces and yet bend them enough to "put Tab A into Slot B."  

 

Here's the pieces involved for these three steps. (left to right). They have been cut from the sprue. The grid is 1/4 inch to help with the sense of the size of the pieces.  Interestingly, they show the assembly of done upside down.  It's more of "however, I could hold it and get the tiny pieces to fit into the deck slots."  In Step13, assembly 10 is installed with the etched side down. Step 12 piece will be installed etch side up over Step 10 assembly.  Spoiler alert:  These pieces will extend over the propeller assembly later on. 

 

The finished pieces look like this. Step 10 is shown etched side up to show the detail that will nearly be hidden in the next step.

 

 

Ready for Step 13...stay tuned. 

 

 

Edited February 4, 2023 by robert952

[Knocklouder]

Way to go neatly done.  I tried a few of these, I agree with taking care not to over bend, but my problem was when I went to put tab A into slot B my hands would shake so much parts just started coming off lol so I gave up. You really needs steady hands for this tiny work, My hats off to you Robert , Steady as it go's. lol

[robert952]

11 hours ago, Knocklouder said:

Way to go neatly done.  I tried a few of these, I agree with taking care not to over bend, but my problem was when I went to put tab A into slot B my hands would shake so much parts just started coming off lol so I gave up. You really needs steady hands for this tiny work, My hats off to you Robert , Steady as it go's. lol

Thanks.  I am just getting over a head cold and cough.  A coughing fit doesn't help either. 

[robert952]

Step 13 covering installation of sub-assemblies from Step 10,11 and 12:  smokestack cap, flags, and a couple of other details. 

Again going in the sequence shown on the assembly manual, a few pieces get installed to begin this step.  The list starts with a ring cap on the smokestack followed by the flags.  

I am finding it nearly impossible to handle the model without bending the flag staffs.  On the good side, looking ahead, the upper part gets completed in step 14

 

The next part of the process was what will (I believe) be the base for a couple of bittes on the stern between the bulkhead and deck extension.  After installing the aft flag, the rail is wrapped (or in my case warped) around.  That piece has taken a beating.  The aft deck from previous assembling process goes on next.  Took a bit of finesse to get them in place.

Here's a look at the underside of the aft deck assemblies.  

The bow ram assembly was next.  Surprisingly, I must have gotten lucky with the V-bend of those pieces.  They neatly dropped into place.  The lats pieces were the anchor chains.  That action finishes the procedure in Step 13.  

 

And here is what the vessel looks like at the end of Step 13. 

 

Step 14 adds the aforementioned bittes (6 of them).  And Step 15 begins the hull assembly process.  (I bet you've never seen a ship built from the top down.)  🤔    I'll likely put those two steps together in the next post. 

Edited February 8, 2023 by robert952

[Mjohn]

looking really good.  thanks for sharing the build

[robert952]

Thanks @Mjohn I am glad to share the experience.  It's a good way to show the details of the model and point out the process.  While not a typical medium (metal), I hope it provides information of some use to people. 

[robert952]

Step 14 installing bittes (mooring posts) 

 

Here's the small pieces (on a quarter-inch grid).  The arrows point to the pieces as cut from the sprue.  My big mistake here was folding on in the wrong direction, so it will be shiny and not etched.  (Too delicate to risk unbending and rebending.)

And hard to see but here they are installed.  

[robert952]

Step 15 basic bending of the hull

 

I did the basic bend and folding of the hull.  I did not do much to finalize the shape.  The next steps assemble a frame work that allows mating the hull and upper decks together.  I imagine there will be some twisting and finagling to get them together.  

 

Here is the hull just off the sprue

And (surprise) generally bent in the proper shape.  As I said I suspect some bending and twisting as the two main parts get joined.  Before that happens there's some steps bending the aforementioned frame along with the keel and the propeller and it's supporting frame.

Edited February 13, 2023 by robert952

[robert952]

Steps 16 through 19 Various sub-assemblies for the hull. 

 

These steps were pretty quick to do.  Each assembly will likely require some tweaking as I put these sub-assemblies onto the hull.

 

Step 16 Frame for upper hull. 

 

Two pieces meeting in the middle.  This will allow putting the two halves together (hull and upper deck) in latter steps.  

 

Step 17 Propeller

 

The assembly for the propeller was quite tricky to put the two halves together.  

 

Step 18 Forward keel 

Pretty straight forward.  The tabs will fit into the bottom of the hull and mate with the aft keel

 

Step 19 Aft Keel

The interesting discovery here is that the model does not have any specific pieces for the rudder which would connect off of the stern post.  The underside of the aft deck shows detail for the mechanics of the rudder.  From a few images I found, the rudder does extend to the end of the upper deck.  Upcoming Step 20 shows the propeller mounted in place and a flat piece to cover the stem.  It is good I looked ahead as the propeller gets placed into the keel and then bent into position. (I was ready to bend the section up against the sternpost when I asked myself - are you sure this get's bent now?)

[robert952]

Steps 20_21 Adding sub-assemblies to hull

 

Step 20 Attach propeller (Step 17) to aft keel (Step 19)

 

Last post I made a comment about no rudder on this model.  I understand why.  That portion of the stern which holds the propeller is probably the weakest part of the model.  I had a devil of a time even getting it close to position and secured.  The prop blades ended up very loose.  The stern post wanted to twist when bending the propeller into position.  A lot of PVA ended up as the only solution that worked.  (I considered epoxy, but the tight quarters, that would have been messier.)

 

Step 21 Attach keep pieces, anchors and band (Step 16) 

 

The keep pieces fit easily enough with little effort or tweaking. The step shows installing a bow piece to the forward band.  A part of Step 21 installs the anchors.  These two pieces interfered a lot with the forward part of the band to the hull.  I did what I could but the fit is less than ideal.  I will likely end up figuring a way to glue it into position. 

 

The rest of the band fit ok with minor bending and twisting of the bow to get the shapes to match.  I considered using PVA to secure the band to the top of the hull.  However, after doing some test fitting of the deck to hull I see there will be a lot of finagling, bending, twisting (and probably the used of a couple of dirty words.)  I will have to see how that goes.  Then I will apply glue to hold things in place.  

 

Meantime, here's an image of what the piece looks like at this stage.  (I 'jumped ahead' and bent the mount so that the hull sits upright for the photo.  As preview, Step 22 is the last step for the Merrimac (their name, we all know it's actually the CSS Virginia).  

 

Edited February 15, 2023 by robert952