 |
| Picture from Pithead Miniatures' website |
Thank you, Pithead Miniatures! In such timely fashion they have released the Confederate Mississippi River Defense Fleet, in 1/1200. These are of course, or maybe not of course for those who do not have knowledge of Plum Run Point, the ideal opponents for my burgeoning fleet of Thoroughbred's Cairo class river ironclads.
I was tipped off by a post on The Wargames Website that these lovely resin castings had been released, so I immediately rushed to place an order, cost before shipping being about $50.00. Phil Ireson, the owner, contacted me to let me know if I didn't mind a bit of a wait that he would send me a corrected version of the CSS General Bragg, as the first casting he offered was actually the Bragg that the Federals captured and modified and not the version used by the Confederates. Of course I did not mind a wait for the correct model!
After a couple of weeks I received my order from the U.K. While these Pithead castings might not quite on par with Thoroughbred's gorgeous models, they are darn close! As mentioned, they are mostly resin, with metal guns, stacks, and masts, to go along with resin hulls and superstructures.
I have started putting a few of them together. Four of the smaller vessels have separate superstructures that need to be glued to the provided hulls. The four separate hulls are identical The guns are tiny and a bit fiddly to work with, but that is because I do not have quick setting superglue to hold the guns into place. Once I pick up some different super glue mounting the guns by using tweezers should be a breeze.
In summary (for now, more as I build, paint, and rate up these vessels for Smoke on the Water), this range from Pithead is not only a nice addition to the 1/1200 scale offerings currently on the market, but they really fill in an often overlooked area of the Civil War, the early battles on the interior river, like Plum Run Point!