by Paul Helfrich
1/600 USS Dictator and USS Onondaga (Thoroughbred Miniatures)
These are 1/600 scale models of the USS Dictator and USS Onondaga, produced by Thoroughbred Miniatures.
These are excellent kits, very nicely detailed.
The USS Dictator was a large ocean-going monitor. Built in New York City, she entered service in November 1864 but was laid up in less than a year with engine problems. Recommissioned in 1869, she served off and on in the Atlantic Fleet until finally being scrapped in 1883.
The USS Onondaga was commissioned in March 1864 and saw a lot of action on the James River until the end of the Civil War. After decommissioning, she was sold to France, where she continued to serve in the French Navy under the same name.
It's hard to imagine crossing the Atlantic in one of these things, with their low freeboard, but they must have done it - no other way to get it to France, right? Definitely not the kind of ship in which to ride out a gale.
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