Just out of interest, I was lucky enough to visit Vicksburg National Military Park a few years ago and I remember seeing an amazing US Civil War gunboat, The USS Cairo, that had been salvaged from the river bed. I have a photo of it, that doesn't do it justice, but I would think a model of it would be amazing.

So good to see a realistic model gunboat. Boats do not stay shiny and pristine in the real world and this model certainly depicts the looks of the real gunboat.
Thank you for sharing and preserving the history of your country's past.
dave976

Most of us are model builders creating models of real boats. Here is a model of a real boat built by real boat builders.

The U.S.S. Fort Henry was a New York City ferryboat (one of about twenty-four ferryboats) that was converted to a U.S. Navy gunboat during the U.S. Civil War (1861-65). For most of its naval life it was stationed in the East Gulf Blockading Squadron which covered just about all of Florida's coastline.

Around 2019-20 the Crystal River Boatbuilders (builders of traditional early Florida full sized reproduction boats) built a 1/35 scale (over 51 inches long) replica of the U.S.S. Fort Henry. This was to be given to the Cedar Key Historical Museum.

I became involved in two ways. I had a set of plans in 1/48 scale which I supplied the builders with, and as a Civil War reenactor (as captain of the U.S.S. Fort Henry) I was quite knowledgeable on the history aspects of the "ferry-gunboat".

So when it became time for the unveiling and dedication I was invited to the ceremony (standing on the left, last photo).

I thought I would share this with Model-Boats.com as this is kind of an unusual model, one that I almost built myself.

Lew