writes:I've recently added the USS Conestoga in 1:600 scale to my Union fleet.
She was originally a civilian towboat on the Mississippi, later converted for military service, and served with the Western Gunboat Flotilla. Named in honor of the conestoga wagon that carried pioneers westward, she was classed as a 'timberclad' warship.
This is a resin model from Bay Area Yards. Here is the catalog picture:
As you can see, the model comes as hull, two smokestacks, and two upper deck 'wall' sections.
I spent some time working on the hull, as there were casting issues with some of the gun ports. Some I chose to model as closed, using scrap plastic to make new covers. I used filler and filing to repair some pinholes.
The color scheme would have been black, which I figured would have been more of a weathered grey in appearance. The stacks probably had recognition bands near the top, but since I didn't know what color they would have been, I left the stacks plain (I hate painting bands anyway).
I know better, but I handled the model by the smokestacks a few times, and broke them off and had to reattach them. So learn from my mistakes. 
I ordered some nice 3mm wooden bases from LITKO with rounded corners, and mounted the ship on one of them. I painted the base in my standard too-blue 'river' color, and added artist's gel to give some gloss and wavy texture. FlexSteel on the bottom for storage in magnet-lined boxes.
There were two ships in this class, so I may build another one someday…