Painted Steamer

Here are some pictures of my finally finished Russian Civil War Siberian paddle steamer.

As posted before, this is the inspiration image of a Red Volga Gunboat converted from civilian paddle steamer.

These are my original concept sketches

Some more close up shots of the steamer and crew.  I still need to do some flags.  The flag mast is detachable, so I can make the Steamer Red or White as needed for the scenario.

This Captain looks too well turned out and bourgeois to be a Red, so I will make a more suitably proletarian naval commander for the Bolsheviks. Fortunately the rest of the crew can serve on either side.

One late addition with the Flag.

Ship Ahoy!

Nearly ready to steam.  I still have to finish the paint job but the crew are done and the ship is all assembled bar a few finishing touches.

This image is what I was aiming for as a concept. 

The sailors can be for either side but the flag on the back and the captain will change if she is fighting for the Reds or Whites.

Maxims Fixed

My maxim gunners are right handed now and have a loader to help fire the gun.

A Studio Siberia Orthodox Priest can be seen blessing the guns in the background.

Anchors aweigh

I have finished the anchor mechanism now. 

The anchor is from Corwall Model Boats and the chain dontaed to the cause by a heroine of the revolution.   To finish off the Maxim guns I have added some quick green stuff canvas bullet belts.

I have also just realised both my gunners are left handed!  I knew something looked wrong.  I might have to change that.

Deck Guns

I have done some additional work on the deck guns and started the crew.  First the Maxim gunners are simple conversions from Copplestone Red Sailors.

Thr main deck gun is a scratch built 3" gun that will have crew converted from a Copplestone Sailor and a Pulp miniatures sailor. 

Some addiotnal pieces such as the air vent cowl and life belts came from Cornwall Model Boats.  The anchor is 35mm long and possibly a bit large.

Guns and Windows

Guns, doors and windows added.  Handles and maybe shutter hinges still to do, I'm not sure yet

Plus some air intake vents for the bioler room.

The guns are on bases, so they can be removed or swapped out for alternatives.  I think the main deck gun will be on a 60mm base when they arrive.

Paddles, stairs and railings

I've now added the waterline paddle wheels below the side housings, plus stairs to the upper deck, and railings.  The railings might be a bit flimsy but I'm hoping a few coats of PVA will help.

I need to find some figures for the crew next.  Red sailors would be great for the Bolsheviks but I'd like to have some White soldiers as crew as well.  Staff Captain Kazagrandi commanded the first White Guard unit to leave Omsk and took a steamer up river to chase the fleeing Reds.  This unit would later become the Ishimsky regiment.

A Ship Shape Russian Steamer

Some more progress on the RCW River Steamer.

Thanks to Jim for the joke. I have added the funnel and hull sides now and it is starting to look ship shape.  The mast is an old paint brush. 

The sides are cardboard glued on with PVA and held in place with paint tins while they dried.  The stern was too square in the wood, so I have used the curve of the cardboard to make it rounded and filled up the gap with ripped up tissue paper soacked in PVA to give it some paper mache strength.  The bow and stern have cardboard inserts to cover the joins and look like the strengthening on the real ship.

Next up is detailing.  I still have to add the paddles, windows, railings, ladder to the upper deck and armaments, plus quite a few little details like life belts, rigging, flags etc,

Steamer Update

Here is some more progress on the Steamer.  It's beginning to take shape a bit.

I have added the upper deck and pilot house now.  The the paddle wheel housings have also been extended so that a 60mm diameter paddle wheel could fit inside.

The 75mm circular bases are to show that a field gun can fit on the for and aft decks.  These will not be fixed, to allow different armament in different scenarios.

Russian Paddle Steamer

I'm starting to work on a side wheel paddle steamer for my RCW forces.  In Siberia such steam powered river craft were a common and vital means of transport away from the rail lines where river travel was both faster and easier than on the roads. 

This one is an artist impression of  the Vania, a Volga Tugboat that was armed during the civil war.  Few purpose built warhsips existed on the Siberian rivers, so conversion from civilian craft was common and both sides made use of such improvised gunboats for strategic movement and to support their ground units.  There were even some river battles as flotillas vied for control of the major waterways.  Early examples were simply civilian tugboats and merchant vessels with light field guns strapped to the decks.  They were sometimes 'armoured' with bales of cotton or flax.  Later conversions used small naval guns and were properly armoured or at least repainted in more martial colours.

My steamer is rather shorter and more squat than the real thing, to fit within our scaled down model battles, but will hopefully still give the right impression.  

I will add an upper deck above the boiler room and paddle wheel housings, with a funnel at the back, and a pilot house in the centre.  At the front will be a mast and a deck gun plus some maxims on the upper superstructure.  Historically such vessels usually carried both fore and aft deck guns, with several machine guns around the ship but I might keep the firepower down to avoid them becoming too powerful in game.  I want a moderate unit to provide riverine naval support not the Battleship Potemkin!