Back in the 1920s there was a bit of trouble in the town of Innsmouth leading to the USN depth charging an off shore reef. Suddenly there was a spate of shipbuilding for the Navy... lots of small coastal protection gunboats. Strangely, the early ones tending to concentrate on an anti-submarine role... later the basic designs would include a gunboat and torpedo boat, but these were anciliary to the ones fitted with depth charges...
The USS Arkham was the first in its' class. Armament consists of a generic Armati gun and dowel and card depth charge rack. The hull is slightly smaller than my standard hull. A good, basic easy-to-make design that doesn't look too bad.
Lack of detail showing gun and cockpit/wheelhouse. I need some wheels and guns, but Cornwall Model Boats catalogue shows guns out of stock, so I'll have to wait.
The depth charge setup is very loosely based on a 1938 Mk6 depth charge setup.
This comparison is between my original model using parts from the Reviresco fast patrol boat and the Arkham class. For my purposes, my version has three advantages: quick to build, much cheaper, and as long as I have stocks of guns and wheels I can build/adapt as many as I want without waiting for deliveries from the US.
These hulls were completed in a couple of hours - once the template is sorted most of the hard work is done. I originally produced my own designs in the first place for simplicity - commercial boats I found to be fiddly and overcomplicated for my purposes. I do not want to redo the decking template! Ship's hull numbers are not related to 'real' numbers, I'm simply going 20 series depth charge, 30 series gunboat, 40 series torpedo boat.
Crews were not painted with skirmish useage in mind so I haven't attempted the same standard I'm trying to achieve with the townsfolk. Again, figures are Reviresco and came from the ship and gun kits. I need to paint up a few more...
They look the thing to me. Are the hulls solid?
ReplyDeleteThey are 'Tealight Ironclad' variations as per my article in Miniature Wargames with Battlegames issue 366. Thin card, both funnel and mast are continued through the deck to the bottom of the hulland glued which adds a lot of extra strength and rigidity.
DeleteThey look the thing to me. Are the hulls solid?
ReplyDeleteA very neat, effective, and well-modelled vessel. A flotilla of them should provide you with a very effective coastal defence force.
ReplyDeleteAll the best,
Bob
Different concept to your own excellent fleet - I find them both flexible and useful.
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