Looking at a gunboat

  Continuing with balsa boats, thought I'd make my first attempt in this series at a gunboat.

Rough balsa model. The guns are Amati guns bought from Cornwall Model Boats.

As initially finished. Pointy prow - didn't really work so cut square after I'd photographed everything. White card hull - though I had always intended the hull to be black. Hull on this is too big for a single sheet of card to do for one side of the hull- needed a fillet.

Final product - apart from the prow - looking probably a bit TOO 'clean'! After making it, I found that I should have put the guns on a pedestal or something - they are a bit too low. OK for wargames purposes though.

Made it bigger than the Arkham Princess and this turned out to be a good move - 25mm figures don't look out of place on it.

25mm crew and shown against one of the card patrol boats.

Size comparison against the Sgt's Mess tramp steamer SS Lovecraft.

Personal assessment?

Minor tweaks needed but works. Looks like a good size hull and good basis for a cruiser. To be fair, I really felt like giving it 2 funnels to start with - but then, felt same about Arkham Princess. No name for it yet, still thinking about that and future models. I've ordered a few more guns from Cornwall Model Boats, including a couple of AA guns for inter war use. As these are meant as cheap and quick wargames items I haven't bothered with buying (or using what I've got) any detailing accessories but might consider, for example, a few ventilators - they seem to be quite a visible feature that is missing on these.Of course I could also consider boats,anchors, doors, portholes, lifebelts...

At time of writing this (3pm), I went out and checked the temperature of my wargames shed. 100 degrees F!