Iron clads, cause dwarves hate water!

[Silent Invader]

  A very impressive project 

[Sinewgrab]

Beautiful. I am so glad that I am not the only person that has ever looked at an Uncharted Seas ship, and said "I am building one of those in 28mm!"

Although yours is a damned sight better than mine!

[Drachenklinge]

@ sinewgrab
any pictures? I would like to see them! What kind of boat? Which race? I suppose it won't be very likely to visit the states with my boat in the bag, but ... you never know ^^



Well, after puzzling out the mountings, I could judge better, what space I have left for the rest of my plans, where to but the gun-ports, the captain's cabin, etc.

I used some thick planks to add some real strength to the structure (here all just laid loosly at the sides)


And with some thinking about the sun-deck ...


I was able to made a detachable deck-level




To be able to see inside (at least a little bit) even when all is attached, I choose some sort of gratings integrated in the sun-deck. The jollyboat is more or less a by-product °_O It should have been much smaller originally, but came out too small, so I had to make it bigger, then I thought, why not planking it, too? Then it was too big for the sun-deck which "forced" me to make some aft davits, too, to lower it to the water. However my plan still inlcuded some kind of crane with a winch or something, also I need ... but later ... slowly ... breath!

The problem with these scratch-builds is - at least for me - I constantly had to check for some coming trouble (do not tell me, YOU folkes have an exact blueprint, huh!?), so I always have to do "everything" at the same time, at least provisorily. In the pictures above You can see the front-end of the maindeck towards the bow. It is some makeshift, just to keep in mind its probable size, and I also used it for some colour- and plating-attachment testing. Good thing to have done that, cause the spray I used was not only new (but cheaper, therefore I dared to trry it) but just too easy scratched (see the white scar in the front)! GW ChaosBlack again ...

... now, where was I? And where is that damned cutter again? ... here ...

Some last thinking about the platings - a makeshift again, just to see how it will look later


And on it goes to the gun-port-details

You may notice, that here I started the final deck-front-end. First I thought of making it detachable of some sort, too, but decided against it for practical reason. Also it gaves me the shivers to do this 3-dimenional angular, aslant, aslope, bevel hate-object outside (plates, simple!) AND inside (planking ... gee). So now, it is just the iron-plated powder magazin.


And yes, the are moveable ...  


So ... while some just try to get accustomed to the new floating battery


Others have to clean up the mess ...


... but some (most likley some milk-beardlings) always will find a place to have a hidden break.

Have a break, have a ... beer!


For the rivets (is there actually a more fitting word?) I choose some thick nails, made of brass. These where cut just short under the nail's head, glued into the platings. I thought this a little bit cumbersome, but I am far more satisfied with the look of the "rivets". Their heads are symmetrically round now, not like some greenstuff or cutted round-profiled plastic-wires. And with the later plating of the hulk just above the waterline they also give some extra hold to the plastic (which is actually just attached directly to the polystyrene hulk). These won't be shorteend, then.


And while looking at some bitz I was having a new idea for some very important deck machinery! A winch for the anchor!

The winch is made of the sides of the (new) GW miner's lorry/trolley (?), also the lever is a pushcart's grip from the same box, dito the gadget. The bend metal plate is some orcish armory (40k, if I remember it correctly) with some holes drilled into it. And - no - this one is not working ... but thanks for thinking it ^^


And with some last colour-testing for the bigger areas at the aft engines-room



... my first final platings for one side is mostly finish




I really thought a little bit about background and fluff for the machinery, and I came up with the idea of some piston engine. But since a petrol/gasoline/fuel/alcohol-driven engine would make no sense, I "invented" a coal-dust-explosion-machinery. But do not ask me how it is working exactly ... it is top-secret dwarven technology - sorry, folkes!  
Anyway - the real and big fat machinery is in the lower decks, just below and aft the maindeck. The visible part is the First-Maschinst's room with its upper part of the coal-dust-explosion-piston-engine-control-mechanism (next time I will make a test about it ^^). In the lower decks, there are just lots of valves, a few big shredders (for the coal-dust) and the main-engine with the pistons and the driving shaft to/for the ship's propeller - or so I my idea boiled up.

best wishes
Drachenklinge

Next stop ... engine room!

[Christian]

That is gorgeous. There's nothing else to say really. I'm speechless!

[Chaos Wolf]

Wow!! Very cool; I think all the little details really make it.

[Silent Invader]

Very cool indeed!

I like the idea of a coal-dust-explosion-powered engine ...... always good to have a back story 

[Drachenklinge]

*dingding - dingding* "Engine? Bridge! Full speed ahead!"


Again it took a while until I came up with a wanna-be plan for my "upper-engine". Basically I wanted a bigger barrel at all costs ... a dwarven steamer without a barrel? No beering way! But cobbling together some planks and plasticards, adding a few other flame-thrower-valves and some unavoidable straws - this is the result

I have seen other scratched-built steamers out there with bigger barrels (it's always the same, isn't it?), but they were too visible for my liking and although I wanted the ship "barreled" I also want to have the outer appearance of an ironclad, without machinery visable outside the "hull" - beside funnels, that is.

By the way, some (not all!) of the valves (actually the part with which to regulate it, not the "display") is a button (I think they're for bras*) from a material store. There are different sizes and its very useful for all kinds of machinery - and usually a lot cheaper, then hobby-store-valving-wheel-grip-thingies.





After being quite pleased with this part, I could't resist priming ...

.. and painting at least a bit of it


And later this ...

... will be added to give more complexity to the machinery - another part from the flame-thrower some might recognize. And between the half burried barrel and the deck I put a wire-mesh, to make it look more technical and beware my fellow dwarves from slipping with all that oily, greasy stuff on the floor.


I even started to "weather" the room a bit, but In think it could get a lot more of that, later. Also I added some shelves for tools and stuff. Also I discovered this little fellow and I intend to use him as some sort of Klabauterman (ship's kobold). Maybe I will even attach him to the maschinits's base.


Turning to the funnels ... it was relatively easy to figure it out. A little research and googeling brought up some pix and I went for it

The piping-brass is a part from a guitar ... don't know the name for it - even in German ^^ ... it's from the tuning-apparatus of this instrument.
The big tin-tank is from some 40k-tank or so I believe - it lies around for years, unused, unwanted - up until now when it found it's righful place attached to dwarven machinery!

So - for the moment, this nearly as far as it goes with the steamer for the time being. I did a few details for the sun-deck and more plating, showing next time, but nothing "important" for the main design.

It will be a bit more complicated to fix all the things on the sun-deck, because - as mentioned before - I want the sun-deck remain detachable and I am still not sure how to accomplish that, exactly.

best wishes
Drachenklinge


* when "working" with bras, usually I am not interested in the buttons itself then, to be honest, so I am not 100% sure, but I got a dim memory of having seen them in such situations ^^

[Sinewgrab]

My ship is an Orc vessel I put together as a terrain piece / army tray about a year ago - and you have inspired me to spend a bit more time on it to make it more cool!  I'll put pics up in my Orc Pirate post when I get a bit more finished on it.

The tanks are from an Imperial Guard Chimera tank, and look damned fine where you put them.  This is beautiful stuff, Drach, old boy!

 

[Drachenklinge]

@ Sinewgrab
thanx! Found Your "pirativized" orcs ... will follow that thread, too. Bookmarked it already. Some nice conversions in there. Will have a closer look, later.


Now, here are some small details I crafted from time to time, when some other things need to try, or I were stucked somewhere. But I think these details will grab another huge ammount of time, fitting and mounting them somewhere on the deck. And it's not all of them. Need some life-savers ( I actually plan to use some red/white coloured beer-barrels ^^), too, and some other stuff, like ... like ... well, stuff that is needed on a ship's deck every day.
However, I will start with two "that's it so far"-pix to give You another impression of the plating -  I am quite pleased with it!




This is a close-up before painting - the nails are just put throught drilled holes right into the polystyrene hull, to give the strength. mentioned somewhere above

In addition I came across some metall-knob-holes in my bitz-box, which I often use as portholes, why not here, too? I need to stuff some "window-glass" into it ... don't know, yet, how to do so.

The next picture is a some rear-view, with some davits-testing. Also showing the more or less final design for the bridge and the engine room's deck.

I jumped for this design, because at the sides it is strictly at a right angle and I wanted that to break up a bit. Originally I wanted the bridge bigger, but that doesn't work - unfortunately. For I have to have some space to GET to/into the bridge, and couldn't find any other solution, but to size it down.

Next stop is some small deck-cannon ... it looks fairly modern for any fantasy naval warfare, and maybe too much so, but maybe I will keep it nevertheless, to give my steamer a touch of this WW1 modern "navalness".


Then there is the helm. Obviously made of pure brass! ^^

Many bitz again from the GW-dwarf-miner's box. Quite a box, every dwarven engineer crave to have!

This picture is showing some interior again

Wanted to mentioned that it is somewhat astonishings where useful bitz might come from! The golden thingy on the right side is some attaching mechanism for self-made-chains (maybe You know these little stores, where one can buy all sorts of wooden, glassy or plastic pearls and beads ... it's worth a try, I can assure You! I have seen some beads here already, on the top of some mexican pueblo somewhere).


And finally here is the ship's bell! Sometimes the only thing divers find, when searching for old wracks ... anyway - every good ship should have one!

Right now I am not sure where to put it later, but I am sure, I will find a place for it. The sides of the bell will be corrected with GS or something like.

So ... that's it ... for the time being anyway! I don't know, when I will have the time to go on with that project, but my fingers are tingling. ^^

best wishes and thanx to all of you for "listening"!
Drachenklinge

PS
I will keep You informed 

[white knight]

That's awesome! 

[Chaos Wolf]

This just keeps getting better and better. You get a grade of 'Awesome +' from this old sailor!

[Drachenklinge]

thank you very much to all of you, for your constant positive feedback - I am really flattered - and happy ^^

I think, what troubles me most about it is the next step. In a way all things a more or less clear, but the rigging of my ironclad really gives me the shivers - for example here
http://irapl.altervista.org/cpm/albums/habdul-hamid-ii-01/00459--The-rigging-drill-on-the-Imperial-Ironclad-Frigate-Osmaniye-.jpg

How to seperate the deck, when everything is actually SEWN and TIED to the deck with riggings? *sigh* But then, I already know how to do this ... need some kind "hook and eye" for EVERY rigg. °_O And the next trouble will be, to keep it tight (bow-taut?), but removable, yet. So maybe some springs along with it ... what a twiddeling - boy, I'm dead. 

...

Thought about some springs from ball-pens ^^

Well ... much to do, until this clad will power it's engine.

best wishes and thanks again!
Drachenklinge

[The Dozing Dragon]

This is just fantastic. A pleasure to watch it progress.

[Doomsdave]

Absolutely stunning.  One of the best ship builds I have seen.  The little details put it over the top.

[Drachenklinge]

thanks again! Liked to share it, too!


an afterword to the deck's planking
since I did the main deck and the sun-deck differently I am a little bit "annoyed" now. Cause I used some very smooth planks (bought them as they come) for the first and self-cutted for the second (didn't calculated it through (that's the phrase?) so I hadn't any more left °_O). In colour both a similar enough, but I think the impression with the self-made planks for 28mm scale is a little bit better, since they give more the mpression of 28mm-scale planking. More cracks, splitting and cleaving and for sure more distinctive.
They are also thicker (1 or 2mm for the upper one, the main deck's planks are not even 1mm, maybe half).

It is not that dwarves might not have some fine-worked deck, but it simply fitted more to the scale, if You understand me. And I did not cut some chracks into the sun-deck. The just looked more "robust" and fitting.

...

So next time with the dwarven battleship I will do the planking myself from the beginning. ^^

best wishes
Drachenklinge