Tramp Steamer

[Captain Blood]

Okay, I'm starting to think about painting my assorted merchant crews and related figures...

Inspiring as the wonderful LAF tramp steamer competition was, I'm not really cut out for scratch boat building...

Does anyone know of any usable commercially available models or kits that would work with 28mm figures, and could pass as a rust-tub steamer / coaster, or even a trawler?

Thanks. 

[Malamute]

There is the Old Glory Tramp Steamer. I have never seen it in the flesh, but it looks good from the photos and was well received over on TMP.

[Ray Rivers]

Well...

Just so happens the other day I was looking about the web for ship accessories and stuff and I found this:



http://www.tin-soldier.com/freighter.htm

It's a card ship with metal fixtures and goes for $60.

Think it is the best around, unless of course, you want to sell one of your children and buy from Houston's ...   

[Captain Blood]

Think it is the best around, unless of course, you want to sell one of your children and buy from Houston's ...   
 

That's not out of the question. 

Tell me more about Houstons... 

(Foolish, I know, but I'm snobby about cardboard things on my tabletop  )

[Ray Rivers]

Think it is the best around, unless of course, you want to sell one of your children and buy from Houston's ... 
 

That's not out of the question. 

Tell me more about Houstons... 

You obviously have too many children... 

Houston will scratch build a ship for you out of wood but beware it will cost a pretty penny.  Follow this link to Houston's ships: http://www.thevirtualarmchairgeneral.com/  You can contact him and I'm sure he will give you a quote.

Failing that, as Malamute suggested OG would be your best bet for quality.  But putting out $195.00 seems a bit much for my taste.   Especially since you will probably want to add stuff to it as well.

You know you could always use the tin-solider model as a base/template and replace much, if not all, of the structure with plastic card.  Heck, the metal fittings provided in the kit are almost worth the price alone.

[Captain Blood]

Thanks Ray. 

[richarDISNEY]

I have both the Old Glory and the Revisco/Tin Dictator models.  

Both work really well.  Both have their plusses and minuses.  

Old glory is well done in resin, but it really lacks lots of details.  No big deal for those of us here, as we seem to 'add' details anywhere we can!  It fits well with 28mm figs, and you have lots and lots and lots of room on this ship!  It's huge!  Well work the $$$.
I did post some pics of the boat with several different figures so you can get a grasp on the scale.
www.flickr.com/photos/13601860@N03/

The Revisco/Tin Dictator one is a treat to look at!  The paper is really full of detail and is scaled fairly well.  The only real problem is that it is paper, so its kinda fragile, but you can reinforce the decking with cardboard.  And one other thing, DON'T SPILL BEER ON IT, I found out the hard way.  It has that 'paper model' look to it.  It also took some time to cut out and build, but overall I was happy with it.

I hope this helps.

[fastolfrus]

Do you want me to send Alasdair to look through the seafront shops on Scarborough ?
They usually have cheap souvenir trawlers and might have some end of season clearance lines.

[Captain Blood]

I hope this helps.

It does help, thanks Richard. Alas the OG one looks a little less like a steamer and a little more like a tugboat, but I daresay it would do the job... I shall keep my options under review. 

Do you want me to send Alasdair to look through the seafront shops on Scarborough ?
They usually have cheap souvenir trawlers and might have some end of season clearance lines.

Ah, thank you fastolfrus. A kind offer. I did have a look when I was down in Cornwall recently, but the scales of what was littering the souvenir shop window seemed wrong...

I wouldn't dream of imposing on young Alasdair - I've seen him in action killing women and multiple clergymen in a swordfight 

But should he happen across anything that looks vaguely suitable, a picture would be very helpful! Thanks. 

[fastolfrus]

It should keep him busy for an hour at the weekend, we'll see what we can find.

[darquebus]

I picked up this one very cheap at a supermarket

Matchbox - Mega-Rig Shark Ship (just search for it on the web)

It has a lot of stuff that I gave to my daughter to play with, but I kept the hull(s).
it is actually 2 complete hulls, a smaller blue and a big orange one. It can be assembled to give you two complete hulls. Just need to scratch build the cabins etc...
it is "waterlined" and with a simple paint job and some re-modelling it provides a cheap and quite good base for scratch built steamer

[Schweizer]

The tin-soldier/revisco steamer kit has some WONDERFUL cast accesories, including windows and spotlights...

...BUT the paper assembly has perhaps the worst/least clear directions of any model I've ever attempted.  The sections are often mislabeled, there are more parts for some than are needed... all in all, it's all but impossible to navigate.  What I did was throw out the directions and most paper parts  and instead ape the LOOK of the ship as the basis for my own card stock/cardboard ship, and use the invaluable cast pieces to give it some flash.

The sixty bucks are, really, worth it for the pieces.  As to whether or not you'll be able to assemble the ship more-or-less directionless, that's something that only you can estimate.

I'm out of town until Sunday, but I'll post pictures of my in-progress steamer when I get home... it'll give you an idea as to how the Revisco parts look.

[argsilverson]

I have one scratchbuilted and costed a hell of money. Then I found a model, which looks like a fishing trawler, in some souvenir shop at a very very low price, approx 20 euros. So decided to throw away whatever it is out of scale and refit the rest.

I suppose it will cost approx another 30-40 euros for fittings.

Anyhow your projects sound very interesting, I would like to see the outcome of them!

[Le matou rouge]

Tell me more about Houstons... 

Just because you ask :





The Happy owner is chicklewis here.

THE TOPIC

THE GALLERY

And now, I pray for your children's soul...

meow,
Matt

[Schweizer]

Here are some pics of the in-progress modification of the Revisco paper kit. 

I still have to do the stairs, cut down part of the deck, mix my natural stain with a little bit of polyurethane walnut and seal said deck, stain and put up the masts, etc.  I'm also switching to a rounder, less elliptical smokestack.  Plus, of course, painting and weathering.

As you can see, there's still a lot of work to be done, but I'm pleased with how it's going.  I may go around the edges of the hull with a little bit of puff-paint so that it's a little rounder and less card-like.