Turkish Gunboat

[Mustasha Pasha]

Turkish Gunboat

Here are some pictures of the gunboat I’ve built to support my Turkish troops on the rivers of Askaristan as they advance to re-occupy their ancient Central Asian homeland.



TNV Sultan is 9 ½” long by 3” beam and is pretty conventionally constructed from card balsa and pasticard. Some Plastruct left over from a previous project was used for the stairs, ladders and handrails.



The usual household objects have been modified to fit. The smokestack is a pen top, the engine room ventilators are plastic straws and the main mast is a kebab stick.

 

The limitations of size prevented a representation of any particular river gunboat however I have tried to incorporate the pertinent features. Having the mast for’ard of the bridge is not untypical of small naval auxiliaries in the early 1920s. At present the crew is made up of Mexican infantry only one of which has been painted to look like in any way naval. However they look reasonably Turkish and in the absence of any Turkish naval figures will have to do after they’ve all been repainted. The 6 pdr deck gun and the bridge mounted machine guns are Old Glory models. Finish is Humbrol mid-grey spray.

Not particularly naval I’m afraid but she is only intended to be a floating gun platform for gaming purposes and anything else would look distinctly overscale. Ideally I’d like to replace the ventilators if I could find something suitable.

PS yes I know my cutting mat is a mess and I should never have used it for painting!

[Plynkes]

Neat. You know, for some real distinctively Turkish-looking sailors, you could headswap some Turkish infantry heads on to some German sailor bodies (such as the Brigade ones), and end up with something like this...


Not many other people would have anything like them. I keep meaning to do it myself, except the Turkish infantry I bought for the purpose have been seconded back into the Army for my Gallipoli/Palestine project. But now Woodbine make separate Turkish heads I think the project may be back on (though I'm not certain they'll go together perfectly scale-wise).

[Helen]

Lovely ship!

Agree with Plynkes, German sailors from Brigade Games with some Gripping Beast heads will do the trick.

I've a few spare German sailors so I'll give it ago.

Helen

[Plynkes]

My only concern is that the Woodbine fellows are a little smaller than Brigade. I think they look fine on a tabletop together, but with the head of one on the body of another I fear they may look like pin-heads.

I have some Woodbine Brit heads though, I'll line them up later and see how they go size-wise with Brigade figures (I did think Copplestone heads would be too big on Great War Miniatures bodies, but they turned out fine in the end, so you never know). Otherwise may have to look for some smaller sailor bodies from another manufacturer. In fact I think they would fit fine on the Old Glory sailors I have.

[Poiter50]

Blue Moon Manufacturing's Captain Joshua & crew with head changes would probably suit as well. For Turkish officers perhaps the Copplestone Naval officers would suit?

[Chairface]

I love this model! Sharp!!!!

[Malamute]

Very nice

[Plynkes]

They also wore these little pill-box sailor hats, and fezzes for the officers, neither of which ought to pose too many problems when it comes to converting.

[dodge]

That's a great boat , well made ,

and loads of advice on turkish sailors too.

I really like this place 

dodge

[argsilverson]

Very nice effort! Like the model you built.

On turkish sailors:
In Turkey fez was abolished a little early [if I remember well Kemal Ataturk officially abandoned it in 1923!, but since WW1 it was not anymore in use. Fez was connected to the times of the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.

The best option is to use german sailors body with appropriate head, see the  1st photo Plynkes provided.
Blue moon's sailors are mostly british] I recommend for landing parties the brigade games sailors and for unarmed ones the Old Glory Naval artillery crews, also with headswaps.

Fez was not abolished however in Egypt or similar countries. I Think Egypt abolished fez around 1953!

In general Turkey [Egypt as well] is well connected with the fez. I remind you that Pulp Figures released the Intanbul constanbulary in Fezzes, so, gamers' licence you may use fezzed sailors.
So, based also to the name of the vessel, all crew and officers will be in fezzes!
Here is a link with uniforms of the Turkish Navy ca 1912-1915!
http://www.diggerhistory2.info/graveyards/pages/equip-uniform/tk-uniforms2.htm

some other little earlier: http://www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk/tevfik.htm

some more:  http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?t=147089&page=2
[ this one has a lot more interesting photos like Austro Hungarians, Japanese, burmese   

germans in turkish service:
http://www.sacktrick.com/igu/germancolonialuniforms/ottoman%20fronts%20turkish%20unforms.htm

some turkish sailors:
http://flickr.com/photos/28668804@N00/2422193168




By the way an ideal commander for the vessel would be the sitting figure with hookah!
see the link:
http://www.pulpfigures.com/catcode.php?range=Personalities&code=PHP&number=15&custID=7916691871232448460

In order to enrich your vessel I would recommend the use of some ship's fittings:
Fenders: http://www.cornwallmodelboats.co.uk/acatalog/rope_fenders.html
[rather expensive, but will add more flavour to the model!]

Vents: http://www.cornwallmodelboats.co.uk/acatalog/billing_boats_vents.html

[Emir of Askaristan]

Did you tell them it grounded on its first voyage....?

The rivers of Askaristan are shallow and rocky..much like its tribesmen!
 

[Plynkes]

Yes, I should have mentioned they only wore fezzes up to a certain point. Still, they are good for the Great War era and before. The sailors' hats worn by the ratings aren't actually fezzes, though (more of a shrunken version of the standard sailor hat), so they may well have continued with those in the 1920s. I'm not sure when they came in. In pictures from the Great War you see them in both those caps and in fezzes.

I also have a photo of an Ottoman officer in a peakless cap. Just like a normal naval officer's hat but with no peak (easy to convert). The idea behind all these hats without peaks and brims was apparently to allow for daily prayers without having to take your hat off (not sure how keen Atatürk would have been on that, fanatical secularist as he was).

[argsilverson]

The idea behind all these hats without peaks and brims was apparently to allow for daily prayers without having to take your hat off (not sure how keen Atatürk would have been on that, fanatical secularist as he was).

that's the reason they abolished the fez and officers wore fur hats [surprising enough fez shaped]

[Plynkes]

He should have made them switch from fezzes to sombreros then, that would have learned 'em. 

[argsilverson]

He should have made them switch from fezzes to sombreros then, that would have learned 'em. 

He abolished the fez, introduced the latin alphabet to replace the arabian one, introduced western calendar to replace muslim one, abolished the muslim face cover of the women and handled them equal rights  and tried to modernise the country.  I don't know whether the new ones have more ideas.

Alas, he forgot to introduce sombreros !!!! maybe this will be the future