[scratch 1/72] French Yang-tse gunship 'OLRY' step-by-step

[Thanh Thuy]

Salut à tous!

As whishes Steve aka 'Mysteroid' , I begin a post concerning a gunship which I built some years ago.

Her name : "OLRY". I think that it is the name of a french admiral.
The ship has been built in the end of the '90s' (I mean 1890!!) to protect the french (and occidental) people living - generaly near missions - along the chinese Yang-Tse-Kiang river, and fighted against chinese bandits or other 'Boxers' during the war of same name.

It was laid up in 1910, if I well remember (to be verified!).

The weapons were six 37mm guns, may be some revolving guns (the documents I read did not precise the number of them, so I did not make six of this sort, but only four, and two with one barrel).

The length is 37m and 6m for the width , and when I began I could only estimate the height, measuring by comparision with a crew!
Draught : 1,35m

Maximum speed was 11 knots, and the crew had 24 men.

I was lucky, and did not mistake : a further reading confirmed that I saw the true dimensions (with an hawkeye!).

Than I began to draw, cut and glue...

To be continued...

Thanh Thuy.

 

[Thanh Thuy]

Hi again!

Here the first pictures.

I begin to build a 'skeleton' (like fishbone...) and I precise again that I use my ship as element of wargames, so I built her as a "waterline" model.

The french sailor, 'kitbashed' from an "Atlantic" figurine is here to show the scale (1/72).

To be continued...

Thanh Thuy.

 

[mysteroid]

Thanks!

Thanks Thanh! I'll be following the build closely.:mrgreen:

 

[Thanh Thuy]

Salut tout le monde!

I carry on with the OLRY.

Now, here is the cabin on the first deck.
After drawing its location on the deck, I built a massive cabin, where I placed the doors and portholes, and cut the roof of this cabin, to become the floor of the second deck (a bit longer and larger than the cabin).
I fixed the mast (made of poplar wood) in a hole on the deck, as to be just ahead of the cabin.

Then, I adjusted the flanks of the hull:

Here, the modified sailors (Atlantic and Airfix figurines), to show the scale and have an idea of the future aspect of the model:

Now, I built the cabins of the second deck : ahead is the wheel, and the captain's room, then the funnel, and back the wardroom.

I made the funnel with paracetamol packaging!!sign1

From this time of the building, nothing was glued, except the deck and its cabin on the hull's skeleton.

A smell of final appearance was in the air...

To be continued...

Thanh Thuy.

 

[Thanh Thuy]

Hello tout le monde!

It's time to acheave the decks : I have put planks on them , made of coloured drawing paper.

First deck is Ok; than the flanks of the hull, and the second deck:

A pre-view of the guns:

The yawl:

To be continued...

Thanh Thuy.

 

[redwolf28386]

Wow! It's looking good! Keep us informed!

 

[Thanh Thuy]

Hi evryone!

I carry on with more details:

Here, the windsocks : they are orientable as in true ships.
The pipe is in poplar wood, and the air entry is made from a WWII british helmet and two-paste cement!

Inner "furniture" of the wheelhouse!
Made of the previous two-paste cement and some electric copper cable.

Funnel details made from stain sheet:

Other details of the hull's flanks and the upper deck:

The davits are made of plastic:

The winch is from wood, and the chains from a crane model:

I made the anchor from a thick sheet of lead:

The one-barreled guns are made from pieces of plastic, papercard and lead:

The revolving guns are made of pins, plastic and a two-paste cement:

The rails are made of nails and cotton thread:

The small cabins in the rear part are the toilets:

I made the officer as a one-armed man, so I kitbashed a WWII german submarine figurine, his sabre is from a stain sheet, and the cut arm too (I mean the sleeve).

The name of the ship:

And that's all, folks!

And now on the muddy waters of the Yang-Tse-Kiang...

At anchor along a pier...

Tomorrow will be another day...

Bye

Thanh Thuy.