Building the Landship HMLS Dreadnought

I have been distracted by Little Wars Adelaide 2015 over the last few weeks preparing to manage a table for the day, I’ll be running an American Civil War game covering the Battle of Olustee using Longstreet rules with over 3,000 6mm figures, I think it’s time for me to add a couple of new pages to this blog covering my other periods of interest…anyway back on track here’s a run through of the construction of the HMLS Dreadnought.

My first 28mm scale Steam Powered Landship worked out so well I decided I needed a second one so they could engage in majestic dreadnought style engagements!

This Landship is about 20cm long and has a beam of 6cm (ahoy there I had to throw in a nautical term!) similar to the first one but is more ship like as it’s based on period pictures of 1870s battleships. The change from sloped stem and stern (ahoy again!) plates allows me a bigger deck space to 'play with'!

The first step was to turn seven bits of flat styrene into a boat shaped hull, the sides and bulkheads (ahoy!) are 1mm styrene and the curved plates are 0.5mm styrene. I glued the 4 outer skin parts together with a 5mm overlap on each joint creating a long strip and then  when these joints had dried I curved the whole strip around and glued it together while securing it in the correct shape with weights, it was easy than I thought it would be:

Then I added some deck and hull embellishments, the main turret holders and splash guards:

The main turrets were cut from 40mm PVC pipes and capped with 1mm styrene:

Wheel ‘units’ were then built for the Lego wagon wheels, you can see them here with the black axle stubs located on them:

The next step was to add rivets to the hull and I used my good old sewing pin head technique, it takes longer to do than the other methods I have seen do but gives an excellent uniform look. Each hole is drilled then the trimmed sewing pins are super glued in place (from the back where possible so there’s no glue residue on visible parts):

I included a 28mm Askari Naval infantryman here for comparison...

Secondary gun turrets where made from 25mm PVC pipes and they pivot on 20mm PVC pipe pieces. A lower superstructure to hold them in place and carry the conning tower was built from 1mm styrene. At this point details like the hatch, rear flagpole support, coal bunker, front tow point and lights were added:

The cannons for the front secondary turrets are Perry ACW gun barrels and the MGs for the rear ones were made from plastic tubing, wire and sewing pins:

The last major part of construction was the conning tower with mast; this was made from 1mm styrene, PVC pipe, washers and sewing pins. The mast parts are made from a meat skewer. The funnel/smokestack was made at this point too:

The funnel/smokestack was fashioned from a Heineken 5 Litre mini keg pouring spout, much fun ensued emptying the keg to make this part available!

Here’s the turrets, superstructure, conning tower and funnel resting on the hull…

The Landship was undercoated with cheapie spray can primer then Humbrol Black Matt 33 and Grey Matt 27 were used to paint it. For the main armament I used the same cast 32 lbr barrels as were on the first Landship and these were painted brass as were the Perry cannon barrels, the home made MGs got a coat of Humbrol Gun Metal 53 and lastly the rivets on the wagon wheels were done in brass:

I really like the way this ‘model’ turned out and I’m not giving anything away saying a third Landship is on the way yes those pesky ex-colonials from the Americas are trying their hand at one!

As soon as Little Wars Adelaide 2015 is done and dusted I’ll be posting up the Russians Are Coming Campaign Game 4 Set Up/Special Rules and AAR…

Campaign Game 4 - Stanley's Redoubt

This is the background of the fourth of the seven scenarios of a campaign game covering the Russian Invasion of the Colony of South Australia, The Russians are on the attack against  outnumbered but emplaced Colonial troops, little do the Russians know the South Australians have reinforcements close at hand:

A week into the invasion of South Australia Lieutenant-General Lazarev was satisfied with the progress his ‘army’ had made. Every evening since the landing had he held a council of war in which he met the fleet commander, Lieutenant Commander Rozhestvensky and the force’s diplomat, Aleksandr Jomini to discuss the day’s events and plan the next ones operations. Saturday night’s meeting centred on two salient points; the first was the failure of securing sufficient supplies and horses for the army through foraging and the second was what should be the objective of the next attack to be launched against their cunning enenmy. The long discussion on the latter topic ended in the conclusion that the securing of a deep water port i.e. Port Adelaide was a higher priority than occupying the City of Adelaide itself. Sound and conservative reasoning advised against advancing inland without a secure supply base. Seizing the port would offer a safe haven for the Russian ships and there was also the expectation that the ports warehouses would be filled with crucial foodstuffs for the army. With this direction of advance in mind strategies were formulated for the Sunday morning offensive.

In the final plan while 3 battalions of Lazarevs infantry were to advance from the Russian beachhead northward to Port Adelaide with support from the big guns of the fleet, the remaining infantry battalion with the Cossacks attached were to act as a diversion probing aggressively towards the South Australian capital hopefully pining down the defenders. Little did the Russians know their troops exertions toward the port were to be wasted as the South Australian commander Downes with the support of Governor Jervois had decided to sacrifice Port Adelaide and concentrate all their forces to defend the City of Adelaide. They considered holding the capital was crucial to maintain the morale of the populace and they believed any reinforcements forthcoming from the other colonies would not arrive in Port Adelaide with the Russian fleet prowling just off its entrance.

This meant that less than a quarter of the Russian force was about to assault the full strength of the prepared South Australian defenders!

Adelaide’s peace was broken on that fateful Sunday morning as the Russian’s fleet’s big guns bombarded Port Adelaide and hundreds of Russians advanced under the barrage’s cover.

Meanwhile as part of the diversion a half Company of the West Siberian Combined Battalion commanded by Captain Pushkin moved furtively along the route of Port Road towards Adelaide. Just before 10:00am he was alerted of a Colonial defensive position blocking their advance by an excited Cossack scout and he moved forward to reconnoiter it. He was faced by a palisade the locals had hastily erected to defend the roadway. He consulted his sergeants and decided on an immediate frontal attack! His infantry with a few Cossacks in support moved forward…

Sergeant Stanley Bruce and his guard detachment manned the palisade facing the Siberians. His men were part of the Adelaide Rifle Company and impatient for a ‘scrap’ with the invaders. He knew reserves from the Company were close at hand so was confident he could hold his position. The palisade he and his men had constructed the previous day was dubbed by the locals 'Stanley’s Redoubt', they had named it in his honour. As he watchwed the enemy pressing forward toward him Sergeant Bruce reassured himself that his men would successfully push them back but yet a feeling deep within his sub conscious wished it was a sturdy redoubt he was standing behind instead of a handful of hurriedly erected logs!

AAR and scenario forces, set up, special rules and victory conditions to come soon!

A Very British Landship - The Arms Race Begins!

The Russo-Teutonic Steam Powered Landships created a great stir amongst the intelligence networks of the world and as more information on these mechanical marvels reached the governments of the industrialised nations there was much consternation…

Thanks to the 'Affair of the Lone Banana at Great Southern Oasis' British Admiralty Intelligence found themselves in possession of a complete set of blue prints for the new Russo-Teutonic Steam Powered Landship in June 1876. Details of this incident are Top Secret and the only person with a complete knowledge of how the event unfolded on that fateful day was S.O.E. Operative Edward Bigger. Bigger made a comprehensive entry regarding the proceedings in his personal journal perhaps one day the details may see the light of day? The S.O.E. (the Stealthy Overseas Executive) was created at Queen Victoria's behest soon after the start of the Crimean War to carry out clandestine operations for the British Government outside of the British Isles.

Once the British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli was informed of the existence of the blue prints he secretly issued a directive to the Admiralty and Army, they were to draw up plans for a British Steam Powered Landship and have a fully operating prototype available for Her Imperial Majesty to view in just ninety days! The admirals and generals were worried the project could not be completed before the deadline and believe much more time was required but their senior engineers assured them with the help of American steam engine designers they could meet the deadline with ease! Royal permission was sought and granted for their allies from across the Atlantic to assist with the design.

So it came to pass that Britain's first class of Steam Powered Landships was designed and the first example was built and ready for review by the end of September 1876! What the designers had achieved in a short period was a vehicle that surpassed the European design in almost every facet; in fact it was a shining beacon of all things British!

The specifications of the machine were impressive and the use of curved rather than sloped bow and stern plates gave a much larger usable deck area. The vehicles speed was impressive due to the latest compact high pressure mini steam turbine power plant supplied by the Americans. It was born on eight rubber clad cast iron wheels using the same technology that the Europeans had employed. The armament was impressive boasting four 32 lb main guns in twin turrets with a secondary battery consisting of two quick firing 6 lb cannons and two of the newly developed rapid fire machine guns in armoured casemates. These secondary weapons were placed higher than on that of the Russo-Teutonic vehicles allowing the crewmen to always stand upright instead of being crouched and leaning across wheel wells for prolonged periods. The conning tower consisted of a heavily armoured circular commander’s compartment was part of a comfortably spacious wood lined cabin for the second in command and helmsman. The armour belt was comprised of the best crafted plates British industry could supply and the standard of workmanship in the construction was unparalleled!

The Queen, her entourage, the military commanders and the members of the press were impressed when the vehicle was revealed to them and tested in manoeuvres on Salisbury Plain on September 1, 1876. Her Majesty buoyant from a hearty luncheon inquired of Admiral Wallis as to the name of this smoke belching contraption before her and he told her it was the Dreadnought first of many vehicles of a class that would bear the name. She seemed amused! Sadly unbeknownst to the crowd she wished Albert with his love of technology had been here to see this triumph of British workmen! A tear welled in her right eye.

Unlike the secretive release of the Russo-Teutonic Landship the launch of its British counterpart was very public and was the centre if much fanfare! The public was supplied with the news by the fourth estate and much was made of the revolutionary machine that it would allow the British Empire to flourish for many years to come...

Below are a series of pictures taken of the day of the launch of the first British Steam Powered Landship, the HMLS Dreadnought. The first was taken from an observation balloon above Salisbury Plain and the other by a London photographic Company of some repute Boosey & Sozzled. It is of interest that amongst the soldiers and naval infantry at the scene Captain Darling can be made out in his distinctive blue tunic he was a good friend of Edward Bigger...

 Next time…Scenario Four of ‘The Russian’s are Coming’ campaign begins…

Building a Steam Powered Landship…

The philosophy behind my Steam Powered Armoured Wagons was to build a fleet of cheap 28mm scale armour for use with the All Quiet on the Martian Front rules and in the occasional VSF game so they were built to war game quality. Originally I was going to build one as a template and then make resin ones but scratch building each from styrene was cheaper and gave me much greater flexibility in the design. The Steam Powered Landship on the other hand even though made out of leftovers from the SPAWs project is what I consider built to model standard (I’ll probably enter it in the local model fair in October). It was planned to be a one off I now know it will be the first of two as I have decided to build a a rival for this one, I'm am hoping to see some dreadnought type pounding matches between them!

As with all my scratch building projects I drew up plans as this always saves me time, I am known to deviate from these but working from them makes life much easier. This vehicle took me only eight days from the cutting the first styrene panel to finishing the painting and assembling (I never count weathering in the build time) and I would say anyone could build something like this!

Here’s the plans I worked from:

This is the hull sides being assembled note I scored the panel lines where applicable before gluing that way I could lay them flat:

 Then add some braces to give it strength and maintain width along the whole length of the sides:

Next wheel units were built and the Lego wagon wheels fitted. The upper hull deck detail was constructed and a pseudo wooden deck was made. The turrets were made from 40mm PVC pipe and capped with styrene:

Here’s a 28mm figure and one of the original SPAW’s to see the size:

 

Next the conning tower was made, rivets are sewing pins,  port holes are washers and the mast is fashioned from a wooden skewer, the cross member is held in place with glue and a metal pin made from a paper clip. A coal chute was added from sytrene:

Then I made two funnels (smokestacks) from odd bits out of my spare parts box and made a milliput gun barrel which I then cast copies of. The turrets were drilled out to accommodate them and had some rivets added for ‘looks’:

Now the fun began and over a hundred sewing pin rivets were added to the hull for effect. A boarding hatch was added to one side. Four casemates were made from plastic tube and styrene sheeting, the MGs for these are a piece of plastic tube acting as the cooling jacket with a metal rod (from a coat hanger) pushed through it for a barrel and the sight is he end of a sewing pin. Some towing points and hooks for a tow chain were added to the end plates. The side lights are odd Lego bits:

Here’s all the parts ready for painting, I often paint in sections and assemble as is makes spraying easier:

Painting was with Humbrol enamels:

Here it is with some figures after a flag, some rigging and a bit of coal was added to the rear chute:

 Now off to the drawing board to get a second steam Powered Landship designed!