25mm Stern Wheeler for Colonial Actions

25mm Stern Wheeler
for Colonial Actions

by Richard Brooks

Several years ago I constructed a stern wheeler for a short campaign against slavers in darkest Africa. During that time I was attending Historicon with some regularity and purchased several deck mounted guns from Richard Houston. I really did not look at his whole line of guns and ship 'thingies' as I already had, I thought, what I needed. What a mistake that was. Last year, I had a dealers stand next to Richard at the Siege of Augusta 1997, business was pretty slow the second day so I went through his materials much more thoroughly and bought a few 75s for my current Franco-Prussian War project.

Then I got a copy of his catalogue and a whole new realm of campaigns and scenarios opened before me. Richard Houston has figures for colonial wars that are hard to find elsewhere, which I will talk about in later issues. What this article and another in the future will detail is the contruction of a stern wheeler and a side wheeler for our colonial games. The side wheeler will have to wait for another issue as I am trying to find a plastic model of one to convert, I have a lead on one at the local railroad hobby shop.

I made this a separate section to 105 so you could lay this flat and take measurements or make copies for cutting pieces for your own model.

Scale

The most important part of this model is determining what scale and how many troops you need to carry. For me that was simple 25mm Brits, and since I generally use TSATF the boat needed to carry at least three twenty man units. In the campaign I needed four 20 man units to be transported up river. The units included: 2 British, 1 Sudanese and 1 Naval, plus stores. I wanted to be able to also carry a Gatling or mountain gun but there wasn't enough room once the boat was completed, and if it couldn't fit on the boat it wasn't going.

As to boat scale I ran into a block. I couldn't use 1" to 10 meters the ship would only then hold four troops an look ridiculously tiny. So I chose 1" to 6', the same as the figures. I set out my troops in columns of three washer to washer. This meant that I would need a boat nearly 30 inches long to accomodate the troops and the superstructure. Well that was out, so I opted for a two decker with the upper deck realatively clear of obstacles which meant that I had more than enough room for four, if not five 20 man units plus supplies. I already had a model of a stern wheeler, unfortunately, most of the structure was closer to 20mm (HO scale) that larger 25s. The model I had, and I did look for others but found none, was a Revell/Linden???? model of the Robert E. Lee. The boat itself was of no use, unless you are using 15mm then it's almost perfect. Scale-wise.

Now came the tough part, what the heck are they supposed to look like. Research is always nice, but real men don't do research right, wrong. I could have put this together without research and come out close but I wanted a model to model from. Out came the Ospreys and other books detailing the 1898 Sudan campaign (look for the 1998 celebration of this campaign with the August issue, but I could sure use some articles, reviews whatever for it). Finding a stern wheeler wasn't too difficult and scratchbuilding it was fun.

The first thing I needed was a bow, taking that shape and transfering it to the balsa wood lower deck sheet with reasonable caution to keep it as close to true as possible was important. Nothing worse than having your bow be warped. With that transfered to the balsa, a 4" wide 1/4" thick by 36" long piece, I cut the balsa sheet in half, 18", and glued the two pieces together with carpenters yellow glue and set it aside to dry (24 hours). I then cut the upper deck from a second sheet of the same dimensions to a 15" length. While waiting for the lower deck to dry I assembled the structures from the kit. It was at this time the alarm bells went off and I realized the doors are too small, oops. Not yet having any of Houston's ship stuff (see below) I had to fix the problem. I had seen boats with a step over threshold so knew this wouldn't look too bad.

Once the structures were together I cut two pieces of balsa wood to fit under each one but the wheel house. Basically this raised each structure sufficiently so that I could have my troops standing up between the decks (there is approximately 1 3/4" between the decks.

With the structures completed and the deck dry I began arranging the pieces on the lower deck to make them fit together. At this point I realized I need the boiler so I put it together, and had to cut anothersheet of balsa to fit under the foreward deck house where the boiler is located to make the boiler look the right scale. The kit comes with two boilers but if you are building a two decker you will need the second stack for your one boiler. With the structures together and placed as realistically as possible on the lower deck I then put together the stern wheel and glued all the pieces to the lower deck adding whatever detail bits were available from the kit.

Upper Deck

With this completed and the structures all level I added the second or upper deck. This looked pretty good when I added the deck house and wheel house above it. But the stack kept it from sitting flush So I cut a square hole through the deck to accomodate the stack. Next time I'll use a round hole as it will look better. But the stack was below the roff of the deck house and looked rather strange so I took the stack from the kits second boiler and glued it to the first and bingo it looked great.

Next I needed a set of stairs or ladders to get from one deck to the next. The kit had a set of stairs so I positioned them just aft of the boiler before the deck house and cut a hole into the upper deck to recive the stairs but then they were too short so I added a landing on the lower deck and it came out just right.

Knowing the way I would probably sail the steamer I felt it very necessary to have a skiff or long boat. Well the kit comes with a small one, alright for 15 or 20 mm but not for 25s it will have to do for now. Not having any davits I just glued it to the upper deck out of the way in the stern.

With all this done I needed to have some extra touches that make it come alive. So I painted the boat up fairly touristy whites, yellow and red to make it look like a passenger steamer turned into a military ship. Then I added guide wires (black thread) to the stack at the embossed rings at the top and several inches below the top.

There are four structures to the Revell model.A 2 for emergencies boat up fairly touristy colors: white (black thread).

Other embellishments include string rather than plastic ropes, life preservers, pot belly stove and wheel in the wheel house, and gun mounts. I could have gone further and added armor plate or at least protective wood walls on the ship's side but this would interfere with troop placement. Guns mounted include two 1pdr Maxim-Nordenfelt's and a 1pdr pompom qick fire gun on the upper deck with a 9pdr field gun on a cone mount. Each gun has at least a 180 degree firing arc, while the pompom has a 270 degree arc (note their locations on the drawing).

I then completed the painting of the decks in a tanish gray with brown edges. While it is home-made and sort of looks it it is most suitable for river actions in Africa. The top deck is only attached to the lower deck by the guy wires to the stack. So that the upper deck lifts up to access the lower deck structures for placement of supplies or for officer quarters or actions on deck. Although natives have attacked the steamer they have yet to gain access to the deck.

One item not mentioned is the gang plank. It could be attached anywhere on the ship except the aft section. I did not add this permanently as I could not decide where, so I just have a piece of balsa 1/8"x1"x5" that serves as a moveable plank which is still historical.

A note about the drawing: It looks rather funny broken up into four partial pieces but the boat is 18" long plus another 3" for the wheel and would not fit on one sheet whole.

Drawing:

1) shows the aft components of the lower deck.

2) Bow portion of the upper deck.

3) Aft portion of the upper deck.

4) Bow of the lower deck.

List of Materials

1 - 1/8"x1"x5" balsa

1 - Robert E. Lee stern Wheeler kit by Revell

2 - pair of davits (Houston)

1 - naval ladder to wheel house (Houston)

1 - package of bulkhead hatches (Houston)

1 - pair of boat vents (Houston)

Guns - cone mounted or other mount, no more than five per vessel, in 25mm Houston has at least ten different smaller guns. Remember these are only river steamers not cruisers.

Crew - Houston has eight different sets of naval figures doing navy things and for artillery crews, but not with rifles which is great.

Optional Items:

cargo boxes, bales and barrels

railing

1" balsa strips for wooden 'armor' plating

sandbags for improvised 'armor'

chain

anchor

deck chairs for the officers

Stern Wheeler Plans (charts)

More on Steamboats

Using the Steamboat: Scenarios

Steamboat Visual References

Stern Wheeler Plans

Colonial Stern Wheelers Table

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