Steam River Launch

Von Tiddenheim takes a little trip on a steam river launch ...

'Multi-ship'completed - optional configurations

Finished off the steering house etc and decided on a colour scheme for the ships and deck options. A black hull, faded brown deck and the rest grey.

Passenger ship or private yacht ....

 a small cargo vessel

 gunboat ...

Ship - multiple deck options - WIP

I've been working on the hull and kit parts shown in a previous post , the hull has been given a deck and initial superstructure with space in the deck for alternate sections to swap fore and aft.

sections made so far: fore gun; aft cabin section, cargo hatch, gun

deck sections, provide lots of variation, the private yacht or small passenger ship

 a small cargo ship

 a gunboat ...

the tricky thing will be a paint scheme that will work for all variants. I will finish the superstructure and cabin section first.

Across the desert sands ....

At Sidi al Byriani,  a watch is kept on the desert from the small military outpost - Crichton Odd's survey expedition was due here two days ago..

---oXo---

The expedition had been dogged by bad luck; the first truck had broken an axle on some rocky ground and the big end had blown out on the second truck when they were a day out from Sidi al Byriani; so they gathered up their essentials and continued on foot .... their first stop would be a small oasis ..

They were glad to come in sight of the the Oasis .....

with the oasis secured, men took it in turns to refill their water bottles and have a rest...

 after a short while they left the oasis and headed towards some nearby ruins ....

 as they approached the nearby ruins, they could see a couple of men with a small lorry there, perhaps they could get some help ?

but NO ! they were treasure hunters, up they popped from the ruins guns blazing ....

but soon they found out that they were outmatched ..

and jumped into their van and drove off into the desert .......

while the party had a rest Crichton Odd got his bearings from atop of the remains of a small temple ...

off they went again and neared a small rock field...

the party picked their way through the rocks ....

out of nowhere a small pride of desert lions appeared ....

the nearby men fired at them, killing one but enraging the others who went on the rampage mauling anyone they could reach ....

finally the lions rampage was over, with two of them dead and the other one skulking away....

 the remnants of the little column reformed on the other side of the rock field and trudged across the desert without further incident reaching Sidi al Byriani

von Tiddenheim desert expedition ends ....

Von Tiddenheim as been on an expedition in North Africa, not much of interest has been found. After 2 weeks they decide to return home....

Von Tiddenheim and his niece have their photo taken for the expedition album...

 the expedition finishes packing and loading up ....

Von Tiddenheim takes one last look out over the desert before they leave ...

Useful civilian figures ...

Firstly Lledo die cast cars, some of their 'Days Gone' items were made with sets of 3 plastic figures, these are about 28mm in size, a couple with a 28mm 'reference' figure

Also Waddingtons made Cleudo with some figures for game pieces, some in plastic and some in metal. I picked up a set of metal ones off Ebay; they are rather nice, about 28mm in size

von Tiddenheims private yacht ? (work in progress)

Picked up a nice kit for £2 at a Car Boot sale, its a 1/150 scale kit of a yacht

 I picked out all the bits that were usable (size-wise)..

stage one of the build to make von Tiddenheims private yacht, was to cut the hull pieces to 'water line'; then 'cut and shut' the deck and hull sides by removing the centre 4 inches; then stick the modified bits together. The base of the hull was sanded down to get it smooth.

if possible I may have some alternative arrangements for the hull top so it could be the yacht, a small gun-boat or ...