Hi,
I realize this thread is a couple years old, but since it directly relates to something I was about to post I figured it might make more sense to add my comments here, rather than start a new thread.
Awhile ago I picked up a damaged model of USS Olympia for spare parts, to replace some stuff that had been damaged in a unbuilt model I had picked up off eBay. Since this left me with the hull, superstructure and many of the fittings of a Victorian era cruiser I began to ponder some idea on what to do with them. When I saw Mr. Thompson's diorama (and another similar one on the internet) where the builders had used the Olympia model as a basis for HMS Thunder Child I figured I might try something similar, though I'm still in the very early planning stages.
One thing I noted though was that while the ship appears to be described as a "ram" in the novel the models based on
the Olympia appear to have opted for a fairly conventional "cruiser like" arrangement. Since I didn't want to just copy what Mt. Thompson (and others) have already done in their really impressive looking models/dioramas I decided to see if it might be possible to try and convert my Olympia parts into something that might more be along the lines of what a "ram" type vessel might look like.
Looking on the internet (at the CityofArt.net website) I saw a listing of a handful of ships that had been used in the Victorian era RN that some sites described as being armor clad rams, including HMS Hotspur (1870), HMS Glatton (1871), HMS Conqueror (1881), HMS Hero (1885). To me, one thing that these ships all appeared to have in common was that their main battery was kind of what might be termed as being "single ended" (with the main battery being placed in a single turret facing forward), where alot of more traditional battleships and cruisers and such either had their heavy batteries distributed fore and aft, or broken up in mountings around the hull.
Since the book "War of the Worlds" appears to be set in the late 1890s (if I am understanding correctly) I figured I might want to try and make the model I'm trying to build look probably no more modern than maybe the early to mid 1890s. as such, I figured I might try and make the model look like what I might think a follow to HMS conqueror and HMS Hero might have looked if they were laid down and built in the late 1880 to early 1890s.
With respect to this, another thing that kind of stood out about the earlier rams were their use of heavy kind of "old style" turrets and a low freeboard forward, while with the launch of ships like HMS Royal Sovereign in the early 1890s a heavy battery located in a barbette, or barbette with a gun-sheild, and a higher freeboard maybe might have been possible at this time (and would probably better go with the layout of the hull that I had).
Additionally, since I thinking of making the ship "single ended" I've also given some thought to increasing the size of the heavy guns on the ship. Looking through Wikipedia I saw that also in the early 1890s the RN commissioned two 2nd rate battleships of the "Centurion" class that were armed with 10 inch guns in a newer style model barbette and gun-shield configuration, with a back up of 4.7in quick firing guns. Since the hull that I had from the USS Olympia was for a fairly narrow cruiser hullform, I figured it might be too narrow for a 12inch RN style gun mounting but it looked like the 10inch mounts from HM Centurion might be a reasonable fit, and I also figured that I may be able to get away with using the 5inch gun mounts from the original kit as a reasonably close match for something similar to the 4.7inch mounts like those used on HMS Centurion.
I've kicked around several ideas for laying everything out, and since I was hoping to try and limit making too many (if any) modifications to the hull itself (since I'm not really anywhere near as good a model builder as Mr. Thompson, and many others who have posted their work on this site), I decided to leave the hull casemates as 6pdr guns, and concentrate all the 4.7in secondary guns on the deck above the weatherdeck (which I guess would be considered the 01 level on a modern ship).
As such my current thoughts are to strip the hull down to the weather deck and to put a 10inch twin mount forward (a bit aft of where the forward 8inch guns were originally mounted since the barbette diameter for RN style 10 inch guns appears to be a fair bit larger than the base of the 8inch turrets provided with the original model, based on some images/drawings that I have collected from Google searches of the web).
Aft of this I intend to have a full width "01 level" extend over the aft 2/3rd(?) of the ship, with the 4.7inch guns arranged in casemates or a central battery, 4 to 5 guns per side. I hope to include a small conning tower and RN style bridge above it (with bridge wings) atop the forward end of this 01 level, with a second conning station nearer to the stern. In between I hope to have a 'recess' down to the weatherdeck, where the ship's funnels and some air vents etc will be installed, with boat storage above that (similar to how it looks on the USS Olympia and Mr. Thompson's model). For the funnels I had though about making them side by side, since this appears appropriate for many battleships of this period, but I think, due to the rest of the layout I'm trying that I may leave them arranged fore and aft, like on the USS Olympia (though I may move them closer together).
Finally, I am also thinking about adding a "Captain/Admiral's' walk at the aft end, since in my initial rough sketches it looks like something is missing aft.
In the end, in some ways the ship will probably end up looking a bit like the Russian battleship Emperor Nikolai I (which also entered service about this time) as shown below. Hopefully, either tonight or tomorrow I'll try and post a rough sketch of what I have in mind, but I just wanted to post some initial stuff right now to see if anyone might have any thoughts or suggestions, etc.
Regards
Pat
Russian Battleship Imperor Nikolai I - from Wikipedia
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