Gunboat Ambrakia at 1:36

[tonyh]

Hello All,

Ambrakia was one of a pair of gunboats, built in 1881 at the Thames Iron Works, for the Greek government. Originally named Spetse sehe was renamed when the Greeks decided to re-use her original name for something bigger!
I was looking to build something for steam power and so something about 4ft long with a displacement of about 20lbs (The steam plant is about 10lbs).

The photo in Janes or Conway didn't show a lot apart from a big gun with a dome above BUT I managed to get a copy of a postcard from Piraeus Naval Museum which showed the (possibly) builders model and I was sold. Further photos from Sig. Aldo Fraccaroli, a rough drawing from Brasseys and some very dubious drawings from Romania followed and you see what I think is an attractive vessel.

As noted above, she's 1:36, weighs just short of 20lbs and is powered with a John Hemmens Richmond twin engine and boiler. The hull splits on the waterline and the only major problem was the link to the rudder which had to be split with a 'T' bar arrangement for control.

TonyH

[moomoon]

Always reassuring to see that passion can overcome small issues such as "I got no plans".

[Dave Wooley]

Hello Tonyh Excellent build and unusual model subject .

Dave Wooley

[tonyh]

Thanks for your comments gentlemen,

Just to confirm a couple of details. Hull is plank on frame with innner/outer fibreglass skin and external plates in litho plate. The 'dome' is fibreglass on a male mould with thin lengths of masking tape on the plate lines, 3 or 4 coats of spray filler were then applied which, when you remove the tape, leaves the plate lines. The gun has a servo to give recoil as and when a suitable 'bang and smoke' system emerges!
Stern brightworks are made up from right hand and left hand thread dolphins (or cod!), carved in wood and pressed into plasticene for casting in soft resin. They were laid up on a template and soft solder wire was used for the curly bits. A latex mould was then made for the whole lot and then the whole lot, including the name panel, cast as one and formed round the ster while the slow resin was soft.
Ventilators were electroformed in a jamjar using copper.
Props were made by George Sitek to match the ones on the builders model.

Tony

[JIM BAUMANN]

to Modelwarships.com

what a really cool looking boat!- I mjst confess that appart from the Averoff and the ex- Mississippi cage masted Battleship
( Killikis?) my knowledge of the Hellenic Navy is scant in the extreme.... : > (
This certainly will rectify matters

Thank you for sharing!

Jim Baumann

[Howie Baker]

Hi Tony,

Like the model As Jim B says, an unusual subject. It certainly makes a change from the drab grey.

By the way, I like the garden also. Very colourful!

Howie Baker

[tonyh]

Thanks Howie, the wife will be pleased. She does the tending, I just dig 'oles.

Tony

[Dave Wooley]

Hi Tony Were did you source the drawings from and what prompted you to build Ambrakia ? Superb model .
Dave Wooley

[tonyh]

Thanks Dave,

It was pure luck, in that I was looking for something gunboat-ish to carry a steam plant. It had to be a max of about 4ft and about 20lb displacement to carry the kit. I saw the picture in Janes and it looked to be an interesting wreck but I had a client who was ex. Hellenic navy and he wrote to Piraeus museum on my behalf. Back came the postcard of the model they had (but no drawings) and I was hooked. There was nothing at Greenwich or the Records Office but I managed to get some photos from Italy and finally tracked down some simple model plans on www.modelism.ro plus a profile from an early Brasseys.
It's certainly not 100% but I think it does it some justice.

Tony

[Dave Wooley]

Hi Tony any pictures of your model in build. Fascinating subject.
Dave Wooley

[tonyh]

Sorry Dave, no build photos.

Tony