"What scale ships for Thunderchild vignette?" Topic
16 Posts
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SquireBev | 04 Aug 2016 2:05 p.m. PST |
As a birthday present for my other half, I'm wanting to make a little diorama of Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds album cover, with the Thunderchild facing off against a Martian Fighting Machine. I've found a suitable tripod from Pendraken, standing 60mm high, so I'm wondering what scale of battleship I ought to be looking for. Just long long is an average 1:2400 scale battleship, and ditto a 1:6000 one? |
Yellow Admiral | 04 Aug 2016 2:18 p.m. PST |
The biggest pre-dreadnought battleships in 1/2400 are about 2", and 3/4" in 1/6000 scale. Thunderchild should be an older ironclad on guardship duty, which would be smaller. I recommend one of the older turret ships from Great Endeavors. At 1/1000 scale, these will be about 2.5-4.5" long (1mm = 1m), depending which one you get. If you want a big model (50'/inch, about 6-8" long), get one of the older-style 1/600 scale ironclads from Old Glory, like HMS Hood or HMS Devastation:
The Thunderchild was loosely based on the small torpedo ram Polyphemus, but I don't know of any models of her. I think thematically an older ironclad with round turrets would work perfectly, and the sister ship of Devastation was Thunderer. The Old Glory Thunderer should be about 6" long, the Great Endeavors Thunderer just under 4" long. - Ix |
Yellow Admiral | 04 Aug 2016 2:52 p.m. PST |
If you want the ship to look like that album cover, shop around WTJ. The HMS Edgar looks pretty close, and in 1/1500 scale it would be just over 3" long.
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Tgerritsen | 04 Aug 2016 4:31 p.m. PST |
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abelp01 | 04 Aug 2016 5:25 p.m. PST |
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zoneofcontrol | 04 Aug 2016 7:11 p.m. PST |
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MacrossMartin | 05 Aug 2016 1:21 a.m. PST |
I think Yellow has just about the right ship there, if the album cover is the objective. In the actual book, Thunderchild is described as a 'Steam Ram', an altogether smaller vessel than a battleship or cruiser. The RN's line of battle was standing farther out to sea, unable to come closer inshore. A pity, really, because Fighting Machines versus a 1900-era line of battle? THAT would be one amazing naval game!! I think the ship on the cover is a bit late for the 'historical' setting of War of the Worlds, but that does not reduce the impact of the image. Loved the album and the illustrations as a child. |
Mollinary | 05 Aug 2016 3:14 a.m. PST |
If the album cover is the objective, then I think you are looking for a model of a Canopus class British pre-dreadnought. The cruiser Edgar is too light, and has only single main gun mounts. Mollinary |
ScottWashburn | 05 Aug 2016 3:36 a.m. PST |
Please post some pictures here when you finish your model! Oh, and I just finished up Book 2 in my Great Martian War series where the navy seriously kicks Martian butt! :) |
Mike Target | 05 Aug 2016 8:07 a.m. PST |
"A pity, really, because Fighting Machines versus a 1900-era line of battle? THAT would be one amazing naval game!!" There was a chap at Britcon (and I've seen him running other games at various northern shows, forget his name, but he did let me have a copy of his rules!) many moons ago who ran just such a game, called Avenge the Thunderchild! It was brilliant. And may I say that the stalwart chaps of the Senior Service gave Johnny Moonman the thrashing he richly deserved! |
SquireBev | 05 Aug 2016 8:50 a.m. PST |
Thanks chaps, I didn't expect such a speedy response! I like the look of the Edgar from WTJ – is there a UK supplier? The Thingverse model also looks very promising, assuming I can get access to a 3D printer. |
zoneofcontrol | 05 Aug 2016 9:05 a.m. PST |
Sharing this in case you haven't seen it before: link |
By John 54 | 05 Aug 2016 12:07 p.m. PST |
I remember as a very young child, reading about Thunderchild steaming up the Blackwater the populace watching mankinds last chance slip by, and then the short, violent action, Thunderchilds sacrifice allowing the refugee ship to escape. and crying my eyes out! What a powerful scene that would be, when someone makes a proper version of War of the Worlds! John |
By John 54 | 05 Aug 2016 12:14 p.m. PST |
from Wiki…….. 'In the novel Wells gives only a rough description of the ship, describing her thus: "About a couple of miles out lay an ironclad, very low in the water, almost, to my brother's perception, like a water-logged ship. This was the ram Thunder Child." A few paragraphs later, it is said that "It was the torpedo ram, Thunder Child, steaming headlong, coming to the rescue of the threatened shipping". In Jeff Wayne's musical adaptation, the ship is described as an ironclad but not specifically a ram or a torpedo ram; the album cover art illustration of Thunder Child is of a pre-dreadnought battleship such as the Canopus-class in combat with a Martian tripod. The ship is also depicted in art in the Classics Illustrated comic book adaptation of the novel, also appearing as a typical pre-dreadnought battleship of the era. The real torpedo ram Polyphemus was fast, heavily armoured for her size, and capable of operating in shallow coastal waters; her hull was low in the water with a raft-like superstructure mounting six 1-inch Nordenfelt guns, again very much unlike a pre-dreadnought battleship.' John |
mashrewba | 07 Aug 2016 12:54 p.m. PST |
"It was brilliant. And may I say that the stalwart chaps of the Senior Service gave Johnny Moonman the thrashing he richly deserved!" lol |
By John 54 | 07 Aug 2016 3:03 p.m. PST |
Hahahaha, I love 'Johnny Moonman' John |
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