SMS Novara WIP #1

 

I started this project today. There are three sets of plans at my disposal: a sail plan, a top view, a side view and an internal view, all scaled down to 1/200. (Please take note that during the 1861 refit, she was lengthened to accommodate the steam engine and drive train, and the English Wikipedia article's data sheet reflects this later total length; the German page correctly lists all versions, including mine.) She is going to be a waterline model on a suitably nice sea base.

There were some contradictions about her 1857 state, in which she sailed around the globe. I found a lithograph dated 1858 that shows her with the rounded stern, while the model in the Vienna military museum and another photograph showing her ashore after and before refitting the steam engine obviously presents a more angled stern gallery. There was some vacillation because the earlier, squared set-up is actually more closed, showing only a pair of windows astern. From the evidence, especially the cover of the von Scherzer book published in 1861-2, I chose to present the more square-ish stern gallery. 

Next up, the cannon: the Vienna model shows two different types of guns on the main deck and gundeck, judged by the muzzles and carriages on the main deck. In this detail I could, again, rely on von Scherzer's account, which clearly states that before the journey some of her guns were removed, and only 30 remained, of a uniform caliber and type. 

I was too late to realize that I could have installed a false gundeck and present the ship with ports open. The gun port lids are similar to those on the USS Constitution, with two smaller doors on the top and bottom sides of the gunport, fastened in the middle, leaving a small round hole in the center. I'll solve this by having the guns retracted, and only the porthole showing, drilling a small opening into the lids. Similarly, the five pairs of extra windows are simply going to be painted on.

In the end, I built the hull from four pieces of balsa woodglued together. There is still some work to do on the stern, but the tumblehome does already begin to show. She might not be the greatest model when finished, but it's all about the learning experience.