AquaNefiness Part 2: Ottoman sub 'Osman Pasha'

An update now, on the 'quick and dirty' scratch build of an Ottoman AquaNef from the contents of the bits box. Inspired by one of the historical VSF oddities that are so well researched by Tas over at 'Yours in a White Wine Sauce', (Where does he find them all?) this was to be a version of the Turkish early submarines built by Nordenfeldt.

My modelling skills aren't up to all that much, and apart from a few further photos I found on the net, I couldn't find out any more about these enigmatic craft, so I decided on an "in the spirit of..." type of build.

This started with a selection of likely-looking bits and bobs, which gave a workable submarine style shape, and these were then super-glued down onto some 1.6mm thick artist's card backed with magnetic sheeting.

The Aquanef should be ostensibly 1/1200th in scale to match the sizes of comparable Aeronef types available from Brigade Models, however the pieces I chose came in at a whopping 78mm overall in length, so the stand had to be quite large, namely 90mm x 40mm to give a balanced base.

(This compares well with the 60x30mm bases I have used elsewhere on this blog for 1/3000th vessels, I suppose, although how it will eventually fit with Aero/AquaNef gaming is anyone's guess!)

To add some definition, I went for some artistic (well, hapahazard...) smears of putty/filler, in this case Mangers Fine Surface Filler, available in the UK. This would hopefully give the impression of some wave action as the 'Terror of the Black Sea' scythed through the water.

Next, my weapon of choice in the great undercoat debate; why go with white or black when you can sit firmly on the fence with grey? - the ever reliable Panzer Grau, in this case Revell Acrylic AquaColour 36178:

Imagining the murky waters of the Bosphorus might be somewhat less than blue, I went with an undercoat of another firm favourite, Vallejo 70823, Luftwaffe Cam. Green:

This was followed up with a wash of Prussian Blue, and then a dry-brush with Swedish Blue, topped off with a few highlights of white for the whitecaps; given that this was a quick project, I was none too delicate with these applications, more impressionistic than draughtsman-like methinks!

Overall, then, not looking too bad, given that the original scrabble in the bits box had only taken a few minutes, and that this process, including drying time, was standing at the three hour mark, from fevered imaginings to wargaming piece in a few easy steps; this kind of thing would make a nice afternoon or evening project...

To top it off then, some light grey detailing, a black funnel top, and a hand painted Turkish flag to complete the ensemble:

She's probably not the most elegant looking vessel, and some further investment in time and effort might have reaped a cleaner looking product, but I'm pretty pleased with how this bit of fun turned out; I hope she captures the spirit of the originals, if not being exactly a scale model of them...

Be warned, the encouragement of the various Gentlemen readers and contributors to 'Yours in a White Wine Sauce', has got me looking at some small plastic Soy Sauce containers with an eye to cooking up some dirigible companionship for this monster, so look out for some more scruffy scratch-building to come......Tootle-oo....!