General Discussion > General Discussion
Gunboat melik
richardabeattie:
This was a very strange looking gunboat used on the Nile in the advance to Omdurman. The ship still exists in the Sudan and the Melik society in the UK has spent years trying to rescue it. Mr Google knows all about it and Paper Shipwright does it at 1/250 and 1/160 scale but only as a waterline model. Surely a natural (though perhaps a bit top heavy) for Deans Marine? Has anybody ever built an RC version?
TailUK:
There doesn't seem to be a lot about Melik beyond the Society to preserve her. There's very little about her hull form. She was described as a "twin screw, Guide blade Hull." I think the guide blade refers to side board similar to those fitted to Thames barges.
The hull itself was probably a shallow draft flat bottom design with either tunnels or a sharply cut away stern form to provide protection for the screws.
Her Specifications:
Length: 145ft
Draft: 2ft
Beam: 24ft ? 6ins
Displacement: 134 tons
Speed: 12 knots
Ordered in 1896 from John I Thornycroft at Chiswick, she was delivered a year later.
richardabeattie:
Agreed that Deans would need to guestimate the under water form but what a model it would make! It looks like a floating double decker bus with a gun on the front and would certainly make the Bismark think twice. The only difficulty I can see is the top weight and the side windage.
TailUK:
The stability shouldn't be a problem given how broad the boat is (think scaffolding plank) Weight is a different matter the shallow draft means that the running gear and superstructure would need to be pretty light. You could of course double the draft, making the hull deeper than the prototype. I've seen this done on paddle steamers to increase deplacement.
richardabeattie:
No the guide blade does not mean a side mounted lee board as on a Thames barge - it seems to refer to the fact that the props were in tunnels under the hull to protect them in shallow water. I've now got the larger 1/160 kit from Paper Shipwright and although it's beautifully printed it looks pretty unbuildable to me. I'd need to make a wooden structure to support the very thin paper. But as a 1/96 scale model from you know who it would not go unnoticed! Maybe I can photo enlarge it.
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