HMS THUNDER CHILD

[crudebuteffective]

Following on from my Day of The Triffids build I thought I would build HMS Thunder child from the first "proper" novel I ever read (circa 1972) HG Wells War Of The Worlds

When HG Wells wrote War of the Worlds he included the gallant action of HMS Thunder child sacrificing itself to cover the escape of the ships from the Blackwater estuary in Essex.

Wells gives only a rough description of the ship, describing her at various times as "an ironclad, very low in the water, almost.............. Like a water-logged ship" He goes on to write; "It was the torpedo ram, Thunder Child" and this "charging leviathan" "with twin funnels"
After the felling of the first martian fighting machine he adds "the guns of the Thunderchild sounded through the reek going off one after another the one shot ricocheting close to a steamer"

Many people pick up on the "torpedo ram" statement and interpret Thunder Child as HMS Polyphemus but this had no big guns, only had a single funnel and was certainly no leviathan at 2600 tons
I myself choose to interpret the Thunderchild as a ram equipped 1880s turret battle ship similar to HMS inflexible or HMS colossus, looking at the fact that HG mentions its guns and the fact that in the late Victorian era older "second rate" battleships were used as guard ships at ports and at least one survived into the early 20th century.

WHIFFIPEDIA
HMS Thunderchild (1881)...........name ship of the class. When it was launched in the 1880s the royal navy was struggling to answer the question of ship design bought on by almost constant changes in guns and armour started in 1860 with HMS warrior and several classes of ship were built with the turrets in various configurations amidships
The ship had a higher length to beam ratio than all the other ships of this configuration ( the ajax class were notorious for their poor response to the helm being only 4.5 times longer than they were wide Thunder child = 5.1:1
Thunderchild was the name ship of the class the other being HMS Ivanhoe only two ships were built when the admiralty had second thoughts about the turret layout which prevented both turrets from firing a joint broadside and despite the ships good speed and handling. 

An eye witness account of the ships actions at the battle can be found by reading the recollections of the brother of Historian HG wells

So..... Her Majesties Ship Thunder Child the Blackwater estuary late evening 20th august 1900












The kit is broncos Ting Yuen Chinese battleship in 1/350 with extensive mods to make her more Inflexible, Colossus, Ajax like with more RN features

coming together

Modifications to make bridge, turret mounts have been cut out and lowered closer to deck

New rear 4.7 inch gun mount

The martians eye view


Builder: Portsmouth Dockyard
Laid down: June 1880 / Launched: March 1883 / Commissioned: October 1886
Fate: sunk at the battle of blackwater
General characteristics
Class & type: Thunder Child class battleship
Displacement: 7855 tons / Length: 310 ft / Beam: 60 ft / Draught: 19 ft 8 in
Propulsion: 2 shaft Maudslay engine 7,488hp / Speed: 17.5 knots
Complement: 396
Armament:
4 × BL 12-inch guns
2 × BL 6-inch guns
1 × BL 4.7-inch QF gun
2 x BL 3 inch gun
8 x .45 inch Gatlin guns

[Steel Penguin]

   lovely looking,  not what I have in my minds eye for her ( but im heavily influenced by the Jeff Wayne Album paintings).  But I can easily see her racing to defend the fleeing steamer, carrying Carrie to Europe.
" there were ships of shapes and sizes, scattered out across the bay"

[buzzbomb]

Come on Thunderchild !

Great work and a terrific base to start from as well
Really nice work

[pyro-manic]

Oh, nicely done.

I pictured Thunderchild as an armoured cruiser (faster than the lumbering battleships, but still with a decent amount of firepower), but I really like your interpretation.

[Captain Canada]

Wow.....she's a beauty alright ! Great work. Love the gun layout, the bow and the colours. Pretty good humour too 

I really should get myself a copy of that book....

[rickshaw]

Yes, very nice.  Quite close to how I'd envisaged Thunder Child, except in my mind she had the raked backwards bow of so many of the ships of that period.  You've made it vertical, which works as well.   The two twin main turrets look so 1880s.   

[Father Ennis]

Execellent job !!!  I was likewise thinking along different lines,myself. I was impressed a few years ago by one that appeared on the cover of Fine Scale Modeler (back when it was great). It was made from the old Revell/Monogram kit of the U.S.S.Olympia. it was done diarama style with a Martian war machine in the water.  Your use of the Chinese ship was brilliant !!!         

[royabulgaf]

Awesome.  As you haven't rigged it yet, perhaps the signal flag code for "England expects every man will do his duty"?

[crudebuteffective]

Awesome.  As you haven't rigged it yet, perhaps the signal flag code for "England expects every man will do his duty"?

yes rigging, white ensign and anchor chains still to add

in the book it says "the ironclad seaward fired a small gun and hoisted a string of flags" and I had been pondering what to put

[crudebuteffective]

  lovely looking,  not what I have in my minds eye for her ( but im heavily influenced by the Jeff Wayne Album paintings).  But I can easily see her racing to defend the fleeing steamer, carrying Carrie to Europe.
" there were ships of shapes and sizes, scattered out across the bay"

yes the artwork shows a Canopus style ship, but I liked the "grand old lady going down fighting idea"

have the album and have seen the live stage show (awesome)

[Weaver]

Nice one! 

I too have the Jeff Wayne version's artwork in my head, but really the description is suitably vague, and symbolically, any large warship of that period would suffice. Battleships were the ultimate weapons of their day, and the loss of the Thunderchild was clinching proof that nothing mankind had could stand against the Martians. This is why the 1950s versions had them gliding away unscathed from nuclear weapon attacks.

[NARSES2]

That is really, really good 

I've always had a fascination for these warships of the 1880's/1890's 

[Steel Penguin]

ill add an awesome  to the stage show,  saw the 1st modern one and again when they retoured ( last year??)
but can give nothing but praise to your version of her.

[rickshaw]

Nice one! 

I too have the Jeff Wayne version's artwork in my head, but really the description is suitably vague, and symbolically, any large warship of that period would suffice. Battleships were the ultimate weapons of their day, and the loss of the Thunderchild was clinching proof that nothing mankind had could stand against the Martians. This is why the 1950s versions had them gliding away unscathed from nuclear weapon attacks.

Wells wrote the book as a warning against the hubris of the British Empire in the Victorian age.   He rightly asked how would the English react to an invading power which had vastly superior technology doing to them, what they had done to the Africans/Asians/Americans/Australians/etc.   While the 1950s George Pal movie had some of that flavour about it, the Tom Cruise version just completely lost that message, as far as I was concerned.  I've always wanted to see the recent British version by Pendragon pictures which was made faithful to the original book but haven't seen a copy downunder.

[jcf]

Nice one! 

I too have the Jeff Wayne version's artwork in my head, but really the description is suitably vague, and symbolically, any large warship of that period would suffice. Battleships were the ultimate weapons of their day, and the loss of the Thunderchild was clinching proof that nothing mankind had could stand against the Martians. This is why the 1950s versions had them gliding away unscathed from nuclear weapon attacks.

Wells wrote the book as a warning against the hubris of the British Empire in the Victorian age.   He rightly asked how would the English react to an invading power which had vastly superior technology doing to them, what they had done to the Africans/Asians/Americans/Australians/etc.   While the 1950s George Pal movie had some of that flavour about it, the Tom Cruise version just completely lost that message, as far as I was concerned.  I've always wanted to see the recent British version by Pendragon pictures which was made faithful to the original book but haven't seen a copy downunder.

The Pendragon Pictures version aint' British, it was made by filmmakers from Washington State and
filmed here. Went straight to DVD and was universally panned.

The director Tim Hines called a do-over and released a mockumentary called The War of the Worlds The True Story, which portrays the events of the book as an historical event. It has received pretty positive reviews.
http://www.pendragonpictures.com/WOTWKEY.html