1:250-scale Austro-Hungarian monitor Leitha

[mdesaxe]

 

As you will observe, my wife prevailed, so I finished another almost-complete project before moving forward with Uragan!

 

 

This is my just completed model of the Imperial and Royal Navy’s Danube River monitor Leitha. Leitha was one of a pair of river monitors (the other was Maros) commissioned in 1872. After almost fifty years of front-line service conducting operations in most of Austria’s wars in the period (and participating in an attempted revolution), Leitha was ‘sold commercial’ (I think this is the correct English expression) and became an elevator gravel barge for the next seventy-five years. In 1992 a group of enthusiasts purchased the barge and began a five-year process of restoring the vessel into the earlier state as a monitor, mostly using volunteers as a labour force. Leitha now is a floating museum ship in Hungary.

 

My model was built from a 1:250-scale paper kit published by JSC of Poland. JSC has a very individual approach to the structural design of its publications. In this case, the entire hull is built around a box girder structure from bow to stern and the final shape created by adding skins over formers attached to the box. It took me quite a long time spent studying the diagrams and the parts themselves before I felt comfortable to progress to the construction itself.

 

This JSC kit is not as well detailed as the publications of some other companies. For example, some details are indicated only two-dimensionally by printing them onto the deck. Fortunately, I had two excellent references for this vessel: Friedrich Prasky’s Donaumonitoren Österreich-Ungarns von 1872 bis zur Gegenwart (Neuerwissenschlaftlicher Verlag: Vienna, 2004) and Georg Pawlik, Heinz Christ & Herbert Winkler’s Die K.u.K. Donauflotille 1870-1918 (H. Weishaupt Verlag: Graz, 1989). Be forewarned; these both are written in Austrian German and use the Imperial and Royal Navy’s technical terminology, which can be quite different from German German (the Imperial and Royal Navy’s immediate ancestor was the fleet of La Serenissima--the Republic of Venice—and this strongly influenced its terminology). Nevertheless, the information is these two works is priceless when building models of these intriguing warships.

 

 

 

 

 

The outcome was that I added quite an amount of extra detail to my model of Leitha. I added laser-cut paper ladders and railings and substituted model railway chain for the anchor cables. I scratch built bollards from rolled paper tubes capped with punched paper discs. I added scratch-built masts, flag staffs, bitts, steam pipes, davits, anchor davits, mooring posts, a siren, and a galley chimney from brass rod. The two pumps were scratch built from brass tube and rod soldered together. The hawse pipes and cable fairleads are from copper tube. JSC produces a set of laser-cut card details for this kit but I used only part of it: the steering wheel, the anchors, the landing brows, and the interior details and rudder for the boats. Rigging and the tackles on the davits are from chemically blackened fine copper wire.

 

 

I made the ‘Danube River’ and the plinth in the same way as for my model of the German monitor Mosel.

 

 

Similarly, the sailors are modified suitable Preiser Z-scale figures. The gig, in this instance, was modified from JSC’s provided parts with the crew’s oars from brass wire and paper. My wife and I used to row as crew of racing pilot gigs, so this element certainly brought back memories!

 

 

Building this model was definitely most enjoyable and a great opportunity to learn (I think I worked out a much better construction sequence than with Mosel this time!) but I know it still has its faults--I probably should replace or scratch build the jollboot. Thank you for taking a look. I hope you too like it .

 

Maurice

 

[Norseman 3:16]

That is a very lovely scene, beautiful simplicity.  Well done.

[MilneBay]

That's another splendid job.

[desert falcon]

Excellent result 👍 

[Courageous]

Excellent job. Really like how you do your sea bases.

 

Stuart

[socjo1]

Very original subject, lot of research, interesting and detailed description, and additional modeling-work. I like it!

Edited October 7, 2020 by socjo1

[Reini78]

I´m not a ship guy but as an Austrian it´s nice to see a subject from our imperial past been built. Besides that I live near the river Leitha. 😀

You did a great job, especiall with this kind of kit. The water looks very convincing.