"Wespe" - the German gunship

The series consists of 11 ships, named after 1860s gunboats, named by insects and animals: "Wespe" (wasp), "Viper" (viper), "Biene" (bee), "Mücke" (mosquito), "Scorpion" ( scorpion), Basilisk (Basilisk), "Chamäleon" (chameleon), "Crocodill" (crocodile), "Salamander" (salamander), "Natter" (snake) and "Hummel" (bumblebee). All of them replaced the monitors, that were to be built according to 1873 weapons development program. These ships were to operate in the North Sea and defend (under the guise of forts) the mouths of the Weser and Elbe rivers and the entrance to the Jade Bay. Therefore, when creating gunboats, efforts were made to reduce their draft as much, as possible. The project was prepared in 1875. The price of each was about 1,200,000 marks. The project was based on the English "Rendel"-type gunboat, built in 1868. However, unlike the British, the Germans preserved the ship's armor and mounted the cannon on a rotating platform. Since the gunboats were intended for navigation in coastal waters, they did not have facilities for long-term living on board. The poor living conditions became one of the reasons, why the sailors gave these ships a number of negative nicknames: floating chariots (schwimmenden lafetten), insect squadron (insektengeschwader), skidding in the mud (schlickrutscher), coastal shoal bugs (wattwanzen) - the latter arose due to the opportunity for the matter, to "place" them on shoals, exposed at low tide (watts) to provide a more stable gun platform. In June 28 1909 "Wespe" was removed from the fleet, and the following year was sold for 52 thousand marks and was converted into a river barge by new owners in Dusseldorf.

A model of the ship, as it was in 1876 can be made from the publication. A small, moderately complex, well-designed and detailed model for intermediate to advanced modelers. But, working under the supervision of a more experienced colleague, this model can be perfectly assembled by both an advanced beginner and a modeler with little experience, using the accessories, of which there are many made for this particular model. There is a solid stock of colors and textures, where needed, the details are double-side printed, and there are details, printed with metallic bronze paint. Graphic instructions are excellent, textual instructions - general provisions and a description of several more complex nodes in Ukrainian, Polish, German, English.