by Germà Coenders
1/350 Spanish Torpedo Boat Orion (Wiener Modellbau Manufactur/Kitbash)
This is a model of a Spanish torpedo boat of the 1898 Spanish-Cuban-American war era. The torpedo boat Orion did not play any significant role in the war, but neither did most of the other ships of her type. These vessels mostly ended up in harbour or at most performing patrol and dispatch duties, though USS Winslow did fire her guns in anger and three Spanish boats attempted (without success) to cross the Atlantic.
Orion was built in Germany and had relatively good habitability and sea keeping qualities for her type, but as usual, her design speed was only theoretical, and poor maintenance made it decay even further. She spent the war in Spanish Continental waters. Her vital statistics were:
Up to now, few manufacturers have embarked in 1898 era Spanish ships (there exists a 1/700 Pelayo released by Jadar Ships and a 1/700 Infanta María Teresa released by WSW). Nothing is out in 1/350. Thus it is hard to find companions to the many 1/350 US ships of the era (By Iron Shipwright: Iowa, Texas, New York, Brooklyn, Katahdin, Maine, Boston, Olympia, Monterey, Puritan and Amphitrite, by YS master pieces: Oregon and Brooklyn). Recently Wiener Modellbau Manufactur has released a 1/350 Elster, an Austrian torpedo boat build in Germany as Orion, at about the same time as Orion and of nearly the same displacement and dimensions.
The differences between both ships are still noticeable. Actually only the hull, funnel and some minor parts were usable. The main changes I did were:
I did not have any detailed plans so that the whole conversion is made
on a "looks abut right" basis. The major sources I used were photographs
and drawings in:
- Coello Lillo, Juan Luis (2001): Buques de la Armada española a través
de la fotografía (1849-1900)
- Aguilera, Alfredo & Vicente Elias. (1972): Buques de Guerra Españoles
(1885-1971). 2nd Edition.
The last photo shows Orion together with a big brother of her, the destroyer Furor.
