Sirius - Occident 1:100

Product detailed description

History on Wikipedia HERE

This steamer was built in 1837 for the London-Cork Company. The ship is considered the first winner of the "Blue Ribbon", although the trophy itself was announced later. It is the title for the ship that makes the fastest voyage from Europe to America. It is the first steamship with a wooden hull to use a freshwater condenser. This avoided the need for regular boiler shutdowns and cleaning at sea. Unfortunately, this also led to a substantial increase in coal consumption.

By this time the Great Western, built specifically for the transatlantic voyage, had been completed. One of the directors of the company owning Sirius suggested that Sirius should compete with Great Western in crossing the Atlantic. Overloaded with coal and carrying 45 passengers, Sirius sailed from Cork, Ireland, on March 4, 1838, and arrived in New York in 18 days, 4 hours and 22 minutes. The average speed was therefore 8.03 knots. The normal sailing time then was about 40 days! When the ship ran out of coal during the voyage, the crew burned everything wooden on the ship, including numerous cabin furnishings, spare booms and one mast. Just like the crew of the ship in Jules Verne's Around the World in 80 Days. The Great Western sailed out of Avonmouthfour a day later and overtook the Sirius the same day. Sirius was, after all, too small for these voyages. Sirius then made one more circumnavigation before returning to her London to Cork line. He continued this activity until 16 January 1847 when he was wrecked off the Irish coast near Ballycotton. 20 people lost their lives then.

The dimensions of the ship were: Tonnage 703 t, length 61 m, beam without wheels 7.6 m and with side drive wheels 14.3 m, draught 4.5 m. The ship was powered by sails on 2 masts, steam engine with one 2-acting piston of 600 hp. The crew consisted of 36 members and carried 40 passengers.

This model was originally manufactured by Heller. Later also by the Russian company Zvezda, from which its models used to be shipped to us. The model has the same hull as the Brigantine and Purqua Pa. They are now hard to find again. The model is of good quality overall, generally like all Heller kits. The hull of the model is large and bulky enough that you could build in a motor drive and RC controls for this wheeled steamer.