The sand pebbles

Are you talking about the movie with Steve McQueen? If so the Sand Pebbles was the USS San Pablo and it was "USS San Pablo (AVP-30) was a United States Navy Barnegat-class seaplane tender which was in commission as such from 1943 to 1947 and then served as a commissioned hydrographic survey ship, redesignated AGS-30, from 1948 to 1969. "  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sand_Pebbles_(film)

As for African Queen check out these

http://www.wonderlandmodels.com/products/billings-african-queen/

http://www.naturecoast.com/hobby/billing.htm#QUEEN

The ship in the movie was based on Navy gunboats that served in China.  There is a resin kit of the USS Panay available in a couple of different scales.  Not sure of the manufacturer.

Raualduke,

Les.61 referenced the Wikipedia site which in turn mentions the name of the ship in the movie - the San Pablo. However, if you look at a link on that page it will take you here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Villalobos_%28PG-42%29

which is, if I am reading all this correctly, what the ship in the movie is based on.

Mike

I'm a big fan of the movie. As I understand it, the production company actually built its own gunboat - and sold it to a local company after filming was finished. (I don't remember what sort of company; maybe mining or dredging.)

The Wikipedia article says that the Villalobos  was "used as a model" for the San Pablo. But the Villalobos was "stricken" in 1928. To my eye she doesn't look much like the vessel in the movie, whose bridge structure was taller and farther forward.

We've discussed this subject before. As I recall, the consensus was that the closest things to a San Pablo model are a couple of resin kits representing the Panay - which certainly is worth a model herself.

If you like the movie, you owe it to yourself to read the book. It's a big, fat one, but a real page turner. Somebody or other once observed that a great work of art can be appreciated on several levels. That certainly applies to The Sand Pebbles.

There's also a fine anthology of short stories by the same author, Richard McKenna It's called The Lefthanded Monkey Wrench and Other Stories. (Don't know what a lefthanded monkey wrench is? Mr. McKenna will tell you.) Also very much worth reading.

A couple of years ago I invited the students in our department's history honor society over to the house to watch "The Sand Pebbles" on DVD. Only one or two of them knew - vaguely - who Steve McQueen was. I feel old....

Trivia: Mako, the actor who played Po-Han in "The Sand Pebbles," played Admiral Nagumo in "Pearl Harbor."

Gentlemen, I thank all of you for replies. I  gotta lot of work to do .jtilly,cool piece of trivia about mako

Thank you for that. I feel old old all the time,

Actually the Wikipedia article to which Les.61 kindly linked us really does explain the background of the boat in the movie. I confess I didn't read it tills minute ago. Dumb on my part.

It's interesting that, though the article has a section on "historical accuracy," the writer didn't find anything historically wrong with it. Neither did I - and I don't say that about many movies. When I read the novel I was taking a course on modern Chinese history, and the book meshed closely with the course textbook and the professor's lectures. Good movie, good history.

Well. Hmmm.

Since the USS San Pablo never existed, at least in this realm (ie there may have been a T2 based AO out there at some point named that- although I can't find her in Augie's list), accuracy to the "original" is a non issue.

As for the ship in the movie, there's abundant info including whats been noted here. The only way to build that would be from scratch. Not very hard, but it would seem to me kind of pointless.

The Panay really would not be at all similar to the ship in the story. There was an original Panay built for Spain at Cavite in the Philippines, purchased by the United States in 1899, but never in service in China.

Among her commanders were Midshipman Nimitz in 1907. obviously she was a low rung on the advancement ladder.

The Panay sunk in 1937 was not launched until 1927, long after the story here, and was built for the USN. In every way there can't be much she had in common with the ship three decades earlier in the story.

Our San Pablo was one of many ships captured after the Spanish- American war. I don't think she had much to do with the Villalobos which was 50% longer and twice as heavily armed. A very good article about those ships is here:

http://www.cityofart.net/bship/spanish_gunboats.html

No, the Pebbles was a sad little boat although with good looking hull lines, one 3 pounder and a bunch of Lewis guns.

It's yet another rich piece of naval history; the Spanish fleet in the late 19th Century. Under served as models.

I like that movie as well, but for different reasons. In an earlier time, I was a collector and enthusiast of the weapons of the U.S, Army circa 1900. The Springfield rifle, the Browning automatic rifle and the Colt ACP are all well represented in the movie. My great grandfather George Morrison, West Point 1903, served in the Philippines 1905-1913. Then Scofield Barracks, and before the Philippines Fort Apache in the Arizona Territory where my grandfather GM Jr. was born.  GM spent the last twenty years of his life in the VA, and died of "infirmities from service". I always figured TB, or he fell off a horse.

It would appear that the book was  written about the exploits of the USS Villalobos - a Spanish ship captured during the Spanish American war. The movie used the name USS San Pablo and built a prop ship. It also would appear that the prop ship closely matches the USS Panay although she has a single tall smoke stack where the Panay had two shorter ones.  

I will pipe in now .

   There is , That I know a set of plans for the Panay  .Now , I've been told the plans have an addendum sheet describing the " San Pablo " in the movie and the changes necessary . This plan set is for an R.C. model of some five foot in length though .

The Floating Drydock offers a set of plans for the Panay in 1/48 scale for $35.00.  Scroll down this page:  http://www.floatingdrydock.com/TFW2.htm .

I'm familiar with Mr. Walkowiak's work.  I'm sure this set would be more than enough to build a fine model. 

And here's a link to two resin Panay kits, courtesy Freetime Hobbies:  http://www.freetimehobbies.com/search.php?search_query=Panay&x=0&y=0

The Panay certainly has an interesting enough history to make her worth a model. 

Again,I thank all of you gentlemen for taking  the time to reply

Jtilley,great suggestion, I believe I will read the book

I goofed! The author is Richard McKENNA.

Sorry. Another Halfzeimer's attack.

"The Sand Pebbles" is a great novel and a great movie as well.  Both are worth owning, reading, and watching.  Although the gunboat "U.S.S. San Pablo" and the story of her men and their lives in the China of 1926 are fictional, it's a historically-based fiction, based on author Richard McKenna's service on China gunboats in the 1930's.