Nile Gunboat Melik

There is a society devoted to recovering Melik from the Sudan but it seems to have given up. But their website has good photos.  There is a paper model available at 1/160 but in my view it is unbuildable.  So I am now building a roughly 1/48 scale R/C version 36" long scaling up from the 1/160 paper model.  I've started with a flat plank as the bottom and am adding block ends and thin ply sides.  I've simply scaled up the sides from the waterline version and added 35mm to make sure it floats.  But I imagine the crew will be getting a wet ride and in any wind it will go sideways.  Under the flat bottom I will fit two long thin shallow plywood keels to simulate the guide blades and to keep the prop and rudders off the ground.

But where can I get 1/48 scale figures to crew it - preferably chaps in topis? Can't see anything on the internet.

Figures for boats that are not on general scales common to our hobby are hard to come by, many of us do t even bother with a figure for that reason.

That said your in luck you asked....

https://www.wonderlandmodels.com/models/military-figures/tamiya-figures/148-figures/

My advice is to get figures u can cut and mesh together then paint to your liking which is generally the only way to go.

Did you think of going for 1/32nd instead nd accepting that you would have a model 1/3rd larger?   There are quite a few 1/32nd figures that cover that era available.

I got 28mm figures from Hinds so now have officers, soldiers, a trumpeter  - and three bagage camels on the afterdeck.