Aeronef: Start of an Ottoman Flotilla....

So, just what have I been up to over the last month-long drought of Blogging activity?

Well, unfortunately various reasons meant that all things miniature-related took a back seat, and I have to apologise for the profound silence settling over Steelonsand Towers - that is not to say, however, that nothing was achieved, merely that I didn't really have time to document it.

Some small work has been done, although in typical fashion, rather than a stringent effort to drive forward existing projects, it has been a case of rushing off at half-cock into pastures new.

3mm ACW? 1/2400th Ironclads? 10mm French Foreign Legion? 2mm 'TNBT'? Aeronef Megacarrier? Errm - no......how about Ottoman Dirigibles?

These of course came about in the wake of the early progress on the Megacarrier, and I might rationalise them as something that would sit alongside the old 'Weird World War I' project and also provide antagonists for the 'Eagle' itself....

I've got a large amount of Aeronef in the shipyard lead pile, thanks mainly to an influx from the lead Mountain exchange with David Crook of awargamingoddysey, so I thought it was time to make a start on them - oh, alright, I was distracted by their shiny newness....

The Flotilla consists of a mixture of medium types, spanning the Muin-Zaffer Cruiser down to the Sakarya Destroyer via what I think looks good as an older type still soldiering on in the inventory, namely the Assari Shevket.

These have so far have had all the base colours blocked in, and are awaiting the final detailing, weathering and washing. I was toying with the idea of painting in a lot of differing coloured areas on the Dig envelopes to represent a patchwork of repairs - those Ottomans often operating on a shoestring at the dusk of their ancient Empire, but haven't yet done this - not sure how it will actually come across in practise at this scale - might just look messy....

For me, the Brigade Models' Dirigibles have a somewhat counter-intuitively more modern look than the traditional Aeronef types - surely they should be a simpler tech than those whizz-bang mysteriously scientific marvels - (Cavorite, Unobtanium, Liftwood hulls etc versus good 'ole Hydrogen) - so I see these as fitting more into a 1914 time frame than say 1880 onwards.

Does this mean I will eventually be producing ships for all sides in Weird WWI, as well as for an earlier more VSF setting, even as far down as some that will challenge the Nemo/Robur intervention in the War of the Pacific, then yes indeed it does - any excuse for careering about all over the shop and modelling multiple, triple layer redundant armies upon armies....!

In this vein, I've even thrown in a Pirate craft, tentatively named the 'Turk's Revenge', a captured Ottoman vessel that has been pressed into service by Sky Pirates circa 1919 or so, or that might be part of the Megacarriers' complement of ships at an earlier date:

More work to do on all this of course, but in the meantime, here's a quick list of some of the sites I've recently stumbled across and found inspirational for Aeronef-related material:

A great discussion about the science itself:

http://www.lead-adventure.de/index.php?topic=32240.0

Some Old-school imagineering on this richly resourced page:

http://www.mysterious-island.com/Aeronef/anhistory/anhistory.htm

Some super scratch-building ideas:

http://calvinscherer.blogspot.com/search/label/Aeronef

Irregular Miniature's alternatives to Aeronef:

http://sites.google.com/site/wargamesspot/home/gallery/6mm-wargaming/flying-dreadnoughts

and finally some lovely eye candy:

http://www.ssendam.org/blog/?page_id=160

See you all soon!

Aeronef Mega Carrier Update

A quick update on the progress of the Aeronef Mega carrier, tentatively named 'The Eagle' (Space 1899 I suppose.......), which has seen a quick blast of spray undercoat, and has had the beginnings of the final detailing.

So far this has included various gun turrets, some of the watch parts, and principally, as you will notice, the addition of the brass propellor booms.

The booms were a compromise, in that I felt I needed something relatively sturdy, but that would still look the part - so I made use of some 38mm size square shoulder Cup Hooks from Homebase. I had to hacksaw some of the threaded screw end off on each, as the width of the hull was restricted, and as yet the Lego plastic airscrews are merely plonked over the upright ends, but I think overall, they don't look to bad - at least they won't need painting!

The various watch part flywheels and balances are principally going to form the basis for various contraptions and lifting gear that will enable the entry and exit of lighter-than-air craft into the carrier bays, as well as for a catapult-style 'plane launcher I am planning for the bows.

Obviously, still a long way to go, and lots more detail to add, but I think given her humble beginnings, we are gradually getting there!

Aeronef Mega Carrier: the monster takes shape...

The shape of the Aeronef Mega Carrier has been decided, in a move that I know might disappoint some viewers, the final form being that of the whole shebang turned turtle.

I shied away from the perhaps more ambitious acres of flight deck meets city-scape idea, and went with something that I felt had more of a VSF ship-of the-sky vibe, as we see in the photo above, the bare model perched atop a couple of those plastic flight stands.

Rather than abandon the sky habitat idea altogether though, I decided to populate the now bare underside with various gubbins that could stand as the basis for structures and weapons mounts:

I also fitted the docking station for Aeronef to the stern, equipped with a small rare-earth magnet that will meld with those usually attached to my ships - seen here is a proto-pirate dirigible, made from an Ottoman Assari Shevket Dig Destroyer, turned on its side, with the funnels removed and the side-mounted weapon bay serving as an upper gondola:

Also glimpsed in the final shot, a growing panoply of bits and bobs that will eventually populate the model - some amazing Lego plastic propellers that I sourced as spares on EBay, and the insides of a defunct watch, as well as the ubiquitous and very useful spare weapons mounts available from Brigade Models:

There is obviously a lot of work to do, not least finding an effective way of mounting those propellers, but have no fear, all the details will appear here in due course; now all I need is a name for the thing.....Robur had his Albatross.....dare I propose the.......Eagle?

Aeronef Mega Carrier: Upside down again.....

All this talk of turning my Aeronef Mega Carrier/snap-kit monstrosity hull upside down has got me thinking....(always dangerous).....am I missing a trick here?

The original intent was of course to break away from the modern outlines of the USS Eisenhower base, and create something more charismatically VSF in appearance, when a sudden realisation hit home....

What if I retained the model as conceived, but just turned the whole d*rn thing upside down rather than just the hull part?

In spite of some detailing that would help the craft look older, could I really get away from that tell-tale flat-top look? Merely flipping the model as a whole would take me from this:

To something more like this:

Pretty nifty, no?

Yes, we've lost the acreage of flight deck, and the space available for cityscape-in-the-sky type conurbations has been restricted, but is it just me or does this version look rather better?

Less flat-top and more ship afloat amongst the clouds?

We retain the hangar entrance nooks and crannies, seen here with various 'Nefs and 'planes busting loose, and the original cut-outs for the roller wheels provided with the model allow for some deck-lift action, bringing craft up ready for launch....

I think the flat rim around the hull edge should offer some space for adding weapon mounts, some habitation and other odds and sods, just enough to break up the outline a little - the vast expanse of flat base would now also mean I can affix all sorts of downward-facing gubbins along the same lines - what do we all think - I guess I have to designate this Mad Idea mark II.....

Mad Idea No1: Further Aeronef Megacarrier Musings!

Following some really useful comments, suggestions and guidance from the kind readers of this Blog, I have had some further thoughts with regard to Mad Idea No1, as I have now decided to formally call it...

The Aeronef Mega Carrier has a sketched out realisation, with some concrete ideas as to how it might appear, and as you can see in the accompanying photos, I've roughed out how the bare bones will look by cutting out the hull and flat-top, and adding a few bits of scrap plastic here and there.

First off, the consensus of good advice is that the Carrier is more a 'City-in-the-Sky', lair of a super villian, rather than the military vessel of any particular faction - its primary character and appearance will be formed from habitation modules and as the mounting point for various fiendish technological devices, (think Tesla coils/Steam driven Mcguffin machines/Death Rays...) rather than merely being the springboard for its complement of aircraft.

Perhaps it might be the base of the Air Pirates, or even the secret lair of Robur himself....

There will be the capability for both runway and catapult launch and retrieval of aircraft, as well as a docking station at the rear for Aeronef and Dirigible types.

The colour scheme will be boilerplate and black - more ironclad than modern warship, and there will be no particular iconography on display - this to allow a shifting identity dependent on the setting - perhaps removable flags might bear the symbol of Robur the Conqueror or the Ottoman Aether Corsairs....

The first concrete decision is that although I am going to retain the full length of the flight deck, I'm going to try and break the modern look by reversing the hull, and mount it upside down, with the flat top on top - the empty hull will be capped by a plain sheet that will have various protuberances affixed to break up the outline.

This should also offer some neat looking habitation and hangar openings below deck level - it's funny, but the uptuned hull on it's own has me thinking that it would be a good stand in for the Nautilus sub as depicted in the 'League of Extraordinary Gentlemen', as can be seen here:

http://www.modelshipmaster.com/products/submarines/nautilus.htm

Of course, the varied plastic scrap currently randomly placed in the photos is but a pale shadow of the eventual cornucopia of junk that will adorn the final product....

But then this is 'just' a mad idea.....right? Never see the light of day, right?

Well, in typical fashion, it is definitely beginning to grow on me - perhaps this latest diversion will be taking over all other projects.....

Further suggestions and comments will be gratefully received!

Hopefully more updates from the SteelonSand Shipyards to come soon.

Mad Idea No 1: Aeronef Mega Carrier!

Sometimes playing around with cheap rubbish can be fun. As some eagle-eyed regular readers of this Blog may have noticed, there has been precious little on the wargaming and miniatures front this month, but the enforced lay off has enabled me mis-pend the time by indulging in some definite flights of fancy!

Thoroughly enthused by the amazing work on view over at the Arbuthnot's Aeronautical League of Gentlemen Blog, I've come up with a use for a large piece of extremely cheap plastic tat in the form of a snap-together kit of the USS Eisenhower that I discovered on EvilBay for the princely sum of £2.44.

I had originally envisioned using this for some nifty spare parts for some spaceship scratch-building, but was tempted into Mad Idea No 1, namely an Aeronef Mega Carrier along the lines of the USS Langley by the Arbuthnot boys.

http://arbuthnotsleague.blogspot.com/2011/04/salute-phots-3-deweys-pride-and-joy.html

My chunk of plastic tops out at 24cm long, and could therefore hold a whole Air Wing of Brigade Models' tiny fighters, for example, the VAN-902 Fixed Wing Fighter as we see in their rough state here:

Now the snap-kit itself is, to be blunt, a crime against scale modelling and although from a Chinese company, interestingly the parts are marked internally as both being 'made in Italy' and 'made in Israel'......!

The WHSmith mini marker pens mentioned previously on this Blog are laid out to give an idea of what this monster might look like with Dirigible booms - should it ever see the light of day.

Some suitably VSF-style deck accoutrements should spruce her up a little, although I'm undecided as to whether to actually use the lower hull, as included in the original kit:

You'll note that the kit's maker has given the Eisenhower the interesting aircraft choice of what appears to be SU-25 Frogfoots and GR1 Harriers - or are they the naval version of the YAK-38 Forger? :-)

The Conning tower pieces should at least provide some ready made nautical-looking bits and bobs....

So how might this monster scale out against actual Aeronef?

Well, up against a VAN-2003 Turkish Muin-i-Zaffer as we see above, pretty d*rn big - it's going to need a rather large flight stand of it's own, I think.....

Of course this outrageous example of becoming side tracked away from my more mainstream projects has not progressed much beyond the mad genius cackling stage, but would be a real conversation-stopper should she ever grace an gaming table. In the meantime, though, never fear, I've managed to put a little work into the Union side for the 3mm ACW project, and have been playing around with some Fleet Scale Sci-fi, all of which should begin to appear on the Blog in the coming month.

So, apologies for the recent sparsity of posts, and see you all in August!

Aeronef: An alternative source of Dirigibles

I must start off by declaring that this idea and the resulting post is a complete and utter piece of plagiarism, in that it is stolen wholesale from the recently formed Arbuthnot's Aeronautical League of Gentlemen Blog, that was launched in the wake of the truly stunning Aeronef game put on at Salute 2011.

I am sure most of you have seen the photos referenced on YIAWWS and over at TMP, with some truly mouth-watering Aeronef modelwork and construction, with hyper-detailing and superlative paint jobs by the team involved.

http://arbuthnotsleague.blogspot.com/

The Blog features some more great photos, and explains the process behind the detailing as well as describing the building of the US and Japanese fleets, including the scratch-built Carrier, the USS Langley. Personally, I can't wait to see more from these guys, but in the short term, something caught my eye that I have thought would bear repeating - namely the intriguing use of a certain brand of highlighter pens to form the dirigible component of the Carrier.

These were made from WH Smith brand Illumo markers available in the UK, and look amazing in situ, forming the core around which the stunning model was built, so it wasn't long before my hankering developed into a headlong rush down to the High Street.

I came across the packet of 5 markers for £1.99 in my local branch - at 0.40p a pop, not a bad price for some ready-made Aeronef hulls!

The markers measure in at a smidgeon shy of 60mm in length nose to tail, and are 23mm at the waist, with lovely tapered contours and a couple of conformal holes in the cap that are rather reminiscent of torpedo tube openings.

I'm obviously not too fussed as to their performance as pens, but they certainly got the old grey matter whirring when it came to their scratch building potential.

Here's an example beside one of those Revell Minikit Hindenburg models:

Then against one of Brigade's Assari Shevket Dig Destroyers from the Ottoman Air Fleet; probably its closest contender in terms of shape from amongst the commercially available models:

Next beside the larger Muin-i-Zaffer Cruiser:

So these are certainly no lightweights, and would obviously be the base for some pretty big craft, probably why the Arbuthnot boys used them for their Carrier.

With this in mind, I dug out a couple of Sci-Fi flat top pieces that I obtained amongst a job lot on a certain online auction site, and haven't yet found a use for, and ended up throwing them on top:

I think with some suitable VSF-themed additions, and of course a small complement of fighters, these would look pretty spiffing; see the other version below:

I'm not really in a position as yet to make much of these, as my Aeronef Fleets, in the most part obtained via the enormous Lead Mountain transfer that took place with David Crook of 'AWargamingOddysey' fame, are still on the back burner, but I'd thought I'd flag up the possibilities, and encourage any who might be interested in the further adventures of the Arbuthnot chaps to support their fledgling blog, I am sure there is some great stuff to come from them in the near future....

Robur's Albatross is launched!

"From out of the clouds a long dark shape gradually emerged, and sank slowly into the overcast above the glittering Pacific; Nemo's Nautilus may have suffered under the combined bombardment of the Peruvian and Chilean Fleets, but now a strange ally had come to her aid.......The Albatross had arrived!"

Well, at least she has had a few coats of randomly applied paint smudged on by yours truly, so I thought I'd give a glimpse as to how she is progressing.

The colour scheme started off with red and white over a predominant black, but this made the vessel look more like a car ferry than a fantastic aeronautical wonder-craft, so I somewhat haphazardly added some accents in green, which at the time seemed like a good idea, but in retrospect does rather give her an unintended 'Italian' feel.....!

I'm quite pleased with the Robur coat of arms / sun symbol, but overall, for me this scheme is just not firing on all cylinders - it certainly says Victorian-era sky vessel, but somehow has lost all the menace and excitement you would expect of such an enigmatic craft with the Madman Robur at the helm.

The Albatross is also yet to be based, as although I'm intending to use rare earth magnets to match with standard plastic flight stands, I'm not sure whether to use one or two, given the weight of the mini; a top-heavy nose dive on the table could easily see her various protuberances smashed.

So although Nemo and his Allies could probably do with some aerial back-up (I'm currently working on re-inforcing the conventional Peruvian and Chilean navies), it may be that this prototype is launched, but is yet to be accepted into service.

So, whilst I think about how to improve things, I'm consoling myself with this web page describing various other preposterous craft:

http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-18-most-hilarious-modes-of-transport/

Well worth a look! (Warning -some adult humour is involved....)

Robur's Albatross Update

I thought I'd post a quick update outlining the small progress on Robur's Albatross - there has been far to much 'sand' and not enough 'steel' in my commitment to the Blog recently, so I wanted to show that at least some wargaming related stuff has been taking place!

As per the excellent suggestion of El Grego after a previous post, I have uprated the drive propulsion, with the addition of two further propellor booms at the rear - these I wanted to look as scientifically unfeasible as the rest of the flight apparatus, so came out rather long and spindly.

As you can see, therefore, I added a pair of canard wings forward, in order to balance things out a little visually. She's also of course had a matt black undercoat slapped on, which has helped to homogenise her previous rather Frankenstein's Monster appearance.

So then, we have gone from this:

To this:

I think she is coming together now, although of course the next, and perhaps most important phase is the colour scheme.

I would be comfortable enough doing a Pre-Dreadnought pastiche, I suppose, but I think Robur, being similar to Nemo in disdaining the conventional world and society of Man, would have something more distinctive.

Strong, dark colours might predominate; even black would be nice and threatening I suppose, but whatever it turns out to be, it has to be unique, I think - any suggestions welcome!

I have been very lucky in stumbling across an excellent Blog page that discusses the insignia of Robur, which is described by Verne in the books, so I think some part of the scheme should reflect the flaming sun of the protagonist's coat of arms:

http://rooksmoor.blogspot.com/2008/10/steampunk-pirates-2-robur-conquerors.html

The upper bow section is looking a likely contender for displaying this.

For some more conventional and contemporary views of the Albatross as originally conceived, some excellent illustrations can be found here:

http://jv.gilead.org.il/rpaul/Robur%20le%20conquérant/

Each is 'clickable' for an enlarged view - I particularly like the last frame showing the Albatross in conflict with the retrograde lighter than air 'Go Ahead' !

Aquanef: Robur, Master of the World, and the Albatross

Looking rather forlorn and sorry for itself, we see above the VAN-1402 Peruvian Aeronef, the Huascar from Brigade Models, which I had originally purchased with a view to converting it into a sea-going craft as seen in a previous Aquanef post.

The more I looked at it however, and mourned for the barbette guns that had broken off in transit, I realised that this model deserved more than relegation to the bits box, and should take a place alongside the other protagonists in the developing Nemo versus the Militarists project.

The natural progression, of course, would be to introduce it alongside a whole range of the readily available Aeronef miniatures, but I wanted to have something rather more unique.

We started off from the point of view of Nemo and his Allies interfering in the Pacific War between Peru, Chile and Bolivia, and then moved on to the introduction of Militarist super-weapons to challenge the superiority of Nemo's vessels. What could be more natural, then, than for this enigmatic genius to call on a further Ally in the shape of Robur, 'Master of the World', and his sky ship the 'Albatross' in reply.

Jules Verne wrote Robur the Conqueror in 1886, and followed it up with a sequel in 1904, concerning the adventures of an eccentric who prowled the stratosphere in a heavier than air craft, to mysterious ends, a character who has more than a whiff of the water-based Nemo about him:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robur_the_Conqueror

I had always enjoyed these tales, and in particular Vincent Price's over-the-top portrayal of him in the 1961 movie:

http://www.1000misspenthours.com/reviews/reviewsh-m/masteroftheworld.htm

His fantastic flying vessel, the 'Albatross', has had a number of different incarnations, depending upon the illustrator, but to me I think the Aeronef Huascar would make a good starting point; I added on the tail section which comes with the model, and also some plastic bridging parts to act as bases for its means of propulsion at the rear:

Verne's vessel is characterised by a plethora of propellers, as can be seen in some of the excellent model versions showcased here:

http://steamnoir.webs.com/aircraft.htm

So after pinching out some discs of transparent plastic card and attaching them to steel stationery pins, we have the beginning of something rather special, I hope, as below:

To be frank, on close examination, there is a concern that these could look like so many parasols mounted on deck, rather than pulsing powerhouses of propulsion, but hopefully the surrounding paint job should help to bring the whole together. I also had to compromise on the number of propellers, solely for practical purposes, but hopefully it keeps to the spirit of the original:

There's obviously a lot more work to do on my version of the 'Alabatross' before it can take it's place alongside the forces of Nemo, but a decent start, anyway:

You can find a whole slew of of the illustrations from the two novels online, but one of the best collections can be seen here:

http://jv.gilead.org.il/rpaul/Robur%20le%20conquérant/

(All the pictures are 'clickable' for a larger view.)

Of course, I must also add that I'm not the first to think along these lines when approaching the depiction of Aeronef, one of the most interesting versions can be seen on the Brigade Models' site itself, in the shape of the Konigin Louisa:

http://www.brigademodels.co.uk/Frames/Galleries/VAN-10.html

Excellent work, that I can only hope to emulate as my own sky ship develops!