Old School Balkan Dirigibles

Gentlemen,

Below are a selection of the scratch built Dirigibles I made for the Balkan Air Fleets some 4 years ago - certainly the Turks pre date Brigades models. They are now residing in the collection of Steve Blease and are rumoured to be appearing in the 2nd edition of Aeronef when it is published. These wee very simple to build - consisting of spare aircraft bombs and drop tanks with various pieces of scrap plastic and sprue added to taste. The Turkish Carrier started life as the Revell Hindenburg kit with much chopping about. I really must get around to making some more of these as the basic technique I used has improved with practise and the fact that Brigade produce a load of usable bits to add to the resultant model.

The Turkish carrier Messudieh - note the wing turret type rails for launching fixed wing fliers.

A Turkish cruiser squadron on patrol, no doubt searching the Greeks or Bulgarians.

The Greek Coastal defence Dirigibles Psara, Hydra and Spetsai.

A Greek escort squadron of small destroyer sized dirigibles.

Finally the Bulgarians - the large model in the centre has some outrigger launching rails for fixed wing aircraft although sadly I never got around to adding them.

It was great fun making these and I am sure the next lot will be even better.
I hope you enjoy this piece of Aeronef history as much as I did digging them out!

Turkish Aquanef 'Osman Pasha' at Sea!

Exclusive report from our Correspondent; Istanbul, 24th of September:

Persistent rumours of a new secret weapon in the struggle for supremacy over the Eastern Nations have been borne out by the appearance of a steel monster in the waters off the Golden Horn.

This Correspondent has seen with his own eyes the strange grey shape appearing from the depths, a modern Kraaken designed by the greatest technological minds as the latest plaything of the Sublime Porte. Were it not for its modern armament of torpedos and Nordenfeldt repeating guns, this could easily be mistaken for a fantasy from the Arabian Nights, this strange leviathan that at a stroke has made obsolete the Ironclads and Dreadnoughts of the Tsar, and of the Kingdoms of Italy and Greece, and no doubt will cause concern even in the bulwarked bosom of the mighty Empress Victoria herself.

Named the Osman Pasha, this terror of the deep is now undergoing sea trials, but will soon be ready to challenge for dominion of the oceans, whether above or below the waves......

Photographic evidence follows.

This correspondance is credited to special envoy SteelonSand.
Well done that Man!

You can find more of his great work with the Osman Pasha at his blog here:
http://steelonsand.blogspot.com/2009/09/aquanefiness-part-2-ottoman-sub-osman.html

Turkish Aquanef 'Osman Pasha' launched

Steelonsand has gone to town in a rash of creativity, recreating the Turkish Aquanef I posted here the other day. The result, mostly using eye drop pipettes, is fantastic - I can't wait to see this lovely all painted up and ready for battle!

http://steelonsand.blogspot.com/2009/09/aqua-nefiness-quick-scratch-build.html

Nordenfelt class Turkish Submarine

Thorsten Nordenfelt built the Nordenfelt II (Abdülhamid) in 1886 and Nordenfelt III (Abdülmecid) in 1887, a pair of 30 metre long submarines with twin torpedo tubes, for the Ottoman Empire navy. Abdülhamid became the first submarine in history to fire a torpedo while submerged under water. Nordenfelt's efforts culminated in 1887 with the Nordenfelt IV which had twin motors and twin torpedoes. It was sold to the Russians, but proved unstable and ran aground off Jutland; when the Russians refused to pay for it, it was scrapped.

Abdülhamid and Abdülmecid were found by Germany in Istanbul in 1914. The submarines were briefly considered for use in harbour defence but it was found that their hulls were too badly corroded.

New Turkish Nef sighted!

Maltese intelligence operatives, in the pay of Mssr Betts (naturally), have detected a new threat to the Knights in their Maltese bastion. This latest terror of Johnny Turk Esq comes not from his usual Germanic allies, however, and is sourced from the self proclaimed land of Liberty.


Mssr Betts says: "Perfectly simple explanation. After the kidnapping of Mrs. Pericardis /Sheikh Rajzuli incident in North Africa which led to the US Marines landing in Tripoli, Sheikh Rajzuli , who turned out to be a hero and a Scotsman, was appointed War Minister to the Ottoman Emperor, and promptly went about using Mrs. Pericardis' (by now Mrs. Rajzuli) influence with her cousin, Josiah Woodward Rockfeller, to get a modern American Aeronef donated to the Ottoman Navy in a bid to outdo the Germans, who were in the meantime harangued by the German knights into withholding military aid for the Ottomans. All very clear, see, and I didn't even have to mention Sheikh Rajzuli's booming tartan fez industry."

Well, thats as clear as I think it will get for the next little while anyway...!

Deeper delving into the intracies of the Turkish Admiralty indicate that this new Nef is to be commissioned as the Hasan Osman, after an Ottoman Captain of an Anatolian galleass of the left wing at the Battle of Lepanto.


You certainly are very industrious lately V, I'm envious :-P

Turkish Juggernought pics revealed!

Pics this week have been published in Constantinople showing Turkish Land Ironclads and Contraptions deployed in the Arabian Theatre.

"Crazy Fez Illustrated", a rag well known for being the mouthpiece of Government propaganda, said: "See here out glorious iron war machines in action against the villanous Arab foes. With the industrial help of our German friends we will sweep the continent clean of the Rebels and defend our Glorious country against Imperialist aggression. Come, British Lion - we are ready for you!"

Modelling Notes - all models painted by Ogrefencer. In his own words "by Irregular Miniatres and comprise the WW1 A7V German tank for the Contraptions and the Sci FiLand Dreadnought for the Ironclads. Funnels are from plastic rod andhave been added to all the models; the Land Ironclads also gained a military mast from some Battlefleet Gothic spares and additional gunbattries from Brigade Models Aeronef range. They also suppied the flags. The bases are from Essex Miniatures as I am far too lazy to cut my own!"

Turks raid Island in the Med

New World newspapers report that a Turkish Aero-Fleet, supported by an Argentian Squadron, conducted saturation bombing raids last week on an obscure Mediterranean Island defended by the Piratical Captain Nemo and a mad Scientist!

This picture shows the fleets closing before the clash. No other imgery survived the encoutner (click for bigger image).



Indications are that heavy damage was sustained on the island, but that many of the Turkish vessels did not survive to see home port again. There has been no confirmation of Civilian casualties.

Read more about this strange encounter here: http://www.lshm.net/?p=317

Aero-Fleets Clash!

Reports have just been recieved of a battle between long time rivals Turkey and Russia. Unexpectedly in this instance though, the Argentinians were allied with the Russians, but failed to halt the tide of the Turkish Heavy Squadrons.


You can read more in the London Gazette (obviously) and here: http://www.lshm.net/?p=276
(No - I wasnt involved but as you can see, there are some lovely pics there well worth checking out!)