Royal Navy Airship scratch build

Found this fabulous scratchbuild by Mr Edward Garcia on Facebook, from a post some 10 years ago. I wanted to post here for reference (such things tend to disappear and be sadly lost):

Again this is NOT my work, but that of highly talented Edward Garvcia, who writes:

"Scaled at about 1/64 this model of a Mars based British aerial gunboat is based on those mentioned in the old roll playing game Space: 1889. I extrapolated considerably on the small tree view drawings available online at the time (over ten years ago) and created a scale models that fit the story line but also reflected actual elements of Victorian naval architecture. The model measures about 32 inches (81cm) long and is crewed by about 15 hand painted 28mm crewmen. For the most part the model is made from scratch with the main exceptions being small parts such as ship’s guns, fittings and crew figures."

Again, this is not my work, and the original post here:

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18RhWK1FmB/

This is first of a few "internet rescue" posts. Having gone through a bunch of my VSF links I was sad to see so many sites have dissappeared and their contents gone. I will ensure that such posts are very clearly and appropriately credited, and only done to ensure that great material isn't lost.

SALUTE 2011 Aeronef Photos

Posted in 2026 In the spirit of Internet rescue, Jon of "Arbuthnots' Aeronautical League of Gentlemen" blog (https://arbuthnotsleague.blogspot.com/) was a valued White Wine Sauce member back in the day. Sadly his blog has gone untended for many years with his last update being in July 2011. Hope you're well out there Jon.

Jon ran the Aeronef game at SALUTE 2011 which looks absolutely amazing

He then did some followup posts in 3 parts on his blog with detailed pics of his creations. So they don't get lost to time, like so many others, here they are all together and unchanged from Jon's original posts.



Here are the first of a series of photo's generously donated by Alan Daniels and Dominic Hutton, cheers guys, of the Salute Game, i'll be adding them to the blog over the next week, but hope you enjoy!

First up the rather Flash Gordonesque Zurich Class Dig Cruiser, far too sexy for the Swiss, so here it is in the colours of the US Pathfinder squadron. For those interested in such trivia the original designer of this craft was sequested from Switzerland by the long arm of the PBI ( Pinkerton Bureau of Investigations), provided with a new false identity as a slug juggeling artist in the Hollywood Hills under the name of Mr C Chaplin!, and set to work on the next generation of US nef.

Lethally fast these ships are armed with Samuel Colt's patented Torpedo revolver device and are the eyes of the Fleet.

This the elderly but much vaunted USS Maine, Flagship of the Picket Squadron commanded by Commodore Lewis Armistead II, representing as she does post ACW Nef design she hails from a bygone age, however  with her turret mounted 13 inch Armstrong muzzle loading Naval rifles she still packs a punch. Commanded by Armistead, a true patriot of the Southern Cause, with her band playing Dixie, she was last seen firing to the last amidst the Japanes naval line, the "stars and bars" still flying proudly from her mast, her crwe crying "One last time boys, for old Bobbie Lee!" ( This model still reqires rigging)

Supporting the USS Maine are the Michigan Light Cruisers, converted with extended stacks and boilers for long distance patrol, these are the predecessors of the Pathfinder Digs above, again due to their age, they did'nt stand up to the might of the newer Japanese classes of Nef.

Aagain many thanks to the talented photography of Alan and Dominic, hope the macro lens has'nt shown up too much of the dodgy paintwork The game is very much a work in progress as are these models, most of them require rigging to be fully completed.

I would like to take this opportunity to honour a true master of the art and "Godfather" of naval gaming in Rod Langton, having admired his models and craftsmanship for many years, his Napoleonic ships are things of wonder and he was a major inspiration in this project, the aim being to "do a Langton" on the Pre Dread Nefs, so hats off to you sir and a big thanks!

Salute Photo's (2) - The Imperial Japanese Navy

Here are a few extra shots of the Japanese fleet to balance out the earlier US shots, yhis is the Mikasa Super Dreadnought, Admiral Togo's Flagship, yet to be rigged, but it represents state of the art Japanese Dreadnought design.

This shot shows the effect of rigging using thread cotton, as mentioned previously, i was really trying to emulate Rod Langton's amazing modeling when doing this and i think the effect adds to the ships.Rigging along the side is to represent torpedo nets, and again adds toi the overall feel of efficiency I wanted to convey with the Japanese models. Stripes along tail indicate class, 4= Battleship/ Dreadnought.

My own personal favourite amogst the Japanese models, the Light Cruisers, work horses of the fleet and the eyes and ears of the fleet. Searchlight just visable above the wheelhouse is a superdetailing extra from Waterline-models.com, an outstanding service supplying all sorts of bits and pieces that help to add a little extra to the models.Small boats are from the Revell QE2 kit, 20 boats at £5.00, again add as little extra something. 

Here we have a line astern shot of the Japanese Battle line as they bring the big guns to bear.....

Still more to add to this force, a couple more light Cruiser squadrons and then the Super Carriers Kaga and Akagi..

Salute Phot's (3) - Dewey's Pride and Joy!

Here she is, the USS Langley, America's first attempt at Carrier design, an escort class carrier she representrs America's first steps in evolving carrier borne support for the fleet. With a limited capacity of 1 Squadron of P24 Pursuit fighters she lacks punch. Lexington, Yorktown and Sarratoga are on the workbench, and i'm hoping to work on America's Super Carrier Enterprise over ther next few months which will give them a bomber capacity....

Anway here she is, Dewey's pride and joy, "The Flat top wagon" - USS Langley

.

Front on and looking mean....any similarity to a certain graceful lady by the name of Galactica, is as they say....purely coincidental!!!

Here she is from above, colour scheme is based on a combination of the Great White Fleet colours, and authentic  Naval Air markings for the early 20's

Detail shot showing the aircraft, here I used Dom's Decals for the roundels and I carn't recomend them highly enougth, they are superb and really make the models as well as taking a lot of the hassle out of the painting.

Again side on shot of the aircraft....

For those interested in how it all went together, the core of the carrier is the Russian Aeronef Tender from Brigade Models used for the hull and the lower work deck, this is then built up with Plasticard, as are the tail fins. One of the Brigade Models Bombers was added from their generic range to indicate a an Observer plane capacity. Langley is an Escort Carrier class, small with a relativly limited range, she carries no Bombers at this time, being restricted to a single Pursuit Fighter Squadron.

The Introduction of the later Enterprise class will provide the Great White Fleet with airborne torpedo capacity, but that's for another day......

Anway back to the build, the upper Flight deck is made up of several layers of standard and embossed plasticard from 4D Models, with brass rod added to represent torpedo netting. The airbags are W H Smith Illumo markers painted up with some 1-48th scale US Early Pacific War roundels from Hannants model supplies, available over the internet. Side gun barbettes and funnels all bits and pices from the Brigade range. A tougth one to build but well worth it, i think, hope you enjoy, comments and suggestions always welcome.

The Defence of Melbourne (CanCon 2009)

I have been meaning to get around to posting about this excellent emo game put on at CANCON 09, yet sadly haven't found the time. But now, I've found this excellent Blog by the guys themselves:

http://defence-of-melbourne.blogspot.com/

It was a great game using 25mm figs and modified TSATF rules. And as you can see, the scratchbuilt models and terrain are just stunning!

2026 EDIT: Through the magic of the Wayback Machine, I have recovered most of author Greg's original material. I offer it here unaltered and in homage, so that it will not be lost again. Note that not all pics had higher res versions captured.

CanCon 2009 - The Russians Have Arrived

https://web.archive.org/web/20190810081546/https://defence-of-melbourne.blogspot.com/2009/01/cancon-2009-russians-have-arrived.html

The frowning guns overlook the Russian Infantry as they gallantly row their boats for shore.

The main barracks at Nepean; the Fortress commander sips his tea on the verandah. He does not realise how difficult it will be to get substantial re-inforcements into the fort if the Russians break in.

Cerberus with the Naval Brigade lining her decks. Their rifle fire with the many machine guns carried by the ship caused the Russians huge casualties among the crews of their deck guns during the course of the third game.

The Vladimir Monomakh steams toward her fate. She was sunk in each of the three games played, but not before absorbing the attentions of the Victorian Fortress artillery and that of the Cerberus for almost the entire game.

Russian marines and light artillery pull for shore. They did a fair job of pinning some of the Victorian militia down during game three, eventually overwhelming them - but far, far too late in the day.

By the third iteration of the Game the Russians were getting desperate; nothing seemed to be working. They decided to put their Cossacks in boats and run them ashore in the Vladimir Monomakh. It ended poorly; one unit got ashore, advanced bravely up the cliff then failed a number of morale tests and surrendered. The other unit were all shot down in their boat by artillery and machine-gun fire.

So much for that bright ideaski!

The Victorian Navy steams into action; Albert is towing two units of Victorian Militia in boats. This is a desperate ploy to bring them into action quickly before the infantry defending the fort all succumb to the tender attentions of the Russians.

Duelling Ironclads. The Cerberus and Vladimir Monomakh close, exchanging main armament fire as they go, pom-poms and Nordenfeldts raking each others' decks.

General view of the fort from the end closest the entrance to the Bay. Russian Infantry would come swarming up these slopes... slowly.

The whole area counted as difficult terrain whicin TSaTF terms means that of the three movement dice your infantry throw, you loose the highest D6. Ouch.

The figures on the board are engineers hoping to act as speed-humps. They are effectively poor-quality infantry. They held up two Russian Cossack Units for almost the whole of the game.

Russian Sea-Cossacks surge past the Vladimir Monomakh. Figures by Askari Miniatures.

In the movie industry they call this a "Beauty Pass". *sigh*

Two 8" Hydro-Pneumatic (HP) guns to the right and a 9" RML in an open pit to the left. The trick was to keep the gunners at their guns; the crew of HP#2 fled in the first two games, while that of #1 fled in the third

Steadfast Victorian Infantry lie on their guns, waiting to "Stand To" as soon as the Russian Infantry hit the beaches. The Nordenfeldt Gunners (one gun is at the right of the picture, the other is out of shot to the left) shelter in the bomb-proofs before they rush to man their guns.

Main barracks in the foreground. This building was a bit of an impediment to re-inforcing Victorian forces and I am sure the Victorian Commander was secretly overjoyed when a stray Russian shell reduced it to splinters at the start of game three

The front of the fort as we set up. The land to the left of the building at right is impassable, forcing any troops landing at the quay to march left up the tram tracks.

Dolphins'-eye view of the Russian landing boats. The figures in the foreground are Old Glory Boxer Rebellion.

More Russians going ashore. In the first game this took a long time and the Nordenfeldts caused one of the boats quite a few casualties.

Victorian re-inforcements wait patiently to - er - reinforce. They needed to roll 1 on a d6 in turn 2, 1-2 on turn 3, 1-3 on turn 4 and so on. I consistently rolled high!

More CanCon Pictures

https://web.archive.org/web/20190810081538/https://defence-of-melbourne.blogspot.com/2009/01/more-cancon-pictures.html

Courtesy of the very kind Mr Stephen Finlay:

Here and below, Victorian militia assigned to the fort stand to as the Russians enter the Bay. Note the gunners in the distance rushing to man their Nordenfeldt.

"Here they come..! Steady lads, steady..!" cries Sgt Bourne, his own voice cracking a little in the excitement of the moment.

Rough (!) terrain.

The only way is up. Russian Infantry really had only one practicable way to attack - one unit at a time up the tram line.

Those cliffs were the only other means buy which the Russians could assault into the fort. A tough proposition.

Green pants infantry on the left; gunners on the right. About to come ashore for a hellish baptism of fire.

Fort Nepean; a tough nut to crack.

Cossacks in close country.

The last of the Fortress infantry desperately trying to hold out against the Cossacks who are on the Parade Ground. HM is not amused!

The Parade Ground formed a delta, the frontage of which the infantry could match their diminishing numbers to. It was excellent defensive terrain.