THE PRUSSIAN AIRSHIP PROJECT PAGE 2

After all the internal work and sanding was done I decided to try and cover up the large annoying seam where the two body parts joined. Fiberglass was one thought but I opted to try "Bondo" used in car repair instead. This proved to be quite a task with much filing and sanding before even acceptable results were obtained. The bondo barely sticks and the fit on the two halves was such that I would have had to layer a bondo 3-4 inches down the side to get it near perfect, so we went to Plan-B "its a Wargame piece, not fine art" patched it up as good as time permitted and  hoped that it would not be that noticeable in the finished project. Lots of sanding and re applying Bondo and it was acceptable.

I also finally used pointy funnel shaped bit that had been kicked around my workbench for at least 5 years. I think I got it in a doctor’s office. I was going to use it for some sort of Wahammer 40K thing during a weak moment when I thought I might give Warhammer 40K a try. Glad I never played 40K and kept the part! It was perfect for the prow of the ship and helped to alter the look wonderfully. Looking at my pre-production sketch of the airship I was also worried that the large gondola made the Airship look too wide in the center and out of proportion. I wanted to lengthen the ship as much as possible to help this. The "Prow" alone added 2.5 inches, more would come later by extending the tail section. The entire model was given a coat of primer gray automotive paint at this time to help blend and see the "whole picture".

I then went into heavy construction with sheet styrene to build the base for the under ship deck platform and sub floor. This structure covered the blimps unfinished section where the original Lego gondola attached. I also decided to make the sub floor detachable so that I could place figures in it with out a lot of poking around and it made the detailing much easier. In my original concept of the way the ship works I was thinking on how they would seal up the area for protection from hostile fire or weather. I toyed with shutters like the gun ports on old ships but then came up with the concept of the entire lower section being able to raise up to meet and seal with the top section. This would done by electric motors and winches located inside the Airship proper. The ship would then be operated by instruments and a secondary control center inside. The bottom was constructed and a sliding pin system was built to hold the two sections together. I at one point toyed with having the bottom slide up into the airship until only the gun platform would be somewhat open. I discarded this as impractical for gaming and just to much work since I had already sealed the ship joint. I also at this point decided on two more modifications. One was to build a winch that could lower a small gondola through the main   platform floor for observation and the dropping or picking up of passengers and equipment. The other was to cover the bottom deck with ultra thin steel basing material so that my figures that are based on magnets would remain exactly on their stations instead of flopping around when the ship was moved.

I also started add the other basic components (without finishing details) at this time to get a feel for the overall look and balance of the Airship. Twin electric motors with props, steam boiler stacks, air intake stacks, ect. Once  most of the "heavy construction had been completed I added the rudder extensions. This extend the ship another inch or so and got rid of the stock "Lego" look. A tough glue job and probably should have been "pinned" but will see.

The fun part of Victorian Science Fiction and the Gaslight rule system is that you are not limited by Historical facts. There is a overall theme and look to the period and to blend in you should try and follow what "might have been possible" but there is a huge area for stretching the facts and creating things that did not exist but might have given certain "tweaks and leaps" in technology of the time. A sort of Industrial revolution on steroids! 

The point being for my project is that I was able to let my imagination go when building and painting! The reason that I had been drawn to "Warhammer 40K" was that I would not be bound by historical facts and that I could "scratch" build to my hearts content (little did we know that GDW would invent that "history" for us and then make us buy it to play the game!). Anyway this freedom of imagination was sort of a double edge sword though as I was not sure when something was done! I would build a section and think "ok, that's finished, h'mmm maybe I'll add this or change that" at that rate I realized that I would never be done. I resolved to only go so far with things so that I might finish the ship for service and go back later as I wanted and add or retro fit different things as would be the case with a real vehicle.

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