HMSW Gargantua - Progress so far...

Hi, All!

Forgive me, Wargamers, for I have sinned: It's been two weeks since my last post!
Things have been a bit busy for me the last few days - mainly with a very tiring work schedule and a couple of pretty heavy nights out - so model-making has been a bit slow. Nevertheless, I am pleased to announce that my work on the HMSW Gargantua is back on track.

Here's the latest:

Left: the sculpted front-end and the flywheel, in place at last beneath the rear deck. Right: Rear view of the engine and hull.

By far the slowest part of the project so far has been the front-end of the body. Because of the need to anchor the neck pistons way back inside the body before adding the outer armour, I had to sculpt much of the front from green stuff, rather than just modelling it from board. This was tedious work and really made it hard to feel enthusiastic!

Left top and bottom: close-ups of the deck and fo'c'sle. Coal will eventually be heaped in the open compartment. Right: The rear deck takes shape above the wheel.

My aim this week has been to get the flywheel permanently in place - which required that a great many interior details be finished, painted and glued in first. It seemed that everything I did created a new issue to be resolved before the wheel could be put in. I ran out of materials, too - which didn't help!

Close-ups of the head. A swing-bridge will join the body to the head eventually. Looking through the mouth, you can see through the head to the steps which lead up to the main deck.

The head is still not glued on (it slots onto two of the pistons) and neither is the engine. There's a lot still to do before that happens. And as for the legs... Still being designed! I need to see the final bulk of the body before I can be sure the legs I am planning will look right. But I am confident that things will progess quickly now - most of the really fiddly stuff is out of the way.

Of course, I still have to make ladders, etched window glass, a storage hatch, navigational controls, tannoy system, a lot of armour plating, hand rails, swing bridge, cables, gatling gun, cannons and gun-ports, flags...

Smaller than I originally thought it would be... Only 30cm long.

Oh, yes: nearly forgot...

RIVET COUNT: 1,398!

In other news:
I have confirmed that I will be taking Leadwood to A Call to Arms this year, August 20th-21st, in Wellington. Notorious Greg, Myself and others will be running demo-games of The Rules With No Name through the duration of the convention. It would be great to meet any and all who are interested!

All The Best!