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So here I am again, after another fortnight of tiny rivets and glue fumes...
HMSW Gargantua is really taking shape now, although maybe not as fast as I'd like. As you can see, the interior details of the vehicle are mostly complete and the outer hull is not far off.
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| Much of the armour plating is complete, bristling with rivets! I still have to paint the red outlining. |
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| Left: The fo'c'sle with views through the porthole and door. Right: Closeup of the flywheel and rear deck supports. |
Armaments will be added soon, I hope: Gatling guns on either side of the fo'c'sle and in the 'mouth', and at least two cannon ports on either side of the body. Also still to come are a ladder to the rear deck, navigational instruments, and anything else I can fit in! (Hmmm.... maybe a semaphore?)
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| Deck details: trapdoor and cargo hatch (note the rivets! Always more rivets! Ahahahahaha!) I still have to add a ladder from the iron plate by the flywheel to the rear deck. |
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| Close-ups of the various decks. Brass handrails will eventually enclose the rear deck, too. The semi-circular cutouts are for Gatling guns. |
Work has also begun on the legs. The height at which the model is supported in these pictures (balanced on a wine glass) is the actual height the final piece will be... Huge! I temporarily fixed the leg together for the sake of these photos. Aren't I a nice Colonel?!
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| Sergeant Tetley and Private Whitbread take bets on the shape of the feet... Lieutenant Boddington beside the beginnings of one leg. |
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| Close-ups with redcoats for size comparison. I'll eventually crew the beast with Royal Navy and Marines. |
I have yet to settle on a design for the feet, but I can tell you that I'm favouring a cloven-hoof style. There will, of course, be many pipes, pistons, cables and rivets!
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| Seen here next to my earlier walker (featured elsewhere on this blog). |
Rivet count so far: 1,760! And a great many more still to come...
In other news: I have begun work on a box of Perry Plastics American Civil War Infantry, to be fielded for a ten-a-side skirmish in Leadwood at the upcoming Call To Arms convention in Wellington, August 20th-21st. The Union troops are almost done. Here's their Captain, done with my usual inks.
I'll post pics of all the protagonists when they are ready.
Anyway, that's all for now.
All The Best!
Already AWESOME and a marvelous cornucopia of details!
ReplyDeleteI really like the idea of a semaphore / Chappe telegraph on this behemoth: observers up there enjoy an exceptional field of vision. Maybe completed by a heliograph?
1760 rivets: could this '1760' be a sign of destiny? :) :) :)
Excellent Colonel. This has become a work of art.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Abdul and Rodger....
ReplyDeleteNo promises, Abdul, but Scott Bowman, Roly Hermans and I were discussing piratical GASLIGHT possibilities the other night...
Rodger, I feel this has become as much a work of single-minded stubborness as it has a work of art! Oh, well, no art without pain and sacrifice, I suppose!
It really is looking tremendous Joe, and I like how the legs are going to work with it.
ReplyDeleteI am also looking forward to turning that wine glass the other way up and drinking a toast with it to the beasts completion!
Marines and Navy crews will be a nice distinction for its crew.
The ACW Union commander has come up very well too.
WOW! I go on a little holiday and when I come to see here how you're getting on the thing is practically finished!!
ReplyDelete1760 rivets? Damn!
Great work!
By 'eck, lad! That's impressive! I like the cloven hoof idea, and can't wait to see it all finished.
ReplyDeleteThis is an amazing piece of work, and should be an inspiration to all of the rest of us to get to work on our own projects.
ReplyDeleteSadly, I doubt mine will ever approach this level of brilliance, but still, one can shoot for it, yes?
And, for the record, the red outlining is a masterful detailing touch.
A couple more thoughts: I like the idea of a semophore (not sure of Abdul666's idea of a heliograph - this beastie is likely to pitch and roll as it walks which would throw off reflected light in wrong direction...).
ReplyDeleteIn terms of other 'extras' - have you thought of fuel - a coal store? Or is the coal stored below down that trapdoor?
Mr Womack, Sir, you flatter me! In all honesty, I have to submit that there is nothing amazing, secret, or special about the techniques I employ - it is simply a matter of patience and attention to detail. But I'm very pleased that you like it! Thanks for the link on your own blog, too! Much appreciated!
ReplyDeleteScott - the coal bunker is below the porthole to the right of the steps as you look forwards from the engine. It just doesn't have any coal in it yet! (It's easy to spot - it's green, with lots of rivets!)
Colonial, Nice work as always. We did a colonial game last weekend which I will post on my blog as soon as I process all the pictures! I had to use someones point and shoot so the pics were so so. In any case, the Brits (again) landed in row boats with ner a gunboat in site. So between your project and the need to forward project more colonial power, I am starting a Gunboat project. I am going to do some simple 10mm versions first (we do colonial in 10mm and 28mm) then work my way up in scale and complexity.
ReplyDeleteHow are the flatpacks coming along?
sky
Wow. Incredible work as always. what do you make your rivets from?
ReplyDeleteHi, Sky. Glad to hear you're being productive! No new to report on flatpacks at the moment - I'm considering options...
ReplyDeleteRich - Thank you! I cut my rivets from plastic rod, mostly 1mm and 1.6mm diameter. I generally cut about twenty or thirty at a time by hand, and apply them with what we in the medical profession refer to as 'a pointy stick'. I know this sounds like technical jargon, but I find more primitive methods rarely achieve the required result.
It is only through the selfless devotion to higher endeavours such as yours that mankind shall rise above the primordeal ooze of apathy and procrastination.....1760 rivets!!
ReplyDeletePress on to the higher plains of Perfidious Albion Old Boy..Huzza Huzza Huzza!
The Captain salutes you.
Well, since you put it that way, Captain... Aye, oreight then!
ReplyDeleteSince you like Pirates -and thus their ships- AND 'innovative' contraptions...
ReplyDeleteLacepunk skyships
(The Three Musketeers - 2011).
One of the multiple facets of 'weirdness in the Tricornes era'
'Pirates' are certainly the most popular of 'swashbuckling' games, and it's not uncommon for Pirates to encounter undeads of various types, King Kong-sized Godzilla type monsters...
So it's only a matter of 'taking the plunge' and having the same 'liberty' on dry (main)land.
Then, by the mid 18th C. vast parts of the Pacific Ocean were still to be explored, thus odd human races and cultures can be waiting for your daring adventurers in tricornes on a 'New Continent'. Or, alternatively, in an underground 'Lost Wold at the Earth Core', Pellucidar -fashion...
Developed in a TMP post..
Hope to be 'intriguing', if not 'inspirational' :) :) :)
Jean-Louis