Accessorise, accessorise, accessorise!

Hi, All!

Gatling guns at the ready...

It's been an evening of fiddly bits, and no mistake! You may recall that a couple of days ago, I listed all the little bits I needed to get on with in order to finish HMSW Gargantua - and then proceeded to start a new project!


Well, this evening I knuckled down to it and I can happily report that Gargantua is armed to the teeth!

First up: Control systems.

Instrument panel for the head.

Drive Controls.

I started the control systems a few days ago but got, well, distracted... They are constructed of irrigation bits, plastic tubing, rod and sheet and a little bit of kit bashing from some barely recognisable sprues I found in a box of stuff.

Comparison shot. Chunky, eh?

 Next came a bit of rivet work...

The underside of the raised foot needed some more studs. For God-knows-what reason, I had neglected to add any under the toe, so...

Twelve more rivets! And it's still not enough!

So now, on to the fun part - hand-made Gatling guns!

Left: guns in various stages of production. Right: a finished gun, ready to be painted.

I couldn't see the point in paying for these and waiting ages for them to arrive - and I like a challenge - so I thought I'd give it a go. They are constructed of styrene rod and tube and not much else. The green bobbles are tiny beads my daughter gave me. Constructing the guns was remarkably quick - one hour for all three.

Gunner in place and ready for anything...

While all this was going on, the Faraday Galvanic Field Gun was trying to get my attention, so as the glue was drying on the Gatlings, I quickly refreshed the British officer with a few splashes of ink, pinned his foot and glued him to the firing platform. Easy! And his newly reddened tunic is so splendid, I'll be doing the same for all my boys soon...

Doesn't he look dashing in his new tunic?

So: Back to the accessories!

It didn't take long to undercoat and paint the various bits, add a bit of guitar string to the instrument panel...

Finished instrument panel.

Finished drive controls

Naval Commander (Copplestones) with various bits. Note that one Gatling gun is side-loaded. I couldn't fit it in the vehicle's mouth otherwise!

And glue all the bits in place...

Mouth Gun.

Controls.

Fo'c'sle guns. I love the way these look!

Fo'c'sle guns wth officers.

There you go! Not a bad night's work!

Oh, yes - Rivet Count: 3,552!
 
That's it from me for now. Hope you like!

All the Best!