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| The "Lord Thomson" and the "Sir Percival"... |
In the summer of 1867, the renowned engineer, poet, cricket captain and pig wrestler, Sir Rupert Wombly-Paddinton IV unveiled to Her Majesty's War Office his newest and most terrifying creations, the 'Lord Thomson' and 'Sir Percival' - two steam-driven tanks of the most advanced and up-to-the-minute design. Each was armed with a compact and deadly turret-mounted Mark II Faraday Cannon and twin side-mounted anti-infantry flux projectors. Each had iron tracks that would enable them to steam across the most difficult of terrain in pursuit of Her Majesty's foes. But most devious of all, each bore a hideous, grimacing face that would strike fear into the hearts of even the most savage heathens Her Majesty's forces might ever encounter...
OK - I'm sorry. I had to. I mean I really had to. Tanks? Engines? Tank Engines? Someone was going to do it one day...
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| The 'Lord Thomson'... |
I had this idea years ago, and it wouldn't leave me alone. So I thought, "What the hell..."
Ignoring the faces for a moment, I am really pleased with the way these have turned out. The Faraday guns are adapted from my earlier design and once again, the guitar-string conduits really finish them off nicely. By cutting the lengths of string to exactly the same length, it was pretty easy to achieve a nice uniform curve throughout. And the copper paint contrasts well with the dichroic reflector of the halogen lamp...
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| The 'Sir Percival'... |
These guys are pretty much finished now. I'd like to add some badges, numbers, boiler plates, etc. but otherwise they are done. I'm still playing with the idea of adding tenders. Not sure...
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| Rear gantry. I finally ran out of plastic rod while finishing these... |
I added rear gantries to help the Victorian steam-train appearance. These actually sit way too close to the ground and would snap off if the vehicle went up a steep bank, but never mind. I can suspend disbelief if you can...
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| Rear gantries again. A little low, but what the heck... |
So there you go: another slightly ridiculous project out of the way.
Rivet Count: 439. EACH! (That's 878, folks...)
Meanwhile, work steams ahead on the Bazalgette Light Armoured Perambulatory Contrivance...
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| Stomping to a battlefield near you... Soon! |
...more on that soon!
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| Lord Thomson the Engine-Tank rolled into the Sudan... |
All the Best!
They look cool, sir. Very nice.
ReplyDelete-- Jeff
Thanks, Jeff. Glad you like them.
DeleteI was expecting somewhat mixed reviews...
How absolutely wonderful; the good Rev. Awdry would have loved these! Obviously I'm biased in favour of anything 'Thomas' related, but these really have brought a smile to my face on the grey Monday morning!
ReplyDeleteSo you're one of THOSE Awdrys, then? It's an honour, Sir! I never made the connection!
DeleteDuh...
To be fair it a very distant connection, but a connection none the less!
DeleteExcellent. I knew these were coming, but even so, what a neat surprise to see how well they come out!
ReplyDeleteJust need Johnny Morris or Ringo Starr to do the narrative (I prefer the talented accents of the former, even if the rather boring tone of the latter is more well-known these days).
Thanks, Roly.
DeleteI can do a pretty good Ringo Starr. Haven't heard Johnny Morris' voice since I was a nipper!
Oh myyyy! All my illusions about dear Thomas & friends are shattered, I fear!
ReplyDeleteSeriously, nice work! "I don't know what those faces do to the enemy, but by God they scare me!" ;)
Sorry to ruin your childhood, Old Chap! At least they're on our side, what?
DeleteGreat work, I thought you had been quiet on the blogging front for a while. Clearly you have been a busy man, on the modelling front!
ReplyDeleteThe faces... I really am pulled in two ways with these... its brilliant execution of the idea and a real laugh out loud moment... but... ah what the heck, I cant say anything negative, they're just too well done ;-)
The BlapC is coming on well too!
I am shortly to embark upon my own first scratch build ideas. The first of which is a Jules Verne type boring machine, which should do double duty for VSF, but is primarily aimed for my squats as a termite ( I have been dabbling in 40k again after my son got into it, sadly its hard ro resist when I have the figures already painted and ready to go).
The second of which is an ork trukk for him... the GW model is just crazy money and I am sure I can work something out for him. Even if it looks crap it will still be suitably 'orky' and will be good practie for my own VSF germanic vehicular stuff later...
I may have to quiz you on a few tips trick and sources of bits and pieces. Incidentally I need a 3" diameter cone/drill shaped type looking thing for drilling end of the borer... any ideas?
Glad you only partially disapprove, My Worthy Adversary! Needless to say, I was a little nervous as to what reaction these might get...
DeleteAt least now you know why the boiler's on the front.
Sounds like you're about to get pretty busy! Excellent.
3" cones? How about seeing if you can find a toy ice-cream cone to modify?
If anything more sensible comes to mind, 'll let you know.
Hmm, yes, I'll check that out... I also though about modifying plastic funnels...
DeleteSorry, Colonel old boy, but those faces rather put me off my feed. Just don't care for them. The rest of the builds are, as usual, just gobsmackingly brilliant.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, my tuppence.
At last! I knew someone would hate them!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tuppence, Old Bean!
Only 878 rivets?
ReplyDeleteI just saw the movie "The Pirates! Band of Misfits" today, and later read that to make Queen Victoria's flagship for the movie, they had to glue 30,000 rivets made from lentils to the hull.
Thanks for that, Roly!
DeletePerhaps I should keep a count of every rivet on every machine so far? It's approaching 5000, I think. Is that better?
No lentils, though. You know what happened the last time I used edible materials for model-making...
Good point, Colonel! Don't want them rodents gnawing at your handiwork again. Though, of course, they could be Prussian rodents ...
ReplyDeleteThose Germanic types will resort to anything! Even eating the battlefield!
DeleteDashed unsportsmanlike!
Very creative! Certainly does stimulate some interesting VSF thoughts ...
ReplyDeleteThanks, Romi!
DeleteLooking forward to hearing what you come up with!