Aeronef

[Overlord]

I have finally succumbed to building an Aeronef.....

After seeing so many on the forum I decided I would give in and build one.  Unlikely I will ever use it much for VSF gaming as no-one locally is interested.  More likely I will use it for Pulp games.

Its actually not 'a' 'Nef but will be 2 (possibly more).  My original intention for the recent 'Transportation' contest was for something more than just a submarine.  Inspired by Svenns VSF Thunderbird 2 I started thinking about the UFO TV series and the Skydiver.  I decided to build a submarine that could be added to to form an Aeronef, but knew I wouldnt have time in the contest.  The Nautilus was therefore built with further additions in mind.



Aswell as adding to the sub I decided that the add-ons could be used as a smaller 'Nef in their own right.  Its a kind of VSF transformer with 3 (+) different vehicles in one.


Most of the construction is from 5 & 3mm foam PVC (white) with a couple of bottle tops (orange) and a bit from an old Star Wars Snowspeeder kit (silver).


I have added railings from wire mesh to the deck.  2 pieces of plastic card embossed with rivets for the fore & aft edges of the deck where there will be further gun positions.  The other 2 embossed pieces are to shroud the bottle tops and form a crew area.  The gantry is from an old Space 1999 Eagle kit, which will be used to mount the engines on.


A semi-armoured (and rivetted) emplacement for a gun, again from plastic card and foam PVC.

Building continues......

[Malamute]

oooh shiny.

I likes it

[Svennn]

Great minds and all that, SkyDiver has been chunnelling around in my mind for a while.

Looking good so far although you have basically teased us

Crack on goodman and show us how it all goes together then

[Admiral Benbow]

Don't know about the UFO and Skydiver series (besides some images and photos), but that looks promising ...

[JollyBob]

Niiiiice... 

[gamer Mac]

Looking forward to seeing this progress.
Looks like a very interesting project.

[Overlord]

Looking good so far although you have basically teased us

Crack on goodman and show us how it all goes together then

Just to stop Svenn moaning, here are a few pics taken tonight. 
Some of it is glued , but some just loosely fitted together.  The Nautilus will not be glued, so that I can use it just as a submarine.  The main bits missing are the engines and the gunpositions fore & aft on the lower deck:









More tomorrow, depending on whether I have to go to work....

[Overlord]

Don't know about the UFO and Skydiver series (besides some images and photos), but that looks promising ...

UFO was a Gerry Anderson series in the 70's: http://ufoseries.com/
Skydiver: A submarine that launches an aircraft

[former user]

a pity such a magnificent series got canceled because they couldn't sell it in USA

imagine it would have been UFO:TNG, UFO:DS9, UFO:Voyager instead
it is a pity that a big market can dictate mainstream because of numbers....
same with Firefly...
comes to mind, since Firefly was a Western crossover, it couild be converted into a VSF crossover....

[Thunderchicken]

Lovely stuff Overlord! Now to buy the VSF army and other steam sundries to go with it! 

[Svennn]

If anyone fancies buying me this I really would'nt mind 
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/UFO-SHADO-SKY-1-ONE-model-kit-by-Imai-MINT-SEALED_W0QQitemZ350301358026QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Collectables_SciFi_fantasyCollectables_EH?hash=item518f9687ca

[Admiral Benbow]

Overlord, thanks for the info on the Anderson series; I know a bit about them, but never watched anything. Another case would be "Stingray"; my oldest unfinished project must be the underwater table for "Stingray". Hhm, must have a look where everything is, perhaps I should ... 

This Skydiver 1 model in your post is a hell of a lovely model, isn't it? Must have a look about K.C.A. Art Productions tomorrow ...!

[Overlord]

Not as much progress as I had hoped but just the engines left to do now:


Everything glued together, although the engines are just tacked in place to see how they will fit.


Close-up of the new deck with (unpainted) Sanwar.


Another close-up showing the door and front viewing port (and rivets!).


Base of 4mm MDF, with several small pieces stuck together at the centre then drilled to glue the dowel in position.
Some larger stones (liberated from the in-laws driveway) then various sizes of grit and sandglued on.
Pretty heavy to stop the whole thing toppling over.

Lovely stuff Overlord! Now to buy the VSF army and other steam sundries to go with it! 

The Sanwar will be my VSF race, and any other vehicles or weapons they may need will likely be scratchbuilt.

This Skydiver 1 model in your post is a hell of a lovely model, isn't it?

That model looks better than the series original, beautifully done. 

[former user]

very interesting and inventive transformation from sub to aeronef
thx for sharing

did I miss it which special fraction it will belong to?

[rob_alderman]

This looks awesome.

VSF? Good choice. I've always been interested, but never started.

As for locally, Ross and Richard are interested in it. Both have Land Ironclads and Aeronef. I believe Ross has 'voyages extraordinaire' from Wessex games, and I have been asked to write a mass battle version (using the Battlefield Evolution rules from Mongoose).

I'll have to look at the material, I'd also try using some of the Flintloque miniatures, they have an Ogre in a Pith helmet which could be used as a wonderful 'Mr Hyde'...