VSF off-world flyer

[Bullshott]

I want to build a 28mm scale VSF flyer suitable for operating as a shuttlecraft/gunboat at high altitude or in off-world environments with little or no breathable atmosphere, looking along the lines of a VSF version of a Mongo aerial warship.

I'm in a bit of a quandry as to how to configure the ship, so I've posted here to bounce around a few ideas.

The basic design I am working on is a cylinder with a rounded 'nose' (a plastic wine glass glues to a small aluminium water botle gives me a hull size of about 200mm x 70mm). The hull will definately feature a tailplane of some sort, a few portholes, a double gun sponson on each side of the hull and a ships' figurehead (and possibly a central torpedo tube) on the nose.

I'm avoiding a landing carriage - the model will either be portrayed flying or on a 'crashed' base.

Having descided on the above, here are the problem areas I am looking at:

Engines - how is the ship powered and what configuration are the engines? Options seem to be rockets or some other drive power (experimental Cavorite impellers?), but what would work best? Also, do I have a single engine/engine cluster on the flat 'rear' of the cylinder or do I have one engine either side of the tailplane/on a pair of stubby wings?

Bridge - options are to have the bridge inside the hull (with portholes to the front or a viewing dome on top of the hull) or a submarine type conning tower on top of the hull). Which to go for?

If I resolve the above I can sort out other details, like the tailplane and access doors.

[Froggy the Great]

Rockets are more 1930s.  I'd use an ether propeller of some sort.
I also suggest a viewing dome with portholes.

For a period source, look at the H.L. Hunley perhaps.

[Bullshott]

Rockets are more 1930s.  I'd use an ether propeller of some sort.
I also suggest a viewing dome with portholes.

Nice idea about the viewing dome. I'll see if I have anything I could use as a base for making one.

A while ago I picked up a damaged Star Wars landspeeder toy in a grot box at a local sci-fi convention. The hull will eventually become a Martian flyer or similar. That leaves a pair of stubby wings mounting rectangular engine pods - what do you think about using the wings and pods to represent (non-specific wierd tech) engines?

Keep the ideas rolling ...

[Westfalia Chris]

In Stephen Baxter's novel "Anti-Ice", the resident scientist builds a steam-powered rocketship using the titular phlebotinum substance, which decays with increasing intensity as the ambient temperature rises. It is used to create steam in a quantity that acts as a propellant for the rocketship.

Although IMHO the book's premise of a "Victorian Nuclear Age" isn't as well executed as, say, the "Victorian Computer Age" in "The Difference Engine", that part was a very nice touch, so I wouldn't say rockets are "un-VSF-ish" (also, Congreves).

Personally, I'd say a rocketship, possibly assisted by some antigravitic apparatus, would be reasonably victorian, and not as "outlandish" (in a good way, mind you) as a cavorite sphere or a liftwood hull.