ATHENA - Steampunk Airship (30)

Over the weekend I've been working on another member of the command section.
This time I wanted to build one on the high ranking officers on the ship - maybe the captain or even an admiral.
I started off with the long coated tank officer from the Baneblade sprue, and some standard Cadian legs.
In the right bottom corner you can see the torso freed of the tank hatch pieces.

Since I want to model him with the arm folded across his chest I had a hard time looking for proper arms

In the end, I had to greystuff the arms completely. Only the shoulder armor and the actual hands are bits.

Since I want the officer to be very special and a veteran of many battles, I shaved down a basic Cadian head, freed it completely from the helmet and sculpted some items to it.

He's wearing an eyepatch

And from a previous wound part of his head is covered by a titanium plate :)

While the sculpting of the head cured I added the eagle crest to the shoulder armour

Added some straps and filled the gap between boots and the coat

He still needs gaiters and the respirator, but I think he'll look pretty cool.

Cheers

Klaus

ATHENA - Steampunk Airship (29)

As promised I started working on part of the crew.
This here will be one of the deck officers, armed with Laspistol and a sword.

I want him to look as if he's resting his hand on the pistol holster

as well as holding the sword

The respirator is the lower part of an Elysian head

Satisfied with the left arm, I began my search for a good right arm

Can't recall which one it was, but it was a standard Cadian arm, so I had to remove the shoulder armour

After some cleanup and adjusting I greystuffed the sleves

part of the shoulders

The strap for the respirator

and the harness for the sword

plus the gaiters

All in all, I'm pretty OK how he turned out


Next I worked on a NCO.

He will be wearing a soft cap, holding a folder as well as some kind of pen or pointer

The left arm is the one usually holding the grenade launcher

I still had a head with soft cap left from the ZEUS crew ( http://fischers-design-shop.blogspot.com/2009/04/steampunk-infantry-3.html )

Again, the lower part of an Elysian head for the respirator

GS'ed the strap, the goggles, the folder

Though he's just an aide, this is still quite a hero shot :)

I am absolutely happy with him.

Cheers

Klaus

ATHENA - Steampunk Airship (28)

Now that the forward deck has some armoured protection (yes, 0.25mm plasticard is thin, I agree :) I started with some detailing of the that section.
So I started with some ammo drums for the Light-AA's

very simple. Just pieces of tube and some pc discs

Then I built some frames that will hold them in place

And mounted them on the inside of the plates

Then I started to build some additional boxes for (whatever) storage

Also very simple constructions, but with some detaling

and mounted these on the inside too

In addition I built a very simple ammo hatch for the crane. And a banister so noone would fall into there when the hatch is open ;-)

(Not that it opens in the model)

Last not least I build a ventilation hatch. Several strips of thin pc glued on top of each other, so that they are at a slight angle, and a simple frame around it

Then some pieces for the frames top (corners cut in a neat 45° angle)

And glued it all together and added rivets

This together with some cables on the ground (note the two thick grey ones leading to the Lasguns under the nose as power supply) give a nice impression I think :)

Tonight I will start working on some of the crew members - I will try to resemble the figures I had drawn for the uniform color test.

Cheers

Klaus

ATHENA - Steampunk Airship (27)

Time to protect the crew, isn't it?
As discussed in the comments, the forward section definately needs some armoured plates.
For this I looked at various existing models (like the FW Gorgon) and decided to use an slightly angeled model.

So I built some supporting beams, to which the plates will be attached.

Leaving room for the Light-AA's

Then I started on the central section with the new Imperial Eagle

More plates on the sides - again I used the 0.25mm plasticard, as this can be formed and bent rather easily.

Then I added curved plates on the gun positions

and added the usual rivets

And finally I added another ornament - again the pawed cross with the Fleur-de-Lil in it, and a flowing banner behind it.

Somehow I forgot to make a final frontal picture so you can see the whole baby...

Cheers

Klaus