ATHENA - Steampunk airship (85)

Hello all,

well the sculpting of Else and Emma proceeded last night.

Else now has her jacket completed, and I think I managed it to keep her nice rear visible enough :)

Then Emma received the first pieces of her blouse and the forward section of the corset.

I think this looks pretty good, doesn't it?

Well, as mentioned before, I plan on adding some Manticore Missiles. But I don't want to add any turrets or the like.

I rather want to have plain and simple, soviet style, launcher missile tubes. They will be located in the forward are, left and right of the Earthshaker turret:

Here you can see the angeled tubes I cut for this.

I'll have a total of 6 tubes.

And I will mount them in two sets of 3. Most likely 2 will be closed while 1 on each side will be open, with the missile visible inside. I'm not quite sure if I will point them straight forward, or a bit angeled to the side. What do you think?

Speaking of the missile - or rather the warhead:

I looked through my stash of bombs and ammunition, but the only pieces remotely big enough are these 3.

Hmm.

Even the biggest doesn't really look convincing, does it?

*sigh*

So here I am again, scuplting :)

I used a battery as base, since the diameter would fit nicely into the tube.

But in the end I will only use the sculpted tip, cut it in the right angle and mount it in the tube.

Once it is cured, I will mount it on an electric drill and sand it down, smoothen it, and maybe add some details.
Since I had some PC left, I sculpted another warhead...

...nothing specific in mind yet, but I'm sure some of you will have a brilliant idea on how to use that one, right?

I will create a mold for both and then simply make another of each to fit the launchers.

Well, I hope you liked todays update.
Thanks for your time and feedback.
Cheers
Klaus

Female characters for the ATHENA deck

Hey guys,

over the last days (well actually 1 1/2 weeks) I've been working on some female characters for the landing deck scene.

The idea had been lingering in the rear of my head for a while, but lastly I got inspired by a post on DakkaDakka by RSJake: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/394917.page

He's sculpting some nice female characters and has some wicked ideas :)

These are now the first WIP shots worth posting, I can't recall how often I have redone pieces on those two figures.

But now I'm at a stage that I'm satisfied with. In the background you can see the second figure as well as some InstantMold - by now I try to mold any piece I'm happy with - especially the basic face and boots. They were HELL!

So here you can see "Else", with a long skirt and medium-hight boots.

Also I'm still working on the dog - he's receiving the leftover bits of ProCreate :-P

Here I added the first sleeve and part of the jacket front to Else.

This is the head I plan to use for Else.

You see it's kind of Kommisar style, with a nice (hair) bun.

And this will be the head for "Emma", the other character.

She's getting a bit more steampunked, with the goggles and the load of hair.

There are still some lines I need to try to smoothen out, but I tell you, a real FACE in this scale is hell :-P

Last night my order for the new sculpting and painting aramtures from Stephan Rath (http://www.rathcore.de/), aka derwish, arrived.

These are really nice!
Check them out at:

http://www.das-bemalforum.de/showthread.php?t=10701
They come in 2 sizes (30mm und 54mm) at 12.-€ each, or if you take 3 (like me) for 32.-€ plus S&H 4€ (Germany) 6€ (Europe) 8€ (rest).

DeVincis also made a nice review for them:
http://dievincis.blogspot.de/2012/06/hobbyproducts-tested-bemal.html

I tried them out yesterday, and so far I really like them!

Last night Else received her other sleeve and the second half of the jacket front. In her left hand she'll hold something like a riding crop or whip :-)

Unfortunately the rear of the jacket will cover most of her beautifull rear :(

Emma received her "riding pants" yesterday - I want them to resemble those WWII german officer trousers - together with the higher boots, this should look spiffy :)

She will wear a wide blouse (offering a good look at the cleavage) and a corset.

Well, that's it for today. Thank you for your time.

I hope you enjoyed todays update and look forward to your C&C.

Cheers

Klaus

Collaborations?

Hey guys,
just a short update today - and not even really project related.

I just read Lord Gordons last post ( http://20th-praetorian.blogspot.de/2012/06/imperial-workstation-2.html ) where he writes:

Do you like the idea of liaison officers?I think that Klaus and I have a lot of fun during the construction phase.Had someone pleasure and fun and ideas to share with the Dragoon Guards or other liaison officers?please, make a report to me!

to which I replied:

Yeah, it's really fun to think about collaboration ways between bloggers and thier armies :)
Over at the WIP forum dogplug is working on an awsome Ork warship
(http://z11.invisionfree.com/Work_In_Progress/index.php?showtopic=16582&st=75&#last)
and the two of us are making joke on how the ship and ATHENA will fight each
other.

So what do you think about this topic?
Do you want to/plan to work with other bloggers and share ideas, or even models to be incorporated in your army? Do you think of stories and fluff that (can) combine your army with maybe a real super cool and sexy army or setting of another player/blogger?
Let me know what you think or what your "wishlist" would be :)
Thanks
Klaus

Sir Horace - Praetorian Liaison Officer

Yesterday I was pretty happy and was about to post the images of Sir Horace here, when DaemonForge at Ammobunker pointed out the hand behind his back was wrong!

Aaaaargh!
I couldn't believe it, I added a left hand to his right arm :(

I went through my bits box - this one is only arms :-P
But I couldn't find an open right hand (usually found on the Tank Commander sprue)

I conducted a quick amputation (I save you from the gruesome images ) and now, here he is!

Major General Sir Horace, former member of the Dragoon Guards Black Watch, now liaison officer aboard the ATHENA. Sir Horace is bearer of the Praetorian Order of Merit, the Commander of Praetorian Empire, and the very rare Dencarian Air Cross.

I think his pose is pompous enough.

The new right hand.

He will be observing how the Stingray drone is readied and taking off.

In addition there will be a kind of retinue around him, as well as crew readying the drone.
This is one of the officers built for the former ATHENA island.

He needs some final cleanup.

This will be the drone operator.

I will probably have to build a connector cable to his glasses, won't I?

He'll have a black bandana with white skulls :)

Another officer observing the launch operations.

And a guard.

I'm pretty satisfied with his face nad the way his hat turned out.

From the old build I still have this Tech Priest.

But I'm not so sure if he'll fit the scena, as he has his pistol and sword drawn.

What do you think?

As mentioned before, I'm still working on a dog for Sir Horace, plus one or two surprises. I will also build some NCOs and sailors that are readying the drones (like the second drone being pushed onto the deck), but here I'm awaiting some bits first.

I hope you liked todays update.

Thanks for your time and feedback.

Cheers

Klaus