ATHENA - Steampunk Airship (57)

Now that the basic build for the CIWS is completed, I started the detailing.
Here you can see the rear exhaust for the gun.

On this side you see the ejector port for the used cartridges.

and here the port for the ammo feed.

From front, with the service hatch. There's still some cleanup to do though.

Next was the sights.

And then I did some ornamenting for the ammo drum, using a Fleur-de-lil again.

And all pieces together - but not yet glued as there's still some detailing and cleanup necessary.

So I hope you like my CIWS "NEMESIS Mk MCMLXIX - Trieste pattern".

Cheers

Klaus

ATHENA - Steampunk Airship (56)

To complete the gatling CIWS I continued with building the sight housing (right) and the ammo drum.

Here's a quick mock-up for looks and scale with the sight and drum.

Also note the new off-centered postition - this is neccesary to give it a better field of fire, more room for the ammo re-load hatch, and ejected cases can easily be dumped off the side (eventhough I have to look if this could potentially interfere with the side navigation engines and rotors).

The ammo drum still needs the skin.

So I wrapped some .25mm plasticard around it, and while it cured, I worked on the ammo feed.

The ammo drum mounted.

And a quick blue-Tac shot with the ammo feed.

Here you can see the proposed layout of the platform.

In the background a large two-door hatch for the ammo and a standard sized hatch for access.

In re-load position.

And finally a size comparison to the Hydra.
Not so small after all.

I'm fine with the looks, but it will all depend on the details and ornaments, if the gun really fits the ATHENA or not.

*fingers crossed*

Cheers

Klaus

ATHENA - Steampunk Airship (55)

So with yesterdays discussion in mind, I took the gatling back apart.
Fortunately I was able to do so without breaking anything and now the twin mount is still available for a potential future project :)

With the Mauser BK-27 in mind I drew a breakout sketch of the pieces and started measurements from the existing barrel.

From this I built the gun body that will hold the gatling barrels

Based on this I calculated the size of the side walls,

as well as the central section.

Then I mounted the outer walls - with 3mm spacers to give the walls a total width of 5mm.

Then I used .25mm plasticard to cover the gap.

And a quick assembly (without glue),

to see how it looks :)
With the finished Techpriest for scale.

Eventhough the mount is bigger than initially planned or yesterdays build, I think it fits pretty well.

So tonight I will build the ammo drum and feed, as well as the sights and sensors.

Cheers

Klaus

ATHENA - Steampunk Airship (54)

As yesterdays question indicated I wasn't really convinced of the Gatling in its current state.

It is to be a a Close-in Weapon System (CIWS), traditionally used to fight off incoming aircraft as well as missiles (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIWS).

This role is currently filled by many systems, like the Phalanx (based on the A-10 GAU-8 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phalanx_CIWS ), but that IMHO is a very ugly duckling with its towered radardome.
Then there is one of the very first CIWS' the Russian AK-630 ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AK-630 ), whos look I like better, and it could also be adapted for a bit more steampunk.
Then I came across the awesome Russian Kashtan ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashtan)

But that would be too modern and too big for the planned spot on the ATHENA - it could replace the Hydras though (don't worry, I don't plan to).

Finally I ran across a German system, the Mauser BK-27 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauser_BK-27), though not a Gatling, but a nice small mount, that could easily accomondate a Gatling

And if I take this, round and angle some of the outlines, I could end with something like this here

and since I already have build two gatling barrels, I could even build two of them :)

So what do you think?

Cheers

Klaus

ATHENA - Steampunk Airship (53)

With the Techpriest completed (sorry, forgot to take an image - I will deliver that tomorrow), I tried to wrap up the forward gallery.
Here you can see the posts for the armour plates. These are lower than the ones at front and rear, only hip height.

For the central section I decided to add another control panel.

Some steampunked scales and levers, keyboard and a screen.

This will postitioned centrally, with the speaking tubes to the left and right.

Since this will cover most of the operator, the Techpriest will no longer be postitioned up there, but will most likely end up on deck.

Now that I have most items for the forward gallery, I have to think about how I will complete the armoured plates without glueing everything in place. The reason is again painting. I will paint all the individual items before I mount them. Still I need to pre-cut and paint the plates before I can mount these...so I have to think a bit about this.

In the meantime I started to look into the small rear gallery, where I want to have a Gatling Close Defense system. Just for the sake of looks and size I set one of the ZAPHIROS walkers on the gallery.

Just one of the Gatlings,

or two Gatlings?

Two look rather cool and efficient.

So I began cutting the pieces for two guns.

The barrels arranged and mounted.

For the actual gun body I cut some disks and then pre-formed a strip of plasticard to wrap around.

Once everything was cured,

I mounted the barrels to the bodies,

and connected the two guns.

Then I began to build the mount and position it for a first look.

Too big, too small, just right?

What do you think?

I completed the small side pieces of the mount

without doing any details yet.

But I think it will work, won't it?

So next will be the ammo drums, sights and detailing.

And then I will see if I add anything else back there, of if I leave the gun by itself.

Cheers

klaus