The French Aeronef La Fee Verte

The Aeronef La Fee Verte. A scratch built 1/300th scale model of the Aeronef Balaclava, which was later re-named Le Fee Verte (The Green Fairy).

This model featured in issue 04 of The Ancible magazine, which can still be purchased as a PDF from Wargame Vault.

Image 2 - My first rough sketch.

Image 3 - The hull.

Image 4 - The front ram and the superstructure.

Image 5 - The construction finished.

Image 6 - In the process of painting.

Image 7 - The painted and based Le Fee Verte.

Image 8 - The Aeronef in flight, accompanied by some Martian Sand Rays.

The model was one of two scratch-built Aeronef's featured in The Ancible. I plan on uploading images and details of the second later this month.

I hope that you like the model, full details of which can be found here and here.

Tony

NB.
I have since been informed that it should be La Fee Verte. Thanks to Barbarian on LAF.

Allura Nail Art for Modelmakers

I can images that some readers will be thinking "I've lost the plot!" But bear with me. I saw these Allura Nail Art beads in Poundland (UK discount store) for £1.00. The tiny round beads are perfect for small rivets - drill a small hole (slightly smaller than the bead) and glue in place.

The second image shows the beads a little better. So any scratch builders out there - especially Victorian Science Fiction modellers (who always need loads of rivets) go along to Poundland today and get your pounds worth of ready-made rivets.

Tony

PS.
Sometimes called Nail Caviar?

Ragnarok 60 on its way.

Steve Blease, the long suffering editor of Ragnarok, the in-house publication of The Society of Fantasy and Science Fiction Wargaming, has posted that Ragnarok 60 is nearing completion. For full details go to this link.

I have been a long-time follower of 'The Rag', but a relative newcomer to the SFSFW - becoming a full member just last year. I rate the content of this magazine as some of the very best fan-led fiction and gaming scenarios available and would recommend that any one who enjoys this Blog will enjoy being a member. For details of how to join, go to this link.

Tony

Carp Feeding and Veterinary Suit 1877

I recently came across this illustration from the acclaimed tome, The Secret Scrapbook of Professor A.J. Copperthwaite (The Lost Genius of English Architecture) Edited by Alan Robertson and Michael Taylor. The book gives details of a revolutionary plan to improve and re-model Caernarvon Castle, North Wales into a Carp Farm and Aquarium 1875-1877.

I was immediately struck by the possible use of a similar suit as an underwater or low atmosphere EVA suit in Victorian Science Fiction adventures.

For anyone interested in these lost records, I would suggest that they search their local records office for a copy of this book (google or e-bay).

The Secret Scrapbook of Professor A.J. Copperthwaite
Edited by Alan Robertson and Michael Taylor
Published by Grafton Books 1986
ISBN 0-586-07043-5

Tony

Lantern City - a Steampunk trailer

I recently saw this trailer over on Pat G's Blog/Google share account and thought it was worth sharing. Originally shown here. Thanks Pat.

Enjoy.

Tony

Terrainthralls

Browsing some older links I came across this collection of terrain making tutorials, which although not new are still worth sharing.

Check out Terrainthralls for some fantastic creations.

Tony

(A short post - but one that I am more than happy to pass-on and browse, while looking for inspiration - some fantastic tutorials.)

To Publish or Not - a book on terrain modelling

Some time ago I was approached to see if I was interested in writing an article for a book on building terrain - wargaming terrain. I have actually produced three articles, two of which are currently being cast in resin and the third, a 15mm building is sitting on my computer desk, completely finished and looking a little forlorn, although the book idea seems to have 'hit the buffers'.

In addition there is a fourth article/model which was originally made as an experiment in seeing just how much detail I could cram into a small model - a small Pigsty in fact. However due to some comments and discussions I have started to think about producing a book of my own showing how I make wargame terrain; the inspiration, the construction and finally the painting

At this moment, I think I would like a traditional full-colour book - either hard bound or soft, similar in style and set out to many that have gone before but as new technologies come on-line there is always the option on an e-book or Web-based publication.

At this stage it is still a 'pipe-dream', but one that I hope will come to fruition.

Regular readers and followers will know that I committed to producing an article a month for Barking Irons Online and this continues. Actually there are a number written and awaiting publication, I am sure that Craig is on the case.

This is not an attempt to get-rich-quick, but more an attempt to pass on some of my hints and tips in a more traditional format, and if I'm honest to see my name in print. As things stand at this moment I am still modelling and writing - I just want to see ALL of my articles in a format that is a little more tactile than just the Web.

So, what do you think? Is there really a marked for such a publication? Or am I just being foolish?

Comments as always are very welcome and should anything change, I will of course post details here.

Tony

Martian Skiff in 28mm now available

Some time ago I worked on the master for a Martian Skiff in 28mm. The model is now available from Lead Bones for $20.00.

These two images were taken from the Lead Bones Blog site. Photo One - Shows the constructed resin and metal model with a selection of 28mm VSF/Martian themed miniatures.

Photo Two - Is a breakdown of the multi-part model.

It took a great deal of self-control not to add hundreds of rivets to the front control housing! Although now that I have seen the finished casting, I think it was the right decision. I look forward to seeing a painted example.

For more information, go to this link and for examples of a painted Skiff go to this link

Tony

Voyage into the Deep

I came across this hard-back Comic Book while searching the shelves in the local Poundland, an illustrated graphic novel by Francois Riviere and Serge Micheli.

The book which is 32cms x 24cms and 80 pages long is fully illustrated throughout and details the imagined meeting between Jules Verne and Captain Nemo. There is a very good review at; this link

The book is for sale in the Midlands branches of Poundland for (you guessed it) £1.00

Ideal source material and inspiration for Victorian Science Fiction (VSF) and in particular AquaNef from Wessex Games. It is also a good read!

Full details;

Voyage into the Deep - The saga of Jules Verne and Captain Nemo

by Francois Riviere and Serge Micheli.

Published by ABRAMS

ISBN; 0-8109-4830-3

Tony

The Aeronef Le Fee Verte - an update

Last month I reported that an article of mine had been included in the electronic PDF magazine The Ancible (issue 4). I have since seen a message on the Space 1889 Yahoo Group that Mateen Greenway has produced a computer mesh of the very same Aeronef/model on his Space 1889 site. see;

http://dampfpanzerwagon.blogspot.com/search/label/Space%201889/Aeronef

and

http://mateengreenway.com/steampunk/Space1889France.htm

I have been a great admirer of Mateen's work and a number of my Space 1889/Aeronef models have been based upon his illustrations, it is therefore a great thrill for some of my modelling work to be the source of one of his beautiful illustrations. The photos featured below show the model Aeronef Le Fee Verte with two of the illustrations (used with permission) - I have tried to pose the model in the same attitude as the illustrations so you can see just how closely they match.

Photos One and Two - Le Fee Verte in level flight, auxiliary metal wings extended.

Photos Three and Four - A view looking down on the deck detail of this experimental Aeronef.

As I have commented on above, the Space 1889 site maintained by Mateen has been and still is a great source of inspiration for both me and others who are interested in the Space 1889 background, I am very proud of my model and the fact that it has been included in The Ancible, but even more pleased to see it featured on the Space 1889 site. Well done Mateen, I think it looks fantastic.

The Ancible #4 has full details of how the model was constructed and painted, while both the Ancible article and Mateen Greenway's Space 1889 site give a potted history of this French, experimental Aeronef and its posting to the Martian Colonies.

I hope that you enjoy them both, finally - thanks again to Mateen for allowing me to use the images and link to his Web pages.

Tony

The Aeronef Le Fee Verte

These images show the finished and painted Aeronef Le Fee Verte (The Green Fairy), previously the highly modified French experimental Aeronef Balaclava. Full details of construction and painting can be found in the On-Line Magazine The Ancible issue 04. For further information on how to download see;

http://www.the-ancible.com/

The nine page, step-by-step article gives full details of how I built this Marcus L. Rowland (Forgotten Futures) inspired Aeronef and how she was painted, finished and based. The article also gives gaming stats for the game Aeronef by Matthew Hartley and Steve Blease.

Hopefully, the first of a series of similar 'how I built it' articles that will appear in The Ancible. At just £1.50 per download issue and 80 plus pages of gaming and miniature news - I feel this represents fantastic value for money.

Tony

Airship Battle

Earlier this week, I came across this animated Airship Battle sequence and thought it was worth sharing. For details and to see it in full go to;

http://tristikov.deviantart.com/art/3D-FX-Airship-Battle-139133133

The animation was produced by Tristikov and was originally found on Deviant Art.

Tony

Also available on youtube;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ThsxHljkww

Martian Skiff in 28mm

A recent thread on The Miniatures Page was asking about the availability of suitable Martian Cloudships. See;

http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=194782

The subsequent replies, featured a Martian Skiff 'Master' that I produced some time ago and will soon be available to purchase from Recreational Conflict. See;

http://www.recreationalconflict.com/

The skiff was built as a five piece model to be reproduced in resin and suitable for 28mm miniatures.

It was great fun to produce, mainly because I had been given such a very well written and drawn brief. I look forward to other such projects.

Tony

PS.

I have recently finished a modelling and painting article featuring a 1/300th scale Aeronef (see Space 1889/Aeronef label for other examples). However I was wondering about the demand for 15mm Airships/Aeronef, mainly based on, but not slavish copies of the Space 1889 craft, again see the Space 1889/Aeronef label for details of what I am talking about.

I could easily produce 6 to 10 models of such ships, ranging in size from 12cms - 30cms long, but am uncertain of the commercial demand.

Any comments?

Aeronef's at Poundland

POUNDLAND (a UK based clearance store) are selling these windup toys for (you guested it) a pound. The Hydro Machines come in three varieties, a hovercraft, a submarine and this cute little floatplane. I intend using the two yellow floats as model Aeronefs, or more exactly Nef's/Dig's by adding a suspended control gondola below the balloon.

For inspiration check out the Hydrogen Balloon Ether Flier at Matteen Greenway's site;

http://mateengreenway.com/steampunk/Space1889UK.htm

Each float/balloon is 85mm long and 28mm wide. I am not expecting this project to be completed anytime soon, but wanted to give other VSF modellers a 'heads-up'.

Tony

Modern Martian Dredger

During the years following the first expeditions to Mars, many great minds tried to explain why the canals of the past had dried up and were no longer used as the main transportation medium. One such inventor - Professor A.J. Copperthwaite even went as far as to design and build a steam powered dredging vessel, the design based on the ill-fated Wentletrap was used for a short time to clear the main intersections of the Martian Plantiana canal system.

The actual plans and design for this vessel have been long lost, however these recently unearthed blueprints (actually a facsimile of a damaged and as such incomplete set of drawings of the Wentletrap) go some way to hinting at the design of the Martian dredger (believed to be name Henrietta, after Professor Copperthwaite's mother Henrietta 1817 - 1885).

The shallow draft dredger would have been used between 1893 - 1895, during which time it is believed that a number of unusual and quite valuable artifacts were recovered from the bottom of the canals.

It is believed that one such artifact - the Golden Toc of the sun god Ra is still within the possession of the Copperthwaite family. Recent threats against the lives of the family and attempts at theft from the ancestral home have meant that any official recognition that this item even exists is becoming very difficult to prove.

The Steam yacht, Honey, a 40ton Aeronef now used by the Inter-Harmony, Exploration Force based on Mars is believed to be powered by the same steam engine that originally powered the Henrietta.

I hope that this small history lesson will inspire other Martian archeologists to continue their search for other Martian artifacts.

Tony

The facsimile is taken from; The Secret Scrapbooks of Professor A. J. Copperthwaite

STONEHENGE - an alternative theory

I have recently unearthed a collection of notes and illustration from the Victorian eccentric A. J. Copperthwaite who although ridiculed in his day has put forward a number of interesting and quite controversial theories and proposals, one of which is included below.

Stonehenge - a true description of the monuments original form and purpose dated 1858. (Click on image to super-size).

A further associated paper suggested using a much modified Stonehenge as the centre piece of a nation-wide early warning system in the event of an invasion. The Early Warning System was 'mothballed', much to the disgust of Professor, who did build a miniature version of the system on his Yorkshire estate, where marbles were shot in place of cannon balls and the 'enemy' was invading rabbits!

For anyone interested in seeing additional papers by Professor Copperthwaite, a selection of some of his works are available in a Scrapbook. Full details are;

The Secret Scrapbook of Professor A. J. Copperthwaite, The lost genius of English Architecture, edited by Alan Robertson and Michael Taylor and published by Grafton Books. ISBN 0-586-07043-5

Tony

I would hope that readers would find this illustrated paper of interest and maybe use these ideas in gaming scenarios or modelling projects.

Aeronef Eye-Candy

I came across this illustration over on Lead Adventure - see; http://www.lead-adventure.de/index.php?topic=13480.0 The illustrations are just fantastic, a whole host of inspirational ideas for my next set of scratch-built models. For more information, check out; http://sephodwyrm.deviantart.com/gallery/

The illustrations are by Maxim-Ivan. Very well done Sir.

Tony

'Springheeled Jack' A victorian superhero?

I recently came across this illustration advertising a lecture by Dr. Chris Upton (see below) and was immediate struck by the modelling potential. A quick GOOGLE search brought up some interesting history on Jack, see; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_Heeled_Jack

Due to other commitments I am not able to attend the lecture, but have included details and the Wiki link in the hope that others will also find this character of interest.

Tony

The Ultimate Modeling Guide from CULTTVMAN

A recent advert in Finescale Modeller gave details of a book from CULTTVMAN called CultTVman's Ultimate Modelling Guide to Classic Sci-Fi Movies by Steve Iverson and Anthony Taylor.

The card-backed book does exactly what the book cover says - it guides you through the construction and painting of some of the iconic space-craft, vessels and characters of the classic Sci-Fi film generation.

To give an idea of what to expect, the first article in this 152 page book details the construction, modification and painting of the 'Bullet' space rocket from the 1902 film by George Melies called Le Voyage dans la Lune (A trip to the moon). This is based on the resin model by Herb Deek's, (check out the Flash Gordon space-rockets from the same manufacturer) but with a modified hull and a scenic base - reminiscent of the original black and white film.

Other articles (there 18 separate articles), including; Flash Gordon, Planet of the Apes, 2001 - A Space Odyssey, War of the Worlds, 20,000 Leagues under the Sea etc. Check out the cover photo below.

When I saw the cost, my first thought was that this was an expensive package, however the book was on sale and with P&P to the UK cost me $24.00. Upon delivery, my first impression was not good, a quick flick through and I was wondering if the sale price and OK shipping charges were still too high. However, once I started reading the very detailed construction notes I was smitten. This is a fantastic book for anyone interested in Sci-Fi modelling (or Sci-Fi model history) and now, as I near the end of the book, some article have already been re-read and re-read again, I feel this is a book that I can fully recommend.

The full details are;
CultTVman's Ultimate Modeling Guide to Classic Sci-Fi Movies by Steve Iverson and Anthony Taylor, published by CultTVman Media and first published in June, 2002. The ISBN No. is ISBN 0-9701455-1-9

For more details check out; http://www.culttvmanshop.com/shop/

Taken from the book cover; For model builders with imagination! CultTVman presents Rockships and Robots, Spaceships and Submarines from the furthest reaches of space, the depth of the ocean, the inside of the human body, and even the distant future. This book will show you how to build, paint and detail those fantastic models from 100 years of classic science fiction movies like Flash Gordon, War of the Worlds, Forbidden Planet and 2001: A space Odyssey. But that is not all! This book has something for everyone. There are models from The Time Machine, Fantastic Voyage, Planet of the Apes and Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

Tony

Here is a great Victorian Science Fiction or VSF source - Voyages Extraordinaries - Scientific Romances in a Bygone Age.

Check it out at;

http://voyagesextraordinaires.blogspot.com/

Tony