"Martian Airship under construction" Topic

Hi everyone,

I've been working on a Martian Airship recently and I've been logging the progress on the Lead Adventure Forum, but thought I'd show it here as well for those that don't visit. link

I bought a laser cutter this summer and have been itching to build one of these for years, but I'm a crummy scratch builder. This has been a blast so far and it's only days a week or so away from being finished.

Awesome!

Love it. The best part is "I bought a laser cutter …"
How long did it take you to make it? I imagine a second one would go quicker, correct?

Thanks D6 :)

79th PA, I made some square houses first and the ubiquitous MDF shipping container to get the hang of a few things.

So this is the first challenging thing I've done. If you are asking about actual cutting time, I bet it takes about an hour and 15 minutes of actual cutting time on the laser to get this out. BUT I've cut out enough pieces to make three of them just getting the pieces to fit. I also regularly cut just a piece or two every day to try different things. I bet I've spent about 30+ hours on the design software as well. :) It's coming along, but it's a labor of love.

That's impressive!

I have to take some blame; I keep saying nice things on LAF, along with small suggestions here and there… ;->=

I think the best part is: 'Yeah, surface etching is easily done, that's how I did the planking on the walkway.'

One could get by with simple paint, be he can actually carve designs into the sides. I get a bit giddy, you know.

Doug

As someone who has scratch built one, that is a joyous thing!

Well done that man!

John T

Thanks Cyrus and Beast

Thanks should certainly go to you John! Your scratchbuilt ships were the inspiration for this project. I've always been jealous of them and you might have cost me about 4K dollars as I had to buy a laser to make my own :)

When do they go on sale?

Flintloque, we'll have to see when it's finished. :) Perhaps not long afterwards?

A few more pics or recent work

That is frak'n cool and not one of the easier genre artifacts to scratchbuild.By a long shot.

Well done.

Looks great!

As you know I've been watching this project on another site,it's a most wonderful thing to see.Bravo Sir! :)

Holy smokes, that's really cool. I guess since you're almost finished the first one, the next 15 or 20 to complete your fleet will just roll off the assembly line. Just kidding! Geez, if I used a laser cutter I'd look like Luke Skywalker after he met his father.

Thanks for the kind words gentlemen :)

Ragbones, I do plan on switching a few things around so I have a 'sister ship' to this one. Different ram, different crow's nest, that sort of thing. But after that, I'll have to check my megalomania and decide how many I can build as my house is only so big. Pretty sure each of my daughters wants on though…

Outstanding work. Makes me jealous of your lasercutter and your skills.

Your daughters are wise beyond their years; a Princess of Mars needs Her Royal sky galleon and one worthy of Her Royal Presence on its deck (ie., armed to the gunwales with a dozen of the latest offworlder Hotchkiss 47mm revolvers and a pair of quickfiring breachloading 12-pounder cannons, and don't forget the appropriate gold trim).

Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express.net

Hope Fergal doesn't mind me posting, but he's further along in the developement, and announced over the weekend on LAF

"Tomorrow I cut out an entire ship to see just how long it takes and to make sure I have everything as it should be on the files. I bough(t) some boxes for shipping as well, so not to long now before everything is in place."

At this time, he IS planning on some selling kits.

Funny, a very mixed feeling continues. Giddy at the prospect of being available, terror at an even reasonable ROI to him.

Doug

One of the coolest things I've seen on tmp in recent memory ! Can you please post your progress here and there ! Cheers

Thanks Leland :)

Twoball, sorry, I usually get a lot more feedback there so it's my goto place for posting progress.

Here is the latest test fit. I've added some rudders and a few bells and whistles since.

The new rudders

I'm in the process of building the final version to make sure every piece is correct and in the cut files so I can start producing them. Taking pictures all the way for instructions, pretty tedious process.

Finished!!

Here's a few final pictures of the build

What a beauty! Bravo!

Wow!

Finally in the store!

link

Sad thing is, at the rate I'm going, someone else will show off theirs before I've got mine done.

Wait, how is that out of the norm? ;->=

Today was a bust, will try again ma~a.

Doug