"Detailing the anti gravity barge" Topic

Since I can't leave the house I've had a chance to work on the anti-gravity barge in 15mm. The model represents a heavy lift anti-gravity barge for use in vertical envelopment, air assaults or resupply.

For details, I raided the parts box. I used a number of parts from the Airfix WW1 tank kits. The air intakes and exhaust stacks have frames made from model railroading building window frames. I also had parts from a kit used to build rooftop air conditioners. Sheet plastic from Evergreen gave some additional texture.

So the next question is what to paint them?

Paint it red. The red ones go faster.

Brown.

Planets worth fighting over usually have carbon-based ecosystems, and organic carbon waste is usually brown.

But etotheipi does make a good argument for red.

It looks good. Look forward to seeing it painted.

Oh that's cool

Thanks!

This one was designed for use within my VSF Hive, Queen and Country setting. It would have only required a couple of changes to make it more high tech. Just switch the guns to something more modern. If it has gas turbines keep the vents and funnels, but if powered by fusion or something similar they can be left off.

I will be adding 4 fans for propulsion and steering and that would be about it.

Reddish Brown. Weathers nicely too.

How about this?

That's a (n early?) WWII pattern, I believe

19th Century camo is mostly block colours selected to bend in with the environment. Green jackets, grey uniforms, etc.

And, of course, there's also early twentieth century dazzle camo …

If it's for VSF, you probably want national colors and lots of shiny brass fittings!

Are these propellers the right size?

What do folks think of the ramps? I am torn between building boxes onto the bottom of the hull into which these can slide or just leaving them loose with pins to attached them. I can't put them hinged so they are upright for travel, because they won't fit in the boxes I have for them if I do. What do people think?

Terry, I'm thinking

just leaving them loose with pins to attached them.

but model those attachments to look as if the crew had

put them hinged so they are upright for travel

Is that me thinking too much again?

Actually hinged, though removable for Real World transport, and upright while game-flying and then 'dropped' when landed REALLY appeals to my sense of showmanship.

Doug

For showmanship, I was thinking about having them mounted on the bottoms so they could retract and extend with a mocked up hydraulic ram to move them.

Thinking more about the stowed position I'm not sure a vertical ramp makes much sense. It adds a lot of wind resistance and makes for a bigger target.

Doing the pins for both positions would be easy, just a few more holes to drill.

Thought about the air resistance, though a square barge… ;->=

You are your own master, after all. You'll do as you see best, and it will be.

Doug

Point taken!

Wow, that's really well done!

Thanks! I hope this will be on display at Origins in October!

So I'm thinking of how to model landing pads on the barge. I have the legs built from parts of the Airfix bridge. The bridge pieces are narrow, even when doubled up. They are too narrow to spread the mass of the vessel. I am trying to decide if I want to run a longer thinner "foot" or several wider feet along the length of the structure. Any thoughts?

I would go for a small number of larger "inverted mushroom" feet. If they were on hydraulics, then they would adjust for landing level on uneven surfaces. If you made them by putting a wood finishing button upside down on a long collar nut that rides on a screw attached to the bottom, you could actually adjust them.

For VSF, I think I would make racks on two sides and hang the ramps. Then the lackeys jump off and deploy them manually. I think that would give you a good Victorian mix of high tech and grunt labour.

Here is a picture dated to 1900 showing a fortress in the Belgian Congo with camouflage paint

So drawing a picture helped me figure out how to describe the landing pad thing.

Fix some bolts to the underside of the barge, facing down. The picture doesn't show, but you might want to countersink them.

Glue a wood button to a collar nut to make the foot.

Flip the foot upside down and screw it on to the bolt.

By adjusting how far you screw the collar nut down the shaft of the bolt, you can adjust the height of the landing pad. Since they will all adjust independently, you can land level on uneven terrain. Within the tolerance of the bolt and collar size.

That is a great idea. Unfortunately I already glued the bridge side rails in place! I will use it in the future though!

Here it is with

I have an idea for the ramps. I will put rare earth bar magnets on the ship and very small angle iron on the back end of the ramp. The angle iron will let me position the ramp up or down. Now I need the tiny angle iron, like 1/4 inch. I can't use stainless steel, it's not magnetic. Anyone know where I can get tiny steel angle iron?

I've added a few more detail parts and started to use filler to close up the gaps. The only things I need to finish are the mounts for the side fans. I'd like to replace the 12 per barrels with turned brass. Does anyone have a good vendor for custom 1/100 scale barrels?

I know there was a lot of debate about how the landing gear should be arranged. I used what I had available, which might not be perfect for everyone. The structure is quite sturdy, which is a huge bonus for a gaming model that might see a lot of wear and tear.

I finally put the first coat of Tamiya fine white primer on it and now I can see all the places I need to use filler putty. Lots of putty!

Otherwise I am very pleased with this. It turned out very much like what I wanted and looks well suited for the Hive, Queen and Country Universe.

How about this for the color scheme?