ATHENA - Steampunk Airship

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May 15, 2013
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281
In May 2009 I started a project that would become a marathon and probably the most fun, yet frustrating and challening project.
The ATHENA - a steampunk airship for Warhammer 40K.
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It started off as an Aircraft Carrier
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However during the built I realized it bacame unbalanced in layout
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So I extended the hull
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I added funny things like this mural for the rear hull
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and various armaments
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and a special Aircraft
craft%2C%20Aircraft%20Carrier%2C%20Scratch%20Build.jpg

But after a while I also realized that it was simply too small to be a realistic aircraft carrier.
So back to the drawing board and I changed it into a Destroyer
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I added another Mural to the rear superstructure - overlooking the landing pad
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and a conference room with some flag officers
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Due to several personal issues and other projects the ATHENA was on hold at this stage
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But yesterday she landed back on my desk :)

I added some Manticore missile launchers and the main Earthshaker turret got its final details and rivets
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and last not least I reworked the rear mural, inserting some clear plastic
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and remounting the actual mural
512670_sm-the%20new%20mural.jpg

Next step will be some LED lights :)

You can also see a video of the ATHENA from May last year with some nice details
ATHENA.wmv
or check out my blog
http://fischers-design-shop.blogspot.de/2009/05/new-project-code-name-athena.html

I hope you have fun reading and digesting it and I look forward to your feddback, suggestions and comments.
Cheers
klaus
 
WOW :eek:

What a beautiful piece, I love the steam punk style, so original.

How did you fabricate the hull shape?

Gag
 
Wow, Nylon Gag, the hero of super details visits :eek:

I'm stunned.
Well I started off, by building out the ribs from 1mm plastic card
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Then I started to cover it with some 5cm wide strips of .25mm thick plastc card
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One of the hardest pieces was the nose - I needed a lot of plaster :p
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Once the ribs were covered, she became very stable, and I waas able to remove some internal stabilization
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and despite being big (this is my Nephew holding it)
127564_sm-Steampunk.jpg

she's still rather light weight with about 2.5 kg (5 pounds)
512722_sm-light%20weight.jpg
 
:eek: . ... Well , my question was answered while I was away viewing your video and web-pages ;D
I was wondering if this was paper or styrene

The only problem I see with this is the war will be over by the time she is commissioned into service ;)

Super cool work on the guns ! I'd like a few close-ups of that gatling gun you are playing with on the upper deck , please .

Uru
 
Klaus, this is simply awesome!!! What an amazing build, so detailed and well-planned. Top shelf work, my friend.
 
Very impressive work here, Klaus.
Especially considering how much of it was scratch built
 
Love the steampunk theme. Its a great art style. Good to see she didn't permanently stay on the shelf. are the murals print outs or did you draw them yourself?
 
Good morning :)

Thank you for your feedback and comments!

I think the common feedback is that I'll have to build another CIWS - Gatlings for the win :)
@lobo734 - they are hand drawn - you can see a small tut-like article on my blog:
http://fischers-design-shop.blogspot.de/p/stained-glass-windows-step-by-step.html

@urumomo - thanks! You can see the build process of the NEMESIS Mk MCMLXIX CWIS Trieste Pattern (the CIWS) here:
http://fischers-design-shop.blogspot.de/2009/11/athena-steampunk-airship-55.html

Well, yesterday evening I had arts class again, so hobby time was limited.
Here you can see the LED stuff layed out. It's pretty simple and I really like how this stuff works out.
They are from TSDS Inc.
http://www.tsdsinc.com/
http://www.facebook.com/TSDSMODELING#!/TSDSMODELING
Very easy to use.
513063_sm-Preping%20the%20LEDs.jpg

I started with the lights for the two jump decks and the observation deck.
513064_sm-Let%20there%20be%20light.jpg

Sorry for the blurry images, but this was the best I could do last night.
513065_sm-Observation%20deck.jpg

Currently the individual LED still reflect in the windows.
513066_sm-Observation%20deck.jpg

So now I'm thinking about adding some framework around the LED's and also about adding some red clear plastic to the ones on the jump deck.
513067_sm-LED%20mounted.jpg
I think that would look cool, to have red lights in the jump deck. Don't you think?

Well, I hope you like today's little update and look forward to your comments, suggestions, and feedback
Cheers

Klaus
 
Thanks guys!
Well, even though my shoulder still hurts and hinders me from building as much as I'd like, I was able to make some progress.
First I build some casings for the LED strips and since I don't want the individual LEDs being visible, I decided to add some matte covers. For this I took some clear plastic and sanded it for a while, creating a nice matte finish. On the casings this looks rather nice.
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For the jump deck I want red lights, so I painted them with red ink.
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During daylight this isn't very visible. Next I added a light switch on the landing pad, so I can keep the battery (9V block) mounted on the inside. Another LED strip was added to the rear mural.
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In the evening the lighting becomes a lot more prominent and now the red is a lot better visible.
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The next section to light was the bridge and conference room. I built casings for the LED strips, added matte clear plastic, painted the casings in Tiny Tin and mounted them (looks crooked here as the cable was too inflexible, but I got that worked out in the end)
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After the bridge (red lights again) and conference room, I built another light set for the ATHENA mural on the rear wall.
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A nice effect I think :)

Before closing everything up, I quickly added a coat of Astronomican Grey to the ceiling and walls. At this stage the wiring still looks very cluttered :)
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Before I mounted the bridge section and glued it in place I added a coat of liquid mask to the windows.
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I will have to freshen it up before I do the actual paint job, but its a good base.

And then it was time for a lights test :D
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If you look closely you may see I added another light switch to the lower side wall.
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Aaaah :)
I think this will be great :)
Tonight I will bring order to the wiring and clean it up, then another set of lights on the left and right side of the landing pad (shining up in an angle at the STRIX aircraft), and then I can look into the remaining CIWS.
I'm very exited that this project is finally nearing completion.
Cheers

Klaus
 
Klaus,
This is one of the most fantastic projects I have seen in quite some time. Looking forward to watching your work here evolve.
 
This just gets better and better mate, brilliant

Gag

(Thanks for the compliment by the way, you flatter me sir)
 
Thank you for your feedback and welcome to all the new passengers of this little journey :D

Today is the last post about lighting the ATHENA ;)
Here are the last two lights, for the landing pad.
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I tried to give the lights housing a kind of steampunky touch, to make it fit with the rest of the ship. The lights are slightly angled, so the should shine up to the STRIX aircraft. From top you can also see that I used one of the housings to cover the light switch :)
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Lights out!
Spot on!
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Nice!

As you may have seen, there is a slight lights "spillage" around the bridge. The reason is that the plastic warped a bit over the months in storage, so the bridge superstructure is not 100% flush against the lower section. So I've build a little border that seals everything, without looking too much out of place.
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Now the bridge section is "lights tight" :)

I've also glued the HYDRA gun mounts in position and this face means business :)
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Obviously this wouldn't be complete without rivets. Vik asked me if I always measure my rivet positions. And I have to admit yes I do. Especially for such a huge model like the ATHENA I don't want to come back later and discover some uneven spacing of the rivets that may spoil the whole show.
But I also have a little helper.
It is made of thin (.25mm) plastic cards, very flexible and I have drawn a 5mm and 10mm scale on the two sides. Since it is so flexible it is very easy to mark the spacing.
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Some final images
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And last not least I was looking at a way to cover-up the other lights switch. So I removed two of the portholes, and positioned an old console that I've built for the aircraft version a few years (gasp!) ago.
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Next will be either the remaining CIWS or the engines and rotors...
and then a million of rivets...sigh... :)
Cheers

Klaus
 

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