WIP - French Cloudship on Mars

Ironclad Miniatures in the UK have a nifty small Martian Cloudship available that I'm modifying for use by the French on Mars.

To begin, the French colony doesn't have the ship building capacity which the British enjoy in Syrtis Major. With a limited ability to build modern aerial gunboats, the authorities in Idaeus Fons must improvise, and the French-Martian Colonial Airfleet is comprised mostly of native, wooden designs in French service.

Resin bits by Ironclad Miniatures

Since my cloudship was going to be retrofitted with steam, dans la méthode des Américains, I wanted extra space for the steam engine, so I replaced the deck supplied with a new deck, cut from light balsa and basswood. The lower hull will remain the same, save for the addition of an air-screw or two.

Miniatures by Askari

Depicted for the reader's gentle delectation are four French Naval artillerymen, from Askari Miniatures. I am debating placing a half-height deck house/covered hatch in the centre, but have yet to find a model I like....

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Æronef vs. Ærial Gunboat

Discussion on The Miniatures Page encouraged me to descend into the crypt and dig out my old 25mm aerial gunboats.  These had been used for a single game of Sky Galleons of Mars back in the mid-to-late 90s.

Above is a comparison of the Ironclad Aeronef vs the smallest British "Aphid" - although I think I was building the "Penelope" as I note the plethora of Hotchkiss Revolving Cannon and a rather prominent ram.

These are made of card stock and foam core on blue DIY/Dow insulation board formers, with thin wood decking. Ship plans are available in GDWs "Cloudships and Gunboats", now available from Heliograph Publishing Inc.

I am a little embarrassed at the poor quality and lack of important detail on these scratchbuilt models - my only defense is, in may callow youth, I was rushing to finish and we only played once, because we had issues keeping the stands upright. 

Later on, a friend of mine welded the pipes to steel railway washers, which gave them more stability.  Adding a few more washers, usually of a larger size, also increased stability - though these stands shown are not yet safe for any kind of carpet. A larger 4" OD washer is needed.

Being older and wiser, nowadays I would use a flange and pipe arrangement, or else cut these from clear Lucite. I will probably exchange the black rods for clear Lucite ones.

"Look Sarge, he didn't even paint the stacks..."
"...typical..."

The current project will be to refinish this and bring it up to spec, along with several others that are currently languishing in mothballs.

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