die Sturmadler

For the launch of Amazing War Stories, I am going to run an Airship Over the Ardennes game at Historicon 2006. But to do that, I need to build the "airship" of the title. You'll be able to follow my progress here. And after some forum and Yahoo Group discussion, the shp has been renamed the Sturmadler . (Click on any of the images for a larger version.)

I started off with my base size. The airship is going to be 4 feet long by 2 feet wide. I wanted it this big, because whereas other games may include an airship in them, for this game, the airship is going to be the game board. The top piece is 1.25" thick and the smaller, bottom piece is 2" thick. There are two 28mm figures sitting on the board so you can get an idea of scale for this piece.

After, getting the base part done, it was time to work on the "gas bag." I wracked my brain on this one. I wanted something that would look like the skin of a zeppelin. I wandered up and down the aisles of Home Depot looking for inpiration and found myself in the garden section. There I found a 5 ft. roll of chicken wire. Inspiration struck and I found a roll that had squares that seemed the right size for what I wanted.

Now, to get the shape I wannted, I cut two semi-circle pieces out of MDF. I needed something sturdy as the wire, even when flattened, had a tendency to curl. The main body of what would be the gas bag was then stapled to the MDF. A second piece was cut to shape the nose of the gas bag. This was also then stapled to the MDF. I can't tell you exactly how I cut the nose, because a lot of it was trial and error and trimming pieces off until it seemed to fit correctly. The picture to the right shows Field Marshall Kluge inspecting his new airship.

Time was running out when I finally got the wire to shape, so I will continue with construction of the gas bag over the weekend at which time I will take paper towel, soaked in glue and lay it across the surface. This should give me something close to the look of zeppelin skin once painted.

Finally, here is a shot of one of the propellers (since hydrogen along is not going to keep this bad boy in the air). There will be eight total, four on the side and facing down and four in the back. This is one of the side ones. There are three parts to this engine, all the way to the left is a simple 1" PVC elbow bought from the plumbing section of the hardware store; the center piece is a "plug" that came from a 60" roll of large format printer paper (I'd been collecting these things for years, waiting to find a use for them); and finally there is the propeller, which I took from one of those cheap balsa wood airplanes (the clerk in the store thought I was nuts coming up to the register with an armful of these things.) The elbow and the plug are held together with hot glue and for the propeller I drilled a small hole and stuck the wire that came with it in. I still need to clip the hook at the end of the wire (it was used to hold the elastic band) and add some more stuff to the gaps on the plug. But, that is basically the side engine.

 

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