Sunday, October 3, 2010

Victorian (Meiji?) Sci Fi/Steampunk Airship

Thanks to a recent TMP post about a VSF airship, I'm thinking of converting a toy airship into something to carry my Boxer Rebellion/RJW figures. I think the toy has something to do with Yugio cards or toys. I salvaged it out of my neighbor's garbage when I stationed in Korea some years ago. No, I didn't dig into their trash or anything like that. We shared a common trash can area and it was sitting on top of their trash bin. This was about six or seven years ago, and the thing has been collecting dust in a closet ever since.

Here it is next to a couple of 25mm Old Glory Boxer Rebellion Japanese troops.
It actually opens up - that's a latch on the side of it. I think I'll remove the top and bottom pieces. Then I'll have to construct some sort of gondola below it to carry figures. There was a really cool-looking VSF airship displayed at a local convention here several years ago. I believe it's the same one in the picture posted by Micman in the TMP link above.

Here are a few illustrations of VSF/Steampunk airships that I quickly found on the internet.
This one has some potential ideas that may be incorporated into the project.
I should mention that I've never played VSF before, although there is a big following here in the local area. I've even passed up quite a few games recently. I will need to get into one of these games soon.

UPDATE: The top portion of the ship has been removed. Although it looks like a nice deck for weapons systems, most of the VSF airships appear to be clean on top. The hinges were sawed off from the starboard side. Bluefoam, or something similar, will be added and shaped to have the lines flush where the two items have been removed.
 Upside down, it looks like a pretty fat submarine.

4 comments:

  1. Really interesting find, what an excellent toy! It's great when we finally find a use for 1 of those items we stashed away in the "this will come in handy some day" pile.

    I have no idea what VSF is so I will go look it up.

    After seeing how well your Samurai project turned out I'm very interest to see how your latest project developes.

    Cheers
    Paul

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  2. Paul:

    Thanks for your encouragement. I must admit that I know very little of VSF - except for what I've seen & read posted here and there on the internet. Also, there was a small article on it in a recent issue of Miniature Wargames (#328). This should be another way to get my figures in a game. We'll have to see about Martians & Venusians, though - never have done this stuff before. Regards, Dean

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  3. A potentially rich field for wargaming here Dean - you could get in on the ground floor here and do the rule set for it, some fantasy figures (I'm thinking Victoriana types would fit the bill nicely) and all manner of Heath Robinson type airship contraptions and weaponry.

    I'm always intrigued to see the next eclectic wargaming thing you're into! This could be the best (i.e. most interesting) one yet!

    Cheers,
    Doc

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  4. Thanks, Doc; Now I'm thinking of just leaving the top deck as part of the ship and adding guns to it. This will simplify the project and make it more apt to be completed ;)! Regards, Dean

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