That's a really good point, I'll have to do that then. Thanks!

Yesterday I got some sculpting done on the prows ...

I have smoothed, rounded and added bulk to the wing on the "right" as facing, in addition the second prow received its first layer for what obviously is going to be a fish according to my daughter: -



I have also filled in the leading wing edge on the "left" as facing side, I also



Here you can see the view from the top .. note the longer shadows on the "right as facing" side ... indicating the thicker wings. This added a subconcious unbalancing of the wings from this view, everytime I look at it I want to hurry up and bulk out the other side wings to restore the balance.



Somebody asked about the relative size of the sculpting tools I used, having seen the perfect touch tools photo's ... here is a picture showing the tools in question



On the top is my home made mini-wax carver #5 ... basically metal bashed with a hammer and ground with a grinder, its about 1/10th the size of the the Wax Carver #5 beneath it. finally at the bottom is the Perfect touch tool most like a Wx Carver #5 which is tiny compared to both of them. Each of these tools has a place in my sculpting work depending on the level of detail sought.

Lastly, Horizon, the editor of "Warp Rift" and all round BFG stalwart was curious to see my light cruiser body with the Zeus prow, so here it is: -



... I think it looks too stubby! What do you think?

I added the head to the eagle on the first prow last night, turned out to be a bit fiddly but it worked out ok in the end.

I carved the shape in plasticard and then built up the neck and shoulder area using greenstuff. I find mixed greenstuff/plasticard hard to see clearly in photo's but here it is anyway, when cast into resin and all the same colour it will be seamless. All that remains on prow 1 eagle is two wings on the left facing side need to be filled out and the top edge on both wings added.



I need to do some filing to the back of the head to get the shape right and am waiting on the greenstuff to set hard before doing so.

In addition I added the eagles fan tail on the second prow as well, need to tidy it up but I got the shape right in the end. The rest of the body shape has been roughed out, the wings, chest, feet and head need to be done still .. a long way to go on a more detailed eagle on the second prow.

Well unfortunately I seem to get the same cold / sneezing / coughing that the rest of my family and friends had, so today I spend at home taking it easy in bed.

So most of today's stuff was done yesterday or in about a 1hour window where I did some modelling this morning.

First up I added the top edge to the wing on both sides of the prow so it is now officially completed. I will be moulding it tomorrow along with the superstructure, a turret and a sphere, which will let me use one mould to do the complete prow and all options for that prow. Now this prow (the master) is completed I will move back into the weapons area of the battleship, which will be a LOT less sculpting and a lot more plasticard work (and therefore much faster). I will continue to work on the other prows alongside the main parts of the Battleship, but they are not cruicial..



You will also notice an odd purple ship next to the Prow, this is an out of production Nicassar Dhow for the Tau fleet. I had planned to complete my imperial fleet and then invest in a FW tau fleet as I LOVE the look of their ships and noticed that the Dhow was in the proposed 2010 rules for the Tau and in the Armada book also. When I looked at the cost of buying my fleet I noticed the Dhow was no longer made and could not find them anywhere. Eventually someone on eBay had them so I bought them at the ludicrous price of 7 for £68, which should be more than enough for my needs, I might even sell some of them.



Lastly, have you ever doodled with a pen and paper while thinking ... well last night I was doodling with green stuff while watching Fringe and found that I had come up with something vaguely resembling a cherub, then I had an interesting idea about cherubs! ... so I set about finishing off the cherub, he still isn't done yet but I am getting the feeling of the shape, so will complete him and cast him up for a side project that is also 40k related. Oddly with an unfinished face he almost feels menacing.

Is the cherub just leaning against your second prow or is it attached to the prow? Anyways, it's looking great!

I'm excited to see some body work for your BB, so I hope you feel better soon!

I'm a little confused about this statement you made however, "the proposed 2010 rules for the Tau and in the Armada book also." Forgive my noobyness here, but what are these proposed 2010 rules? Where can I find them or when do they come out?
I still haven't read through all of the GW resources for BFG but I don't know if I've seen the Armada book either.

EDIT: Ahh, I'm betting the Armada book is where the "Tau Fleets" article on the GW site came from. It mentions Dhows in there in two sections with points and stats for taking them. Still not sure where to find the proposed 2010 rules though.

You can find them on the specialist games forum

http://www.sg.tacticalwargames.net/forum/index.php

Exactly, faq2010, marines, tau, eldar haven, rogue traders.

_________________
Light at the Horizon.

Warp Rift
Project Distant Darkness
Eldar MMS

GothiComp Hall of Fame
http://www.tacticalwargames.net/taccmd/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=19176

Ahh, I didn't know that forum existed! Thank you both

Well I got distracted with yesterdays cherub ... significantly distracted. I started envisioning a busy command deck ... in typical anachronistic Imperial style there would be a large table with servitors moving ornate models of ships around using long poles to represent the current battle. Like you see in WWII movies showing air battles take place.

Once the idea had gotten into my head I had to try and make an ornate base for my models something very different from what I had normally seen. Using some rolled thin greenstuff I sculpted a banner waving in the wind and used ultrathin superglue to coat it (hardening it and creating a gloss surface). Here is the banner ..



You can see a number of cracks in the banner, where it was put under pressure for moulding.

Once I had the banner ... and the cherub(s) (I made another one) ... I set about casting them so I could make these two shots ... obviously they need painting as does the banner. but I can already see the name of the ship in my minds eye ... being held aloft by small cherubs as the "Ship" is moved using a long pole on the "battlefield" by a servitor.




With a ship



There is still more to do on the bases ... but I am getting there .. slowly!

I must admit when I first saw it all assembled it had a definate 40k feeling about it ...

Love that idea!

A quiet Saturday trying to recover led to nothing getting done modelling-wise ... and I had a friend coming down on Sunday for a day of playing the Horus Heresy Boardgame. Which I must admit much to my surprise was excellent!

Lets take stock of the project and its aims shall we: -

Stage 1. Finish completely 7 cruisers (3 Light, 4 Normal). This involved creating the light cruiser using a mixture of kitbashing and scratchbuilding.
Stage 2. Scratchbuild a Battleship in the same style as the Cruisers.
Stage 3. Build Escorts in a similar style to the others.

Stage 1 & 2 have overlapped slightly as I was waiting for necessary components for the basing, which have now arrived!! although the intent was to keep each stage very clearly separated.

My current list of tasks for Stage 1 are: -

1. Finish work on bases (I have one more idea to test for my bases and I am waiting for a purchase I just got the stuff I was waiting for this morning)
2. Produce banners for bases (run the mould another 6 times at least)
3. Magnetise all bases with the Ninja Magic Adapters
4. Assemble all Cruisers and finalise.

My current list of tasks for Stage 2 are: -

1. Mould the Battleship Prow
2. Reproduce 3-4 Battleship prow for experimentation
3. Start work on the battleship weapon area and keel (lots of plasticard)
4. Work on the Engine section and wings.
5. Work on the Bridge Section.

As all my components have now arrived for Stage 1, I think I will cease work on Stage 2 till all the Cruisers are based and finished.

One of my stated aims was to COMPLETE something (I am terrible at doing that) ... so this is important for me. I want a BFG fleet I can play with and build easily.

It should not take too long to do and once complete will let me focus on the Battleship!

Oh I had that with my Steel Legion Project ... real life dragged me away, but I realised I had attempted too big a project.

That is why this project is scaled appropriately and staged so that I *DO* complete something (even if not all the stages complete).