Part One: Concept
No, not from the 1958 film , but more of a metaphor. Now it is (finally) time to introduce the culprit (which inadvertently), contributed to the death of dioramas as I stated in a previous post. I have had this concept in the back of my mind for many years now. A battleship, or land ship of some kind to traverse the dune seas of the deserts. Perhaps in the Gundam Universe, or some thing in the vein of SF3D (Maschinen Kreiger Zbv 3000). But since most of the raw material came from a WW2 German Battleship kit, I chose to make it part of that 2092 (formerly 2042) universe I was creating. Here's a not so artsy image of the model:
The Gotterdammerung (Twilight of the Gods) is a large land battleship named after Richard Wagner's Opera of the same name. (I think I had some "Iron Sky" influence in there too!). The completed model is 21" long, 6" wide (at the beam), and 8" high (top of antennae array). At a scale of 1/220, the "real" ship is 115m x 33m x 42m. It is the flagship and the ultimate weapon of the WusteKriegsmarine, and a has a top speed of 100 km (54 knots) in the open desert. Propulsion is based on the rediscovered technology lost at the end of WW2, when the Haunebu saucers were being designed. The ship generates intense magnetic fields using atomic fusion motors. It moves forward, backwards, side to side, and can spin. Unfortunately due to the recoil of the 3 main guns, the ship has to be immobile when firing, but this is not applicable to the many smaller projectile and energy weapons.
I regard this model as a "Bastard from Outer Space", an unholy union of the Star Destroyer and a SF3D Nutrocker, (or its larger relative the Nutcracker). So rather than refer to this as a battleship, I think "Sand Destroyer" (Sandzerstorer) might be a more applicable term to use from now on. But to save time & typing, we'll just call it Big G!
Part Two: Construction
In my vast inventory of models and raw materials, I had an Academy kit of the German Battleship Tirpitz (sister ship to the Bismarck) at 1/350 scale kicking around. Originally I was going to make a diorama based on the ships of the anime series "Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet" (as I had some other ship models and hull bits laying about), but it would have been more of a commitment than I was willing to invest and would have taken up a lot of space. I'd been trying to sell the kit at various toy & model shows for the past few years but with no success. So I decided to keep it and make it into something else... I also had a half dozen surplus vacu-form shells from a work related project way back in the 20th...
The styrene shell is actually one half of the finished product; it was a new building my company was working on at the time. Built in the good old days of blueprints and hand crafting, a wood mold was made and several were run until a suitable cast was made. (Good for me as I got all the left overs!). The deck of the model ship was in three convenient sections, as it was designed to be removed from the hull to access batteries and motors. (Yes it was made to float). I then took this main deck and integrated it into the bullet shaped form.
I found using a hot knife to cut out the section worked best. I then applied filler putty to the seams and sanded them smooth. From this point on it was many days of building on the model with mostly parts from the kit. I added a hump section to accommodate another large gun (the original piece only had turrets for two) using a craft scoop (that magenta thingy) from the good ole dollar store. The superstructure was built using the supplied parts but I put them together in the proper way and not the wrong way as in the plans; backwards, upside down, other locations, etc. Cranes were modified, a landing pad installed, and more guns added from other battleship kits I had around. I decided not to model the underside, as it would not be visible most times anyway.
The stern had a feature added, which will be discussed later in the blog. The large and medium guns were left off so they could be rotated and painted. Large numbers of those tank treads greeblies were used liberally all over the model. Some as details, and some for use in the superstructure as shield plates. (Once this ship starts moving the sand and rocks fly around quite freely!) Those teeth on the front (which came from some packaging), were inspired by U-boats; just there for show although they could act as debris deflectors I suppose. About 80% of the model was made up from the original kit, the rest being finds from the greeblie box.
The parts are now ready to prime, so off to the spray booth. Unfortunately, I neglected to take snaps of the primer phase. I started with base grey, then a black green (which would have been dusted with rust), and then the final coat being another new favourite colour from a Vallejo rattler. Actually a fantasy colour, it was sprayed with desert yellow, which is actually closer than the official German yellow.
Part Three: Final Paint & Weathering
The deck was painted a darker yellow and some subtle highlights here and there too. But when I did a pre-assembly, it looked flat.
Obviously something this big racing around the desert is not very inconspicuous, but what the hell, the camo would look better. Utilizing the sections I made using strip styrene on the hull, I painted in some khaki and light tans. Also painted the guns which fell into these sections the same colour, and some horizontal areas in the superstructure. It looked much better now.
Incidentally, that antennae array also acts as a shield generator when the ship is not in motion; the magnetic fields would conflict otherwise. The design was inspired by some of Makoto Kobayashi's Hyperweapon Yamato variations. It was then time to decide as to what kind of weathering to do, as this is not your regular model you see on YouTube tutorials. I settled on treating this as more of a tank than a ship. A few more pics of the final model, and then we'll talk some more about weathering...
I figured rocks flying around the ship and sand storms would be the primary cause of distress on the hull and superstructure. Due to the small scale I had to make sure I didn't over do any chipping; it still had to look somewhat realistic. Instead of sponge painting the chipping I "drew" the damaged areas with coloured pencils (black and dark grey) and a fine black marker. But it was easy to get carried away. After a few hours it looked like measles, so I had to come up with a better plan.
I changed to streak effects and long strips of chipping and scratching. Using sandpaper and a wire brush, I removed a lot of the "blackheads" and distressed the model down to the primer coat in some places. The bow taking the most damage obviously. I also added more streaks with that grey pencil.
Once I was satisfied with the scratches, I turned my attention to bringing out the details, adding streaking and some other minor distress. Because of the size of the model, I thought washes would not be suitable. Instead I used pigments premade from Vallejo and made my own from the pastel collection. (This way I can mix the colours better). Various shades of brown, yellow, grey and black were used. It gets a little messy but I think the results are better and you have more control. If overdone, an eraser takes care of the problem.
Graphics were minimal. A few small ones out of the decal box here and there, and I decided to use the flag supplied in the original model. The single marking of the NDA was made from three separate transfers. The nameplate for the ship was 3D printed, although the original file was made in 3D Builder and dry brushed gold.
In some of those shots of the upper deck, you may have noticed the presence of a small aircraft. That is the Arado AR 346 Fledermaus spy plane. I made it by Frankensteining the aircraft from the model and a small fighter from one of those Bandai Yamato Mechanic kits. It is a VTOL used for reconnaissance. I used pontoons instead of skids or wheels as they would work better on the sea of sand.
It has a 1.5" wingspan, and I painted it based on previous North Africa aircraft camo. When not in use, the plane is stored below deck. And that is a good seque to the next part, which was directly responsible for this concept spiraling out of control.
I waffled about this for quite some time, whether or not to include a cargo bay in the ship. I was about to scrap the idea when I stumbled on a die cast truck, specifically a garbage truck in the good ole dollar store. It was about four inches long and the door was operable. So I integrated it into the stern of the ship.
Now that the ship had a back door for cargo, I need something to bring it supplies, and that is how the Schnecke was born. The door, when lifted, is held up by two brass rods (fake hydraulics), the crane frame is inserted into a slot in the back, and a ramp (made from a window shim no less) makes the final touch. All these parts are kept separate in the "toy box" for this series.
Minimal detail inside with just a veneer of textured styrene sheet for the walls and some minor greeblies. I decided not to put lights in the bay. So this is were all cargo (and the Fledermaus) goes in and out of the Big G. Extra work but now it has more play value! But how is the cargo transferred you ask? The Schnecke off loads the containers (or whatever) onto motorized palettes, which are then sent inside the ship by the LoadMaster. I 3D printed the cargo buggies by combining some "Space:1999" moon buggy and "Alien" floor tile files; they were actually made for "Cargo: 2023", but they worked out just fine!
Part Four: Free Range Sand Destroyer
This next section has lots of surveillance pics of the Big G in it's natural habitat. Our dedicated NAU spies spent many hours out in the field, hiding amongst the rocks & bushes to get these shots for the MoD. (I think they were Twitchers before the war...)
One day the lads got lucky. They stumbled upon a re-supply mission out in the desert. A Schnecke and one Nachtschecke had arrived fully loaded.
They managed to see the large port crane amidships moving some crates. Rather than risk getting closer, they have a small nano-drone which is disguised as a budgerigar, and they sent that in to do a few quick flyovers.
And they got even luckier! Once the operation was done on the port side, the large door at the stern opened up and some 6-wheeled buggies trundled out....
Couldn't pass up another opportunity! The budgie went out for a few more flyovers.
The wings on the Fledermaus can fold (but I'm done doing more variations on this project!). I'm sure this ship has a few more surprises in the future as well.
And that is the story of the Gotterdammerung. All in all I am satisfied as how it turned out, and I learned a few more weathering techniques in the process. But we are far from finished with this scenario... Currently I have two more models in progress on the workbench. Which is followed by another five in pre-production (bashing and 3D printing). And I still have five more of those bullet shaped shells lying around. Can you say blimp? I wonder if I will ever get back to the trains...
Good night and...
