Beyond The Sprues
Current and Finished Projects => Physical Models => Scifi and Fantasy => Topic started by: Dr. YoKai on November 05, 2025, 06:51:14 AM
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The inspiration for this comes from a short data entry in a timeline of military technology from the Science Fiction role playing game, Traveller. Managed to find the relevant quote pretty easily:
LBB:4 Mercenary
"Tech level 11: All combat vehicles are now grav powered. The grav tank generally utilizes the more compact plasma A gun and/or tac missile racks. Very heavy grav tanks mount the plasma B gun. Light grav sleds are used for scouting, generally mounting tac missiles and autocannons.
Close support sleds mount VRF gauss guns and tac missiles. All vehicles have pronounced free-flight capability.
Tech level 12: All vehicles have sufficient free-flight performance that ground combat vehicles effectively no longer exist, having merged with aircraft. The primary weapon of the heavy gunships include plasma B guns, VRF gauss guns, and tac missiles. VRF gauss guns are also widely mounted on personnel carriers, as are plasma A guns.
Tech level 13: The first damper fields allow protracted storage and transportation of elements with short half-lives. The first major use of the damper field militarily is to enable the manufacture, storage, and transportation of 2 cm californium rounds, fired from auto-cannon mounts in remotely piloted drones. Each round is hollow and collapses on impact, the collapsed round having sufficient mass to go critical, thus causing a small nuclear explosion. More conventional gunships mount plasma C guns or fusion X guns along with missiles.
Tech level 14: More sophisticated damper fields render the californium drones obsolete.
Gunships now carry fusion Y guns or rapid pulse X guns.
From here: https://www.travellerrpg.com/threads/grav-tanks.7348/ (https://www.travellerrpg.com/threads/grav-tanks.7348/)
Started with this pile of parts-
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54901712387_364f8d7d6f_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2rDtCm4)DSCF1250 (https://flic.kr/p/2rDtCm4) by VileDr.Yo (https://www.flickr.com/photos/46965833@N07/), on Flickr
Got this done over the last two days-
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54902585036_cb7a30e1d3_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2rDy6KJ)DSCF1251 (https://flic.kr/p/2rDy6KJ) by VileDr.Yo (https://www.flickr.com/photos/46965833@N07/), on Flickr
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54901712377_96e1f9a0c4_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2rDtCkT)DSCF1252 (https://flic.kr/p/2rDtCkT) by VileDr.Yo (https://www.flickr.com/photos/46965833@N07/), on Flickr
This is 1/35 scale.
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This looks exciting already :smiley:
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Very different! I’ll be watching.
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This looks exciting already :smiley:
It does indeed :smiley:
And those californium rounds are at that intersection between intriguing and creepy :o
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This does look good! Why even fire the Californium? Just sprinkle it on the ground and let the ridiculous amount of neutrons it emits do the job.
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This does look good! Why even fire the Californium? Just sprinkle it on the ground and let the ridiculous amount of neutrons it emits do the job.
Like a lot of things, it is the sheer goofiness of the concept that appeals to me. A 20mm Davy Crockett? What's not to love?
This is actually a very old concept on my bench. Back in the 1980s, a company called Gamescience released a series of Star Trek ship in
styrene plastic. I had several, including the 'Dreadnought', which had a slightly thicker saucer section. I used that to create a earlier, smaller
version of this build with a turret fashioned from a spare aircraft wheel and some landing gear bits. I know it is still lurking in storage someplace in
the shop...
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... A 20mm Davy Crockett? What's not to love? ...
;D ;D
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Getting closer, but the weather and the holidays have slowed things down a bit. Still first primer is on, and if I can get one more warmish day, I should be able to finsh...as soon as I can settle on a paint scheme.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54949434732_c2268ebbc9_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2rHGdx7)DSCF1267 (https://flic.kr/p/2rHGdx7) by VileDr.Yo (https://www.flickr.com/photos/46965833@N07/), on Flickr
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54950321581_b4ddb5baac_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2rHLLaB)DSCF1266 (https://flic.kr/p/2rHLLaB) by VileDr.Yo (https://www.flickr.com/photos/46965833@N07/), on Flickr
I know it is not Thanksgiving for a lot of the folks on here, But I am mighty thankful for all my friends at BTS.
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That's coming along nicely, Doc! :smiley:
Happy Thanksgiving! :D
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That is so right to my eye.. :smiley: :smiley:
And a happy Thanksgiving to you too
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Looks great! The two little vents on the lower right look like googly eyes!
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Love it! :smiley:
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I haven't been completely idle, but the weather hasn't been good. Too cold, even with the small space heater running, but there were a couple of days just warm enough to get some primer on.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55017842909_205b589188_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2rPJPUr)DSCF1274 (https://flic.kr/p/2rPJPUr) by VileDr.Yo (https://www.flickr.com/photos/46965833@N07/), on Flickr
and the masks I used for a simple 'dazzle' pattern paint scheme. That's done, but I haven't taken pictures yet.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55016697897_7159d483e2_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2rPCXwR)DSCF1278 (https://flic.kr/p/2rPCXwR) by VileDr.Yo (https://www.flickr.com/photos/46965833@N07/), on Flickr
Happy New Year, friends and colleagues!
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A primer coat always brings things together! Did you cut the pattern on an old phone/tablet?
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Yes, it's an old Kindle, or another one of those ebook readers that came into vogue awhile back. It was actually given to me by a fellow commuter when I was still riding the train to work in Austin about seven or eight years ago. I used it for about two weeks when it suddenly glitched while charging, and a trip to B&N discovered that they (1) didn't replace batteries and (2) couldn't repair them and would I like to buy a replacement? So I've used it as a handy cutting surface ever since... ???
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https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xq92oz (https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xq92oz)
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gives WH40K tau drone vibes.
super cool
.
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Just about there. The attempt a dazzle could be better, but I'm not going to get enough of a break in the weather to do much more than this.
It does blend in fairly well with the rest of the workbench... :D
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55035861950_ff64056595_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2rRkbky)DSCF1279 (https://flic.kr/p/2rRkbky) by VileDr.Yo (https://www.flickr.com/photos/46965833@N07/), on Flickr
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:smiley:
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The splinter pattern looks very good (and effective)
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What model ? ;D
I reckon it works pretty well as well.
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Regrettably, due to weather and some other issues, I was unable to finish on time. If I could get this thread moved to the Science Fiction builds section, I'd appreciate it.
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Love the dazzle pattern. Has a bit of a Simon Stalenhag Electric State/Tales from the Loop vibe.
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And finished. It's been a Winter...
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55151588636_59c5541304_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2s2yiRf)DSCF1308 (https://flic.kr/p/2s2yiRf) by VileDr.Yo (https://www.flickr.com/photos/46965833@N07/), on Flickr
Some kill markings on the fin. There's a few stencils scattered about as well.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55151821424_94356eedcb_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2s2zv3Q)DSCF1310 (https://flic.kr/p/2s2zv3Q) by VileDr.Yo (https://www.flickr.com/photos/46965833@N07/), on Flickr
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55151964730_eb6b657251_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2s2AeDC)DSCF1311 (https://flic.kr/p/2s2AeDC) by VileDr.Yo (https://www.flickr.com/photos/46965833@N07/), on Flickr
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:smiley:
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Top job, Doc! :smiley: :smiley:
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It came out great! The camo pattern reminds me of Chris Foss' work
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It came out great! The camo pattern reminds me of Chris Foss' work
High praise indeed!
Thanks for the compliments, Colleagues! Off of Doctor's appointment in Richmond this morning (Routine visit to the Urologist-the usual old dude thing.) but I will have a couple of new builds up by the weekend.
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Excellent build, love it !
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Mog
>^-.-^<
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Thanks!