Thursday, February 26, 2009

Tramp Steamer

When you need a cargo ship for a game scenario encounter and you only have a day to put it together, added to I have never built a ship freehand you launch into a busy learning period!

What I learned from this effort will make the improved ship nicer and more multi use for encounters.

Materials are Foam core, floor tiles and card stock. The curves on the ends of the ship are done by scoring the foam core through the first piece of paper, gluing down to the tile, then covering the outer side with card stock to cover the many cuts. Hull side is 2 inches in height.

Interior shot of the below decks. The pieces of floor tile were cut to cover each room separately so that I could preload figures for the party to encounter. Hull lines and rivet patterns were applied with a fine tip black marker.







Here is the forward interior. Floor grating was cut from needle point plastic grid backing from a craft store and painted metal. Styrene piping used for pipes. Doors are not shown but held open or closed with a bit of Blue Tack paper holder during encounters.


Here is the Aft section of the below decks. My MAJOR mistake was not designating where ladders to above and below decks were.. darn those design by committee's ! I did provide for a small cargo hold in the aft though, to allow a bit more diversity in where Things might be for searching investigators. The superstructure is sectional so that it can be 1 , 2, or 3 stories tall. 1 section has a complete walk around, one has a rear balcony only.

I admit that reality of ship design and my effort do not have much in common on some points. But my design final goal was for the ship to be modular enough to stack into a single box. Pictured to the left is the ready to box stacking of all the ship parts.












3 comments:

  1. You made this in one day?
    I have taken my hat off to you sir.
    Wonderful. Do you have any pics of the Steamer in action, with crew etc?

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  2. I concur - Herculean effort for a 1-day job!

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  3. Awesome for a single day. I've been working on an aerial gunboat for more than two weeks, and its nowhere near as complete as your model, nor as large.

    Pretty much awesome for a month's work, if it comes to that.

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