Michael_C opened this issue on Dec 25, 2022 ยท 14 posts
Michael_C posted Sun, 25 December 2022 at 12:21 PM
My newest product was inspired by the cover of the John Kessel story collection The Dark Ride. The credit says "Collection of the Buffalo History Museum 1901 Pan-American Exposition photo collection Picture P36 Box 9 PAV B14". I assume that pertains to the airship because it's the main focus but it may be the background view of the exposition site. In any case the airship looks to me like a genuine 1901 conception of a future flying machine.
My version will look a lot like the cover airship but differ in many details. Here are some early views:
Michael_C posted Sun, 25 December 2022 at 2:01 PM
I did a little better searching and found the original art. It's from "the most popular ride at the fair", a Trip to the Moon. "This picture from a souvenir album of the exhibition shows the lunar transport vehicle "Luna" taking off from the Pan American Exposition and hovering over Niagara Falls ... shortly before taking off on its trip to the Moon."
Michael_C posted Mon, 26 December 2022 at 2:18 PM
The air frame reminds me of an aquatic animal or bird.
Michael_C posted Wed, 28 December 2022 at 8:35 AM
Wings. This is close to the original artwork view.
Michael_C posted Thu, 29 December 2022 at 3:48 PM
Michael_C posted Sun, 01 January 2023 at 4:10 PM
Michael_C posted Sun, 08 January 2023 at 10:18 AM
Michael_C posted Mon, 09 January 2023 at 4:06 PM
Partially textured. There'll be several MAT sets and several different airship configurations. The wings, tails and flippers are all poseable.
bwldrd posted Tue, 10 January 2023 at 9:59 AM
Like it, but that seems a bit small balloon to keep that ship afloat.
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Consider me insane if you wish, but is your reality any better?
Michael_C posted Tue, 10 January 2023 at 11:08 AM
Good observation, bwldrd. As an engineer I usually try to keep some practicality in my designs, but this time I decided to (mostly) keep to the inspiration image. I only changed the tail to make it more birdlike and the vents to make them less cartoonish. The result is impractical but still nicely retro to 1901. Some of the earliest flying machine attempts were even more impractical. Here's the original artist's impression of the moon trip vessel:
Michael_C posted Fri, 13 January 2023 at 5:00 PM
Here's a render of the pilothouse controls:
And the hatch in the process of opening:
Michael_C posted Tue, 24 January 2023 at 3:34 PM
Michael_C posted Wed, 25 January 2023 at 8:49 AM
The airship is easily reconfigured from the baseline figure:
Flying
Floating
and a swimming (sea) version
Further, the stack and vents are easily individually hidden.
Michael_C posted Thu, 26 January 2023 at 9:29 AM
Now in the Marketplace: https://www.renderosity.com/rr/mod/bcs/retro-sci-fi-airship-for-poser/158162/
