Is there a way of reviving this forum even without Alex's active involvement? There are several interesting themes based on the original intent that we could discuss. And it's less crowded.
Great news, H. I kept visiting and heard only echoes.
No news of Alex. I suppose.
If the business is in hiatus, I wonder if we can get some production work going again or, at the very least, get something going in the Hall of Heroes or the Shanghai rooms.
At the moment my chief interests are in Pulp extending from the 1890s to the 1960s.
I've been trying to design a timeline and plot around a series of events and odd moments in Australian history.
The climax is based on Donald Campbell's Bluebird land speed record on Lake Eyre in South Australia - a major event at the time but now a bit forgotten.
The overall theme is about transformations, mechanical and human. Alex's stuff from the Shanghai project would have been perfect for where I wanted it to go. in period between the wars.
Another area of interest is WW2 espionage (Jedburghs, PWE, OSS etc)
At the moment my chief interests are in Pulp extending from the 1890s to the 1960s.
I've been trying to design a timeline and plot around a series of events and odd moments in Australian history.
The climax is based on Donald Campbell's Bluebird land speed record on Lake Eyre in South Australia - a major event at the time but now a bit forgotten.
The overall theme is about transformations, mechanical and human. Alex's stuff from the Shanghai project would have been perfect for where I wanted it to go. in period between the wars.
Another area of interest is WW2 espionage (Jedburghs, PWE, OSS etc)
What type of sculpts? I'm intested in commisdioning some 28mm figures based on some Australian themes if possible. I'm also looking at the Cisco Kid and Pancho.
Some fantasy (which is where and why I started sculpting in the first place) and quite a bit of modern horror (zombies and survivors). I like to think I am flexible :)
Some of my work here: http://www.displacedminiatures.com/Kayl_MacLaren/gallery/1004/
Unfortunately, there is no way to sort, so it's old and new mixed. They are all dated, though.
I've been trying to design a timeline and plot around a series of events and odd moments in Australian history.
The climax is based on Donald Campbell's Bluebird land speed record on Lake Eyre in South Australia - a major event at the time but now a bit forgotten.
The overall theme is about transformations, mechanical and human. Alex's stuff from the Shanghai project would have been perfect for where I wanted it to go. in period between the wars.
Details? That would be telling! There must be a little mystery attached.
I can give you one strand.
The Bluebird CN7 was raced by Donald Campbell on Lake Eyre (South Australia) in 1964. It had been fully rebuilt after a bad crash on Lake Bonneville (Utah) a year before.
Not that far away from Lake Eyre, the Aus-Brit rocket testing range of Woomera was testing things like the Jindivik missile and over-the-horizon radar. South Australia was also one of the preferred nuclear testing sites for the British.
There was a lot of concern at the time that Adelaide, SA's capital might cop some fallout from these tets. One agronomist was particularly asertive about it. (Some fallout did fall on them during these tests but the winds were favourable fortunately)
Now a bit of a flashback. After the start of the Cold War, the British did an analysis on the survivability of the Britsih Army on the Rhine (BAOR), Best estimates gave it a lifespan of 48 hrs to ten days if the Soviets invaded. The British didn't want another Dunkirk so they were worried.
Then a bright spark came up with a "good idea". If they stationed ten or so nuclear land mines in a line of retreat from Germany to the coast, they could fall back behind each detonation to give them more evacuation time.
They actually built a few of these little charmers before someone wondered if anyone had asked the Germans, Belgians, French, Danes etc etc. how they might feel about being irradiated to help the British Army escape.
No one had. The project was quietly dropped. (You can find one of them on display in Britain, by the way)
Now the connection.
Where would you test these land mines? An out-of-the-way place you have already used.
What if you built it for testing and the plan was dropped? You'd bury it in the out-of-the way place.
What would you do if world attention was being focused on the very place you buried this thing? You'd try to get it away.
How do you transport an embarassing diplomatic military blunder out of a sovereign country. Ask one of the most patriotic men of the period to help in an audacious smuggling operation.
The car was the Bluebird. The nuclear land mine was called the Blue Peacock. True.
...and that's just one strand
-- Edited by starkadder on Sunday 6th of November 2011 11:31:57 AM
That's part of the problem. Talysman. I have read a heap of stuff on the Bluebird and Sr Donald Campbell. I think it would be a cracker of a book or a film.
I haven't even worked in some of the very weird stuff yet. It's strange enough as it is. The British tested over seven hundred devices out here in Australia. God knows what's really still about.
"It is most gratifying," it said, "that your enthusiasm for our planet continues unabated, and so we would like to assure you that the guided missiles currently converging with your ship are part of a special service we extend to all of our most enthusiastic clients, and the fully armed nuclear warheads are of course merely a courtesy detail. We look forward to your custom in future lives ... thank you."
