Siluria - A Scratch Build

So, with the 2010 FAQ and additional ships just out there floating around awaiting a GW stamp and post, I decided my Battlefleet needed a Siluria Class Light Cruiser.  It's a nice light cruiser all around.

I thought a Siluria should be a bit smaller than a Dauntless, considering it doesn't need space for torpedo or lance systems.

The first thing I did was draw up a picture of about what I thought the vessel should look like.  It's pretty fast, so it should have lots of engines.  It's a light cruiser, so it should not be too large, etc.  The main things were fist, the prow, and second the weapons batteries.  Since it's an early Imperial ship design, I did not want to make the prow as large as some of the newer light cruisers.  With the Dauntless as my guide I drew up this narrower smaller prow.  For the weapons batteries I wasn't sure if I was going to make it compatible with the GW sprues or make my own. I drew both.

Next, I cut out the basic hull shape from plasticard, here it is with a Dauntless for comparison.  Slightly shorter, but a bit taller.

Next I went to work on the prow, when I make a prow I first cut out the shapes I want for the profile, the top, the bottom and the back.  Then I fill this with milliput.  Once that has cured I sand it all smooth.

I decided to make my own weapons batteries.  Onto a rectangle of plasticard I glued pieces of sprue and then used mostly strip styrene to add details. The guns themselves are 2 thick small pieces of plasticard which I drilled holes into.

The next thing I did was make the "wing," a common feature of Imperial Navy vessels. It's practically all plasticard and strip styrene, along with some Aquilas and GW kit antennas.

Today, I started out by beginning to bulk up the hull.  I added width to the rear section, added the vertical "wing" and the engine exhausts. No details yet.

I also added the piping to the prow, along with some etched brass eagle's wings.  I decided against an eagle's head or skull on the fact it's an older Imperial ship and they tended not to have such things based on what is shown as chaos ships.

Lastly here is a shot of the whole thing blue-tacked together.

I still need to finish detailing and fleshing out the hull, and add some details to the engines.  I will have to detail the bottom of the prow as well.  The most major thing I have to do is to build the bridge.  In order to duplicate the weapons battery, as well as this ship as I would like more than one, I will be getting a casting kit from the hobby shop sometime soon.

Hope you enjoyed the post, that's all I have for today.