Salamis class cruiser

from Gundam

by Ken Lim

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Silly Week 2008

 

Earth Federation's Salamis class cruiser mounted 6 mega-particle cannons, 6 twin cannon turrets, 8 bow torpedo tubes and 2 six-round missile launchers. Despite this seemingly heavy armament it proved ineffective in combat against enemy Mobile Suits (MS- basically giant robots) since it carried none of its own. Nevertheless they were built in large numbers and remained in service for decades, undergoing refits and upgrades. '221' was a one-off conversion given a reinforced lower hull and buttresses to test the utility of landing and staging cruiser fleets from planetary surfaces. '221' is seen here during the test program at Luna Base, dotted with high-viz tracking markers and docked with a cargo shuttle.

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This build started with the 80s era 1/1200 Salamis kit and much sanding.  The original curved ventral fins were discarded and 'landing supports' fabricated to fit in with the overall angular design.  Main gun turrets were bulked up with card and small squares stuck on to represent flat-panel radars.  The whole affair was sprayed grey and dirtied up with a black wash.  Bridge windows were painted red to simulate combat lighting conditions and orange decal circles  punched out.  Clear blue was pooled in the engine nozzle to show a hot fusion glow, unfortunately it is only visible with lighting.

 

The cargo shuttle was made from the arm of a too-simple Gundam kit and one of the Ball workpods supplied with the ship.  It got a silver undercoat as the yellow did not cover well. Sanding off the yellow revealed some silver and a wash made for a truly filthy craft.

The lander shuttle got white uppers and black lowers.  The tail was left unpainted so it can glue into its socket.

Ken 

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Photos and text © by Ken Lim