Hive Queen & Country

The first of the Heavy Troop Ships is almost ready for the table top.

Flying over the Jungle one of Her Majesty's Flying Ships sports a tropical white paint scheme

This has been a very complex build. It started as a quick and cheap conversion of the old Disney Toy. When the toys went on sale I picked up a total of five of them, which will make for a good sized sqaudron. I was originally building it as a liftwood flyer for Space 1889. Once Hive, Queen and Country took on its own life I repurposed the build.  I game in 15mm so this is a “big” ship, 11 inches long so over 100 feet long in scale. The original toy is a bit “chunchy”.  I would have perfered a hull about 20% longer in proportion, but had to work with what I had.

Here is the final parts list:

• Aqua Evac Toy
• Four 1:87 scale M270 MLRS kits-Use the rocket launchers from each and the front cab from two kits https://www.3000toys.com/catalog/products.asp?TYPE=-&MFG=BOLEY&ORDER=P&SCALE=1/87&setup=
• Two Airfix 1:76 scale British WW1 Tanks, at least one must be a Male tank http://www.airfix.com/airfix-products/military-vehicles/tanks/a01315-wwi-male-tank-a01315/
• One 1:87 scale Saladin armored car (or alternatively one Airfix 1:76 scale Centurian tank)-Use the rear decking
• Wings from a 1:48 Ryan Spirit of St Louis-used to make masters for a resin airfoil http://www.revell.com/
• Wings from a 1:72 Ryan Spirit of St Louis-used to make masters for a resin airfoil http://www.testors.com/
• Two 15mm scale Bishop turrets from Gaming Miniatures Inc. http://www.gamodls.com/
• Four 15mm scale Humber armored car turrets-regunned with 1 pdr pom poms
• Various Micro Engineering HO and N scale girder plates http://microengineering.com/
• Various Platstrut pieces http://www.plastruct.com/
• Brass Rod
• Brass Tubing
• Various ship fittings from HR http://www.hrprod.com/fittings.html
• Corsec Engineering omni stand and hex base http://corseceng.com/
• Two muffin fans from dead computers
• Two sets of various plastic gears
• Acrylic sqaure rod
• Green Stuff plastic putty
• Super Glue

Tools used:

• 2 Inch cut off saw
• 6 inch cut off saw
• Drill
• Drill press
• Various hobby knives
• Files
• Sandpaper
• Clamps

Assembly and Modification of the Aqua Evac

The Aqua Evac comes in a box set that includes parts and such for various versions that can be assembled into a number of ways. Assemble the parts for the standard submarine version. This is a toy so be ready for some poor fitting.  The Hull will be made up of nine peices. Each side is made of a front and a rear section. The bottom consists of a flat peice and a bow ramp. The top has the deck and deckhouse moulded as a single piece. An upper door for the bow ramp is at the forward end and a large boxy structure is the aft end of the hull. A variety of propellors, fins and such come with the kit. They can all go into the parts box. The surface details will be used to the fullest. The toy’s fins were mounted on the sides and the fittings will be reused to mount the rocket batteries. There is a fitting on each side aft that I drilled out for the shaftes for the stabilators. I drilled them out to 1/8 inch, so I could run in brass rod. There were two holes in the aft section that are perfect for the drive shaftes of the propellers. A number of other holes exist in the upper deck. Fill those in with Green Stuff or cover them with fittings such as hatches. Gun turrets will be mounted on this surface so several of the holes will get covered by or drilled out to take the turrets.

Rear hull panels from a pair of Airfix WW1 tanks cover holes in the hull of the toy and add detail and texture

N Scale girder from Micro Engineering covers another hull and again adds interest and texture

Bottom of an Airfix tank hull becomes the front plate of the lander, glued in just below the ramp

Bottom hull of the toy with Airfix parts in place. The hole in the center will be used for the Corsec Engineering flight stand

Here are a number of pictures taken showing how the various parts I took from the Airfix WW1 Tanks kits. The kit provides a hull rear plate I used two of them to cover the holes in the lower aft hull of the toy . I cut the bottom of the Airfix tank hull as a front plate under the ramp.

MLRS Cabs cut and glued together to form the bridge of the heavy lander

The MLRS cabs were cut off their hulls. Two cabs were used, cut them to size so they can cover the entire front of the deck house when glued together. Cover the sides of the deck house with Micro Engineering HO scale bridger girders. Cover the slots in the rear hull sides with the N scale girder plates.

I will continue the step by step in the next installment