Builds 9: The Airship

Some more shots of my airship in progress.

First is a view out from the engineering control room onto the engine. Yes, the control board has no controls on it yet. I am looking for some good control panel textures that don't involve things like bakelite knobs and backlit dials.

The glassy sphere in the middle is a battery that is made of a substance I am not allowed to discuss, but that has a very high capacity. It can keep the ship aloft for weeks without a recharge. As it expends it is consumed from the middle out. When it starts looking like a transparent hollow glass bauble, worry.

It is linked directly to the drive system, which draws the most power, and there is a reciprocating electric engine on the far side (need to get a picture of that) to drive the mechanicals on board the ship.

It is hard to see on these shots, but the entire power source and engine arrangement rests in a cradle that looks a little fragile. In part this is because the engine does not push or pull the ship, it moves it as a unit. A benefit of field-based drive systems. It is also in part because the engine and power source are not as stable as they could be, so the cradle and lower girders are rigged to be blown out in an emergency so the engine can be ejected. Reserve power should be enough for a semi-controlled landing by carefully destabilizing the antigravity field generators. Try to land on water and try to evacuate any small craft from the lower hangar bay and seal all hatches before hitting said water. Mobility and buoyancy are both good things.