We Live To serve, we serve to live

AUXILIARY ESCORT CARRIER

THE FLUFF

                 The Golgotha rebellion had become a war of attrition. Neither side would risk an all out confrontation and so the heart of the conflict was based on commerce and its destruction. The methodology of warfare to had centred on ordnance. The problem was their were lots of convoys and few carriers. Sending a carrier to defend a few cargo ships just was not cost effective. The Shalomite rebels were the first to solve the problem. Their design expert Noah ben Shalek invented the disposable carrier. His idea was to use the bulk container vessels of which their were many and equip them with externally mounted fighter or bomber racks. These would accompany the cargo vessels squadroned with ships of the convoy. they would have the capability of launching ordnance in a one off action . The nature of the vessels meant that the ordnance could not be recovered. This was a small price to pay for the safe arrival of the transports. pilots were recovered by the use of ejectable life support pods.

                The carriers could be fitted with a mix of ordnance but the most popular was the stealth fighter/bomber  that had of course more survivability & flexibility and thus could last through various combats during an action.

  however mixes of all fighter, all bomber or even 50/50 were not uncommon.

THE STATS

     The golden shield:-  fleet auxilaiary carrier 

                           This model was inspired by an impulse buy of a brigade models carrier at SELWG in the UK in October. The ship is a fine model but does not blend with the empire ships I usually model. However I loved the idea and so proceeded to hack it and "Empirify" it.

1. Cut off front of prow and add a sword or cargo prow . I preferred the bulky look of the cargo and the fluff I was beginning to put together.
2. Drill the half round spine in 4 places with a 0.8mm hole and add plastic rod to represent the typical spinal towers found on Empire ships.
3. Flatten the squarish looking bridge and add either an imperial or chaos plastic cruiser bridge.
4. Add plastic card under the hull to increase the bulk & depth of the hull by around 3 mm
5. Add sections of plastic cruiser wings to represent fins below the hull

Here are some unpainted shots to show the detail