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steveas — Thunderchild-War of the worlds
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Published: 2009-07-17 14:51:57 +0000 UTC; Views: 5221; Favourites: 50; Downloads: 50
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Description
HMS ThunderChild - Created for a new production of HG Wells War of the Worlds. This image was a work in progress during the research stage (Wells Experts will know that the ThunderChild has TWO funnels and is based upon the Ram, Polyphemus. The missing funnel was added later). A great deal of research has gone into the creation of this along with the other work for WOTW. For now, though, I hope you enjoy these wallpapers.Steve
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Actually, as a bit of an expert, you should've stopped right here, for this is pretty well how the Thunder Child was described in the original book. The description is a bit vague, I grant you, just a mention that Thunder Child was a torpedo ram, but as there was only one torpedo ram in existence (in the Royal Navy anyway) at the time The War of the Worlds was written, HMS Polyphemus, it seems fairly obvious that one should stick close to how the Polyphemus looks, one might go so far to say that Thunder-Child is a sister ship to Polyphemus, assuming the Royal Navy went on to build further torpedo rams in the WOTW universe instead of just building one as in reality.
Most who do renderings or art of the Thunder Child do her as a dreadnought-type ship, with two funnels, two masts, and big gun turrets. Visually impressive to be sure, but the Polyphemus had none of the above, for as a torpedo ram, her primary weapons were just that, torpedoes, fired through a torpedo tube in her sharp beak-like bow under the waterline, which she could use as a battering ram to jab a hole in the side of an enemy ship if all else failed (used by Thunder Child to good effect to crack a leg off a Martian Tripod). She was a small ship, with a single funnel, an open bridge, and a solitary mast just forward of the funnel. No turrets, in fact the only guns she had were small deck guns on swivel mounts, each manned by a small team of sailors, effectively popguns when compared to the large-caliber guns on battleships of the day (or a Martian heat ray), but as she mainly used torpedoes, she didn't need big guns anyway.
As I wrote before, you should've stopped right here, maybe took the rear mast off, but even with the closed bridge and turrets, this is perhaps the best model of the Thunder Child I've seen yet insofar as closeness to the real ship (Polyphemus) goes, and it makes the whole idea of a little ship like this going toe-to-toe with alien walkers and actually getting a few kills in before the Martians melt it into scrap makes the whole battle even more significant.
Kind Regards,
Brendan O.
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Fantastic!
Very life-like. It really does look like a photograph. I love the detail along the hull.
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