The Hornethopter in 1/35 scale is open for booking

Alrighty, after my .. ahem ... "extensive" coverage on Steampunks, lets look at the next upcoming kit from FichtenFoo called the Hornethopter. After going underwater with the Fish-Shaped Submersible, its now time to take to the skies. Another superbly unique offering with the kit looking like a giant hornet and requiring a pilot to fly this mechanized giant insect, now that in my book is truly pure science fiction. The Hornethopter's main diet apparently are Airships, abundantly found in Germany during WWI I presume?

The kit itself looks solid and very detailed with 32 resin parts, 2 photoetch frets, glass cabochon (I assume its either for the wings or eyes) and 2 pilot figures among other materials. Again this wonderful masterpiece was designed by Michael Fichtenmayer who was responsible for the Fish-Shaped Submersible. As for the pilot, he sure reminds me of something from Maschinen Krieger.

Here are some more close up shots of the details on each parts. Impressive to say the least, and assembly looks easy enough. It looks like the main legs are joined via ball joints, allowing you to pose her in various posses be it in flights, landing or attacking. The leg mid section looks rigid though so I doubt you can pose those (I could be wrong here).

More images after the jump and if you are impressed with the kit like I am, click HERE to place your orders for the first edition.

Steampunk? "Who are you calling a Punk??"

Steampunk, a radical concept with a vast following but to the uninitiated, mere mention of that word and you're going to get that response. But I'm sure a lot of you have heard of that phrase before. So what exactly is Steampunk?

I won't go into the specifics as I myself am trying to understand the concept, but it has something to the with the Victorian period (you know, those days where you dress up for no occasion, and your pinky needs to be extended out when you hold your cup of tea) plus rock and roll, and creative steam machines equals radical technological advancement in machinery development ..... OK, science fiction on drugs. And to ride along with this technology are curious characters that dresses up like they were caught between the Victorian period, a S&M Boutique shop, and the Borg during the 1920s. Don't laugh ... its cool ... in a Gothic sort of way.

So why are people so fascinated with steampunk. Well, I can't speak for everyone but to me, its how they use advance machinery to make it look simple and yet practical for everyday life, a cross between modern and the past that can't seem to make up its mind, a time when you make your own rules. Its fantasy at its simplest, science fiction at its basic, and it just looks damn cool.

FichtenFoo's Fantastical Fish-Shaped Submersible

For all those looking for really pure Science Fiction stuff, and I am talking about those nifty art work you find with all those heavy Science Fiction Novels in a bookstore, and not referring to those Mechas from Japan, the offering for scale model kits of this genre are unfortunately very limited. The reason stems from the fact that not many people are willing to foray into making kits out of these, and not many know how. That may change real soon.

Meet FichtenFoo, illustrator, modeler and model kit maker (GK) extraordinaire. The first time I got to know about this scale modeler was when he was promoting a very unique kit. And it was through this kit that I began to notice his skills and talents. I checked out his blog and was pleasantly surprised with his designs. It was as if he was bringing back the Science Fiction era of the 1950s - 80s forward past the millennium, an era I can relate with growing up in anticipation of seeing rocket ships gracing our city skyscrapers and travelling to Mars. The more I followed his WIPs (Work In Progress) forum threads, the more impressed I was with him. This man has eyes for details and is able to bring them to life, making them look... well, practical, yet surreal. Even his military builds has a mixture of elements from World War II hardware meets Battletech, elegant machines that subtly hints of their deadliness.

His work with Michael Fichtenmayer on the Fantastical Fish-Shaped Submersible shows a dramatic evolution that combines fantasy with science fiction, bringing what that was only a dream into an actual model kit. A combination of resin parts and photoetch sets, this kit is truly uniquely equal to ... none. Well, it is unique. It is also eye catching, and more importantly, it tinkers with your mind. It sorts of bring people back to their youth and make them reminiscence what they knew about Science Fiction then.

Of course the problem with young people nowadays, with the advent of CGIs, vessels and vehicles portrayed in the movies today become more complicated, fast and complex. The trend now of course is to produce intimidating looking crafts that speaks of convenience, mobility, power, and more power. That's the beauty about Science Fiction in the early years, they spoke a different tune, one of exploration, to travel into the unknown and learn. Something FichtenFoo clearly brought about with his offerings.

Lets take a closer look at the Fantastical Fish-Shaped Submersible after the jump.