Now here’s how you do SteamPunk art, with imagination.  The technology is really at the edge of the story, and the story centers on the woman.  Looks like a space where a person really lives.  The attention to detail, all the little objects, and nick-nacks; it’s very well done.  This is a win.

She is trapped and hidden from the world. In this cozy, but gloomy room she has spend myriads of minutes that have turned out in one moment into single continuous thin cord. The only bond with the reality is that magic mirror on the wall. It shows her in some strange perspective everything that happens beyond this prison.

The robot is interesting, and I like the train.  The double boiler implies a double fire-box, and the catwalk on the side is a nice touch.  But a steam locomotive requires fuel and water, always pulled right behind the engine; I don’t see that here.  It must be somewhere.  While nobody is going to question the giant robot, I think most SteamPunk fans have a good idea how a steam train works.  Attention to detail is important to me.  The community demands to know where the fuel and water is!

The Omega7Red website is now officially online.  I’m out of still in web development Hell, but now I can blog away about whatever steam-powered, clockwork-wielding, vacuum-tube-based, gun-carrying hottie that I want to.  And while I’m still a little unsure about what Aether is exactly, the first official blog goes to Farming.  Well, I have a farming background – Rice Farming.  Now, this:

Almost looks like it would work.  The large maneuvering fans, which look to be made of cloth and windmills, might just keep the airship lined up as it harvested the crop.  Though, I wonder what’s being used to cut and collect the crop (can’t see from this angle).  Usually, I would expect a cutting header pulled by beasts or tractors.  Anyways, it makes for a nice piece of art suitable for the kitchen, and it’s available in print.  Available for purchase here.

Glowbug is the term given to describe Amateur Radio operators (HAM) and sometimes their equipment because of their fondness for vacuum tube electronics.  This cute little toy oscilloscope is completely operational and uses vacuum tubes to drive its 7cm CRT. The casing is wood, and the brass fittings add a nice touch. This is actually a Mark II variant of an earlier design.

The schematic shows a pretty simple, yet brilliant pentode-based circuit, and the engineer is happy to explain the circuit in stunning detail.  I could build one in my sleep after many hours of lost sleep:

It uses three different small-signal rf pentodes – an EF91 in the timebase circuit, an EF184 in the Y amplifier, and an EF80 in the X amplifier.  The choice of tubes is somewhat arbitrary. The EF91 would be very suitable in all three functions since, among small-signal pentodes, it is unusual in having suitable characteristics for providing a relatively large anode voltage swing with little distortion.  But I do not find the EF91 visually attractive, so I opted for the other tubes in the main functions, relegating the ’91 to the back of the chassis, where its smaller size fits in nicely.  The EF184 has high transconductance, so is used in the Y amplifier where large voltage gain is required, while the EF80 is used with cathode-degeneration feedback in the X amplifier which requires much less gain, but a larger voltage output with good linearity.

Details: http://g4oep.atspace.com/toycro/toycro.htm#Mark II version with Added Brass [broken link]

A beautifully done animation that is clearly SteamPunk. More than just gear-driven airships and rayguns, the overall thought process fits perfectly into the genre. It’s a must-see.

Set in a world of iron airships, this silhouette animation tells the story of Jasper Morello, a disgraced aerial navigator who flees his plague-ridden home hoping to redeem himself. His expedition leads him to an island which is home to a monster that may hold the cure for the Plague. The journey back is filled with dangers but, Jasper soon discovers that the greatest horror of all lies within man himself.

Let’s see if this is her:

Tattoo’s, check…
Guns, probably…
Shoots Whiskey, Oh yeah…

It’s a little atypical for SteamPunk fashion, but I really appreciate the imagination and creativity that went into this look. If I were a Sky Pirate, I’d check my guns.

H.G. – You’re about to have your ass handed to you…

It’s an R-rated, retro-history, [1914 steampunk epic], fourteen years after the first failed Martian invasion. Mankind has rebuilt her cities and [the military is] adapting a lot of the abandoned Martian technology… Think of “Band of Brothers” meets “Star Wars”… It will be cool, steam-powered battle tripods, doomed Cossack cavalry charges, Victorian deco, steampunk Manhattan, 1,500-foot-long armored battle zeppelins, Teddy Roosevelt, souped up tri-planes, blood on steaming metal, sex in the cockpit. The usual… It will have a budget of around $3 million, and be produced by Tripod Entertainment… and is being co-produced by Kevin Eastman (owner of Heavy Metal).

I really hope they get this one right.  The 1st Heavy Metal was cool, but old.  The 2nd was more modernized, but did little to hold my interest.  However THIS should be a big win; I just don’t see how it ties into the other two – maybe there’s a hottie in there somewhere with a steamwork sword…  Check it out: “War of the Worlds: Goliath”

Jeff Miller entered this into a design contest, and apparently did nothing else with it (what a waste of talent).  It’s an absolutely beautiful and well-thought-out rendering of our dear Princess Leia.  However, the magazine cover is fake.  I looked up the issue and that’s not it; but, Leia wasn’t really SteamPunk either, so I’ll forgive the fakery.  Are those “plans to the Death Star” a euphemism?