7. The Emperor's Ship-The Manta Ray

Having supplied Krilish of the Klan Regus with the Black Barracuda, my thoughts turned to what kind of ship should be given to the Emperor himself. Obviously it had to be a grand affair fitting for the Supreme Klan Lord.
:My attention turned once again to the Manta force range of Toys produced by Bluebird in the mid to late 1980’s. The range of these Toys is truly staggering and the larger Spacecraft either contained many smaller ones within their hulls, or could be re-configured into a number of smaller ones or both.
The biggest Spacecraft produced in this range was the Manta Ray, which is truly a colossal craft. The shape of it was not too unlike the shape of a number of the Karn Spacecraft jetting through “The Rift” in a scene from one of the Havok supplements in the comics 2000AD (see below). That decided it for me and an effort was made to obtain a model primarily by scouring Ebay for months on end. I was eventually lucky which goes to show that with patience you can eventually get what you want on Ebay – well almost!
:My model was incomplete inasmuch that to black intakes on the upper surface were missing, I solved this shortcoming by procuring two thick white wheels from an old Meccano Kit, and pressing them (quite literally) into service as “Anti-Grav” units, which allow this spacecraft to land on planetary surfaces. I then went about cleaning the craft and re-applying some incorrectly applied decals. Below are a few photos which give an impression of the Spacecraft in space and on a Planet’s surface.
It is now very much part of my Havok Universe and at the moment I’m in the process of writing a scenario to include it.
Hengist 10:38, 25 July 2009 (UTC)
Category:Karn