| Phase One | ||
| From the earliest concepts, it was decided to have the heroes traversing the globe in a dirigible, made of a gondola suspended below a helium-filled balloon-like structure. The first concept for the gondola of the dirigible came from Gavin Scott and Rick Overton., as shown below. The model they were working from was that of a rail car. The material of the gondola was visualized as being rubberized canvas stretched over a wood and metal frame, with nails instead of rivets used in its construction. The front of the cabin was a bow window faceted in flat angles, and there would be light steel impact shutters stored to the sides of the windows that could be cranked into place when needed. On the top of the cabin, there is an escape hatch with a ladder that slides up to the "lifeboats", two smaller dirigibles. Underneath the cabin is a retractable stair ramp for exit, and attached to the stairs are wheels. | ||
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Figure 1: Gondola, with the front to the left, |
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| Figure 2: View of the gondola with the
stairs extended away from the gondola, towards the front |
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| Figure 3: Front view of the gondola showing the three part front window | ||
| As the series was being taken around to various production companies, Rick Overton built a model of this version of the air ship which can be seen below. | ||
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| Figure 4: First model of the Aurora, built by Rick Overton | ||
