My previous steampunk airship was the very first of its type, as I mentioned. The technology, developed in the Karadenian Empire, was very quickly copied elsewhere, beginning in Arcadia and Sondor. Arcadia began development first, but Sondor was a good bit quicker at producing results, beginning with the ship depicted below:
The flying siege bireme was meant to be everything that the flying galleon was, but better. The ship is larger, faster, more aerodynamic, and more heavily armed. This particular model is the third incarnation of the Sondorian siege bireme that I've come up with, and since this one is noticeably different from its predecessor, I'm comfortable calling this a third-generation model. You'll get to see how it compares to the previous version when I finish this ship's immediate family.
As you can see, the top deck is almost completely bare. It's not finished, but it's also not meant to have too much on it, other than four small funnels and deck guns (which aren't there yet).
You might just be able to make out the sockets for the deck guns. If not, then you can see them better here:
The above view also shows the 75mm guns mounted in sponsons. The siege bireme has four such guns, plus a 105mm gun mounted just below the pilothouse in a similar fashion.
As with the flying galleon before it, the flying siege bireme is lifted with glossarion levitators, but controlled primarily with airscrews. These twelve-cylinder radial hot-air engines have their temperature gradient supplied by super-heated steam running through coils around the rear bank of cylinders, while outside air keeps the front bank of cylinders cool. These engines drive massive counter-rotating propellers, each of which has six 3,5 metre long blades.
Six guns cover the bow of the ship at all times, including the 105mm cannon directly below the pilothouse. The siege guns, meanwhile, are the twelve 300mm mortars sticking out the bottom, which you can see below, in between the fore and aft landing skids:
This is the early version of the siege bireme, and when I complete the later version (which shouldn't take too long, now that I know what I want it to look like), I will show them side by side and explain the reason for the difference. The other ship in the family is the ram bireme, a dedicated interceptor ship that can engage enemy airships at close range, including ramming manouevres. However, in the interest of building new model airships in the order that they appear, I will probably move on to Arcadian designs first, especially since I don't already have simpler models of those.