Over the next few years, I got the other three, and kept them for years, but due to various moves and other misfortunes, I lost all but one of them. But the interest in Science Fiction never left, and it was only some years later thanks to the advent of the internet that I was able to track down the other lost books and replace them. I'd also learnt 3D modelling, and as I'd always loved the ships in the pictures, I thought I'd have a go at modelling one of them. The first was the Hornet - a personal favourite. Others followed and eventually I decided to create these pages and share the ships and their stories, as the books have been out of print for many years, and copies are becoming hard to find.

I hope no-one thinks I'm laying any claim to these images. Its more of a tribute to these images that have influenced so many people, in the same way as Star Trek or Star Wars fans create art featuring the ships of the series and movies.

As for the original artists - some are still out there (Angus McKie, Jim Burns, Chris Moore, Fred Gambino have their own sites), some have moved on or dropped out of sight, and I just discovered that Peter Elson, whose work features extensively in the later books, unfortunately died in 1999. It's widely believed that another great artist from that era - Chris Foss - had images in the books, but he didn't. I can't find out anything about what Chris is doing these days, and apart from a few fan sites, there's very little on the net. Now there's another influential book from the same time - "21st Century Foss".

Stewart Cowley, who wrote the books, is still writing (mainly children's books) and he recently gave an interview to Philip Banks about the books and their history, which can be found at his site - http://www.khantazi.org/Rec/TTABooks/TTABooks.html

If you're one of the original artists, or know where some of the missing ones are, or have anything to add, please get in touch.

The original books are still available second-hand though the prices are steadily increasing. And theres always the new, updated book, with more to come - the next will be "Capital Ships"