"A lighter is a type of flat-bottomed barge used to transfer goods and passengers to and from moored ships. Lighters were traditionally moved and steered using long oars called "sweeps."
The name itself is of uncertain origin, but is believed to possibly derive from an old Dutch or German word, lichten (to lighten or unload). In Dutch and German, the words lichter or Leichter are still used for smaller ships that take over goods from larger ships."
-Wiki, edited
My recent Space Freighter model used cat-food and tuna tin-cans as round cargo modules, not unlike the steel boxes in current use on container ships. Due to changes in our pets' diet, the big cans were soon replaced by small ones. This got me thinking about small ships that might operate on the edge of the atmosphere to unload bigger space-only vessels. Plus I had some discarded ideas that might work better in a more nimble context.
Parts list: Catfood tins, old lightbulbs, light sockets, power-pole insulator, bamboo skewers, Mylar sheet, Port-bottle stoppers, cocktail toothpicks, whiteboard framing, shower curtain rings, zipties, and yet another waving figure from Tamiya's 1/48 Zero/ Rufe kits.
