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Building Decals for Federation Ships
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Rick Smith
Lieutenant Commander


Joined: 02 Sep 2008
Posts: 266
Location: Silver Spring, MD

PostPosted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 4:18 am    Post subject: Building Decals for Federation Ships Reply with quote

First time posting on these boards, but I've lurked for some time now.

I've just finished up converting some Fed ships to add to my fleet - namely
2 Heavy Destroyers, 2 Heavy Cruisers, 1 New Light Cruiser, and 1 Command
Cruiser. All of the conversions use the Zocchi plastic kits for a starting point,
but I have made use of plasticard to come up with some other star ship
configurations that I had floating around in my head.

Right now I just have images of the raw, unpainted models and a detailed
step-by-step of how I did the work. But the weather is a little less humid now,
which has allowed me to prime the ships...so photos of undercoated models
will be along shortly!

Click HERE to see the kits and please feel free to let me know what you think.

Thanks!


Last edited by Rick Smith on Sat Oct 25, 2008 10:11 pm; edited 9 times in total
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OGOPTIMUS
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Joined: 10 Nov 2006
Posts: 980

PostPosted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 5:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nice. I especially like the Pompeii class destroyer. It also reminds me of the Centaur-type from the Dominion War.

I like the "throw-back" idea you've got going on. I wish we'd seen more ship classes back in TOS on the screen...ah budgets (maybe we'll see some in the new JJ Abrams ST movie?). ADB's filled in a ton of gaps, and it's nice to see others coming up with their own ideas too.

Can't wait to see all of them painted.
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Davec_24
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Joined: 16 Jul 2008
Posts: 596
Location: England

PostPosted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 9:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Seconding the Pompeii class destroyer idea. Smile I like that Balson class command cruiser too. I've not seen that before, but its looks fit very well with FC and also the SFU design concept of making new ships from combinations of pieces from other ships (i.e. DN hull and CA saucer).

I know you'll be using the Fed CC ship card for it, but it would be cool to make a tailored one which actually has the CA saucer and DN hull from the ship cards - probably this would be the DN hull from the original DN rather than the DNG, though you could apply refits to it to bring it up to the General War timescale standards. Probably it'd need some re-arranging of saucer or hull to give it balanced power and systems for its type too. Just a thought, anyway.
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Kang
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Joined: 23 Sep 2007
Posts: 1976
Location: Devon, UK

PostPosted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 11:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I didn't think the DN secondary hull is anything like the CC - it's back-to-front on the DN, IIRC?
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pneumonic81
Lieutenant Commander


Joined: 23 May 2008
Posts: 275
Location: Austin TX

PostPosted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 12:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

well done kitbashes. I love kitbashes Smile
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Davec_24
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Joined: 16 Jul 2008
Posts: 596
Location: England

PostPosted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 12:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The DN secondary hull isn't anything like the SFU Fed CC, no - the CC hull as far as I know is simply a modified regular CA secondary hull. That Balson class ship is a different type of command cruiser (possibly better described in SFU context as an early BCH as it is physically larger than the regular CA because it has a DN hull) which uses a DN rear hull and the attached engines, but instead of a DN saucer and third warp nacelle it just has a CA saucer. Presumably this has flag bridge so is probably more a CC saucer as we know it. It's not that this ship is meant to be the CC from SFB/FC, but the point is that when using that model in the game, Rick uses the CC ship card because the Balson class is meant to be a CC (correct me if I'm wrong Rick!).

Also I think the secondary hull is facing the same way on the Balson class as it would on the DN, if that's what you mean.
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Rick Smith
Lieutenant Commander


Joined: 02 Sep 2008
Posts: 266
Location: Silver Spring, MD

PostPosted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 4:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the kind words guys. I appreciate it!

OGOPTIMUS: Thanks man. The Pompey was fun to build. And it is definitely
reminiscent of the Centaur or vice versa. I'm excited to see what Abrams has in
store for us.

Davec_24: Glad you like the conversions! The Balson was way easy. And makes
for a stand-out command ship. You kinda read my mind. I had wanted to create
SSD cards for each of my builds. You're also right on about it just being a
"stand in" for the usual model you may see on the tabletop. Nothing more,
nothing less.

By the way, your new tiny Klingons rock. I tried to make some 1" Fed ships.
I failed. Hah!

Kang: Thanks for dropping by. Yeah, I'm just messing around with some
conversions...wanted to take some stuff from Vance's Schematics and put them
on the tabletop! So, you're right. Traditionally (I suppose as far as the SFU is
concerned), a CC looks pretty much like a CA - until you get into her workings...

pneumonic81: Thanks dude! I'm really glad you like them.

Well, here's a "work in progress" that I just took some shots of as I
was photographing the conversions. Still a ways to go; port and starboard lights,
photon bays, the bridge, and a few other details. And then I'll create some decals
to slather all over her...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8007101@N04/2822165180/


Last edited by Rick Smith on Fri Oct 24, 2008 4:58 am; edited 1 time in total
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Davec_24
Commander


Joined: 16 Jul 2008
Posts: 596
Location: England

PostPosted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 6:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That's looking good! I particularly like the layering on the bussard collectors. Smile Are you going to print your own decals for this one then?

A note on that ship's SSD - do you think the left and right phasers would be LS and RS as opposed to LF+L and RF+R, since the tops of the warp nacelles are below the top of the saucer on that one? I guess you could probably tell this by looking at the line-of-sight from the phaser bumps aft on the model.
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Kang
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Joined: 23 Sep 2007
Posts: 1976
Location: Devon, UK

PostPosted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 6:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bellissimo! Very nice indeed.

I've said this before, but it's almost a shame to shoot at minis like that, even though there's no actual damage done!
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Davec_24
Commander


Joined: 16 Jul 2008
Posts: 596
Location: England

PostPosted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 7:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Maybe if you get really bored and have enough time and minis, you could actually make a few minis for each ship that represent various states of damage, say one for intact, one for moderate damage and one for smouldering wreck. That way when you do shoot at them it does look like you're doing real damage! I might try that at some point just to see what it looks like. Damage effects will be harder to do on my 1" minis than the bigger ones though, as any damage you apply will always look like a big scar/hole in the ship.
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Rick Smith
Lieutenant Commander


Joined: 02 Sep 2008
Posts: 266
Location: Silver Spring, MD

PostPosted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 7:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Davec_24: Dave! This is crazy! I was just telling my buddy that I wanted to do
just that - battle damage for each of the ships. He told me I was insane. But then
again, he's always telling me I'm insane. And I guess he's right...I am a little
touched. ;p But yeah man, I'm stoked on doing damaged and crippled ships...
especially after watching the re-imaged TOS episode for the Doomsday Machine.
The opening scenes were sweet.

Well, glad you like the paint job on the CA thus far. The collectors were a blast to
do...wanted them to have some real depth. Once the decals are done (and yeah,
I plan to make my own to scale in Adobe Illustrator), I plan on giving the whole
ship a mat finish and then hit the bridge, bussards and subspace normalizers on
the rear of the nacelles with a coat of gloss varnish.

How would YOU set up the phaser banks on the SSD?

Kang: Thanks man! What you said cracked me up. It's not even done yet!
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Davec_24
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Joined: 16 Jul 2008
Posts: 596
Location: England

PostPosted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 8:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The phaser banks would probably be the usual two Ph-1s FH and the side banks of two Ph-1s each would probably be LS and RS - looking at the blueprints on your site, the engines seem fairly well below the top of the saucer. Also it should have two more Ph-1 360 like the DN does, since it's a DN rear hull. The DN also has two more Ph-1 RA, or RH on the DNG and other later dreadnoughts. Whether you do a refitted version to tally with the sort of ships as seen in FC or whether you use the original Franz Joseph DN rear hull is up to you.

If you do the refit type one, instead of using a DNG rear hull straight off I'd be tempted to use the original DN as a basic design, and add refit features such as a couple Ph-3s 360 and a drone rack or two (and make the rear Ph-1s RH), to avoid over-gunning the ship - I assume it's meant to be a sort of heavy command cruiser, so you probably want more guns than a regular CA but less than a BCH. You may also want to replace the AUX bridge with FLAG in the saucer, and put a pair of AUX in the secondary hull like the DN has.
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OGOPTIMUS
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Joined: 10 Nov 2006
Posts: 980

PostPosted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 8:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I don't want to be a wet blanket and get preachy, as you are free to design a ship any way YOU want. But, the original DN based on the FJ tech manual (in SFB Basic Set) has restricted arcs on the side phasers like the CA.

I asked about this a while back too, and it's just one of those game things, that's all. The nacelles on both are clearly below the saucer, so there shouldn't be a physical problem. It might be that the phasers can't fire through (or this close to) the warp field created by the nacelles (the Fed CX would be an exception to this, but it's X-tech anyway and a whole other can of worms).

Just something to consider, and again YOU are free to design the SSD for YOUR ship any way YOU want. I'm just providing some information.

That said, I'd like to see a refit program to it as well. perhaps the unrefitted version could have restricted arcs while a "+" or "G" variant could have LS/RS phasers.
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Davec_24
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 9:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yeah, two different variants could be cool. You could have the plain old version without the drones and Ph-3s, and RA rear phasers and the restricted side saucer phasers. Also it would probably have slightly worse rear and flank shields (as the CA does). The DNG has almost flat warp engine pylons, doesn't it? That would clear the field of fire for LS/RS phasers, although as you say there's no physical reason why the phaser turrets can't shoot over them on the original DN - the turrets must be able to bear that far round on the older ships because they could shoot straight aft on the CA in SFB.
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djdood
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Joined: 01 Feb 2007
Posts: 3412
Location: Seattle, WA

PostPosted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 9:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nice fabrication work on those. I found the clear plastic a nightmare to work with - it's brittle as glass and doesn't appreciate being manipulated.

Wonderful depth to the painting of your nacelle domes.
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