Federation Commander

djdood

Since I am finally getting my workshop room and benches set up, it's time to get my plans in-order for what I'm going to do on my Starline 2500 minis.

One ship that didn't quite hit where I personally wanted it to was the DW war destroyer. It's a great mini, but there were some niggling things that bugged me and I decided to choose my battles and stop carping about them, during development/reviews.

Now, with my own copies on my own bench, I can do anything I want.

My main issue is that the bridge dome is too small.

It's in proportion to the "B/C deck / command decks" teardrop (the bulge beneath the bridge) that are similar to the tv ship cruiser.

However, the DW is a much smaller ship. People (and the fairly standardized size of a Federation bridge) don't scale down. The bridge can't be that small (and wasn't on the FF frigate). So, I'm going to file it off and make new ones sized more like those on the FF.

I haven't decided how I'll fabricate these yet. I might turn them out of styrene rod, using the Dremel as a small lathe. I might also 3D print them, but they are so small they're below the size the printer I have access to is good at.

The "neck" for the center engine was the other thing I just feel the need to change. The prior art and the Starline 2400 mini show a much longer "strut/dorsal-neck". The SL2500's is kind of stubby and puts the center engine's bussard collector behind the sensor dish.

With it pulled in so tight to the main saucer hull, the ship looks too much like the NCA new heavy cruiser.

So, I'll cut the existing neck off at a convenient panel line and replace it with a new one fabricated from styrene bar stock, with brass pins to reinforce the connecting joints to the ship and the engine.

For both the struts and the bridge domes, I'll probably be making one master of each and then gang-casting copies in resin (along with a deckhouse enlargement piece for the Klingon D5W and a replacement deckhouse for the F5W).
_________________

bluebirds38 · Lieutenant Commander Joined: 29 Oct 2009 Posts: 238

i like your revisions. i can't wait to see the dw when it is finshed.

Jim Lewis · Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2013 2:12 am Post subject:

Looking forward to seeing the revised ship!
_________________
Jim Lewis
GunTruck Studios

Darkwing · Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2013 9:12 pm Post subject:

I agree. That's going to look really good and I'm looking forward to the results.
_________________
Let's get DANGEROUS!

Tice Leonard, U.S.S. Lexington & IKV Annihilation

djdood · Posted: Fri Mar 08, 2013 12:51 am Post subject:

Thanks, guys.

This is the weekend where I get the workbenches assembled. Hopefully I can start cutting on minis before running out of weekend. Wink

_________________

djdood · Posted: Fri Mar 08, 2013 8:57 am Post subject:

Got my box of goodness from ADB.

All in all, the new batch of Starline 2500 minis turned out really well. The Feds all look uniformly great. Love how the DNL and BB turned out - tickled to see "my drawings" made reality in metal. Sandrine really hit a home run with these two.

The Klingons also turned out nice. The E-5 is far and away superior to the Starline 2400 version. I had some good ideas in my suggestion drawing and Mongoose chose to follow it, but also added some details (like the "winglets") that really made the ship work. For such a bizarre design, it actually looks really, really cool. Also, SURPRISE!, it's a one-piece mini!

The F-6 also turned out really well and again, I'm quite happy that Mongoose chose to stick very close to my drawings. I love the extended deckhouse. So much so, that I really wish I had stuck to my guns more on doing the same thing on the D5W. It really needed it and it looks great on the F-6.

The only (slight) bummer with the new batch is on the F5W, which is the mini closest to my heart (I did the original "sculpt" for the Starline 2400 version).

Something went wrong, somewhere along the line, and the deckhouse geometry is too small. It has different details than the E-4 or F-5 deckhouses, but is definitely smaller, rather than exactly the same size as the F-5's, as it should have been.

Most folks won't notice or care. It's really only noticeable when you put the minis right next to each other.

Me, I'm a detail-nut, so I'll fix it on mine by cutting and filing it off and replacing it with new ones cast from a mold I'll pull of an F-5.
_________________

djdood · Posted: Sun Jun 30, 2013 10:33 pm Post subject:

Slowly getting things for the decal business that I need to finish, finished.

Since I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel there, I'm starting to look to working on my own minis again.

Given the changes on the stands for Starline 2500 (deleting the ball-joint), that got me thinking a lot about basing options. Since I am starting my SL2500 collection from scratch (just like everybody) and have no legacy minis already establishing anything, I can make them all consistent.

I was intending to use the ball-joints to allow the stands to be removable, to make transport and storage safer and easier.

However, I didn't think the plastic ball joints would necessarily last for a lot of attach/detach cycles (not really their intended purpose).

So... after many years of knowing about them, I am taking the plunge and investing in a whole boatload of Ninja Magic magnetic adapters. There is definitely a not insignificant cost to doing this, but it will likely pay-off in the long run (less [i.e. none] broken stands in-transport and play, more-efficient [i.e. shorter] storage cases).

I'm also going to dedicate on stand adapter to being a permanent painting-fixture, on a long rod. This will allow for easier access to the bottom of the mini (I paint with stands-on).

I'll have enough adapter-equipped stands to field any remotely reasonable size game of minis (with each stand having a steel rod riser and a heavy steel hex-shaped base (I play FedCom, not ACTASF, yet). Each mini will have its half of the adapter (a short little stub) permanently glued in.
_________________

archon96 · Lieutenant JG Joined: 20 Aug 2011 Posts: 65

take a look at the coresec stuff I use and love it.

djdood · Posted: Mon Jul 01, 2013 12:56 am Post subject:

Yeah, I might be doing that.

As much as I like the look of the Ninja Magic adapters, they are unavailable while they are temporarily shut down for a "real life" move. The store I was buying them through listed them as in-stock. They weren't and I'm back to looking...
_________________

marcus_aurelius · Posted: Wed Jul 10, 2013 11:30 pm Post subject:

I have been happy with the CorSec engineering omnistand system.

I use both mounting pegs and mini mounts depending on the ship and the mounting pegs usually require drilling into the miniature.

I have an assortment of 1", 1.5", 2" stands to minimize ship collisions.

The clear bases were not always the best, some scratched some with blue color but the black bases I just got were really, really nice. I use the 2" bases in order to minimize the chances of tipping over which works well since the 2500 ships do not work well for me on any less than a 2" hex map.

wedge_hammersteel · Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 3:06 am Post subject:

So the adapters are glued but not the entire stand? You could get a radio telescoping antenna and put an adapter on the end of it to make your painting stand.

djdood · Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 7:47 am Post subject:

Yeah, Corsec sells telescoping stands which are basically a small antennae, with their magnetic adapter fitted on the end and made to fit their bases.

You certainly can use a dowel or antennae as a painting stand. I certainly plan to, regardless of if I go with CorSec or Ninja Magic.

I like the Ninja Magic adapters because they are "keyed" and prevent unwanted mini rotation, when mounted.
_________________

djdood · Posted: Sat Aug 24, 2013 8:21 am Post subject:

Still waiting for Ninja Magic to get back up and running. Hopefully in the next month or so.

In the meantime, one of my local (not so) "friendly local game stores" put their entire stock of ACTASF (and the Starline 2500 minis) on clearance as they are not going to carry the line anymore. I discovered this when I walked in to pick up a couple X-Wing minis.

When I saw all the blister packs and box-sets at 50% off, the wallet came out.

Ended up getting a second Kzinti Fleet box (really wanted another NCA and CF and this was a good way to get them along with a bunch more medium ships). Also got the Gorn reinforcements Squadron box. I went fairly crazy on the blister packs, buying well over a dozen, but quite a few were ships I wanted seconds of (fast cruisers, etc.) and DW and frigates.

Went through them all tonight (none of these had ADB quality control).

The Kzintis are all still problematic; lots of bent and/or broken drone booms. The resin Kzinti DN has a hole that goes clean through the "head".

The King Eagle I got in a blisterpack is pretty distorted (as was my most-recent from ADB; I think the mold has failed).

Much, much more clean up and painting ahead of me.
_________________

marcus_aurelius · Posted: Sun Aug 25, 2013 3:14 am Post subject:

Out of curiosity was there any reason that the not so "friendly local game store" decided not to carry the 2500 line anymore?

I had a hold in the "head" of my Kzinti DN too, I filled it with epoxy.

djdood · Posted: Sun Aug 25, 2013 4:01 am Post subject:

The hole in the head of my Kzinti DN's head won't be hard to fix. Just kind of strange to see a hole clean through a product that supposedly is "new" and fresh from the box.

Reinforcing basically every single drone boom on every ship will take a lot more time. Shame that; they look fantastic, so I'll put the work in.

I didn't ask why he was clearing the ACTASF stuff and the SL2500 minis out. He was being kind of a surly wanker about it, presumably because he was having to sell it "at cost" or below.

From what I saw, he did nothing to build an audience for the game in his store, just stocked it and expected people to find out and come. I never did anything to build an audience for it in his store because he's always made the place pretty unwelcoming. To get any service you had to keep his attention from his friends playing Warhammer.

I'm hoping to do some demos at a much nicer store I found a few weeks ago.
_________________