Federation Commander

I've built and painted the 6th ship to finish off the squadron,pictures have been taken,but it'll be tomorrow before I can get them uploaded. I took my time building this one,rather than the rush job that I made of the last one.

Just a few pics,the 'Keres' is complete.

The Furies Squadron of the Mythos Trading Security Company.

I've currently got another two OCA's on order,one will be serving duty in the Auroran fleet and the other will be painted in Star Fleet colours.

What I'm on the lookout for are some old 4-piece Fed OCL's that people may wish to sell me. I know that it's a long shot,but I haven't been able to find any for a long time.

Ok,so I'm leaving the Omega sector alone for this next impulse build. This is going to be a conversion,rather than a complete scratchbuild. What I intend to do is to convert a tug saucer into an upgraded destroyer i.e. building the original prototype NCL. It will retain the original bridge island,but will have the yoke mounted engines and modified impulse deck.

I've already removed the neck from the saucer,leaving just the bare primary hull.( Although it will have the same stats as an NCL,it will look markedly different.)

Interesting, David!

Knowing how your scratchbuilds go, I look forward to see what this finishes up like.

Mark

I used the last 4-piece lead oCL minis I had to make the "sculpt" for the oCA mini.

Any plans for the oCL four piece minis beyond using them as standard, David?

Mark

No Mark,they'll be used just as they are,though they'll be painted in Auroran fleet colours. I just far prefer the originals to the one piece models.

Whilst working out the lengths of the engines for this ship,I discovered something,the existing NCL engines are actually 3mm too long. If we take it,that NCL engines(12 boxes) are 4/5th the length of a standard(15 box) engine(40mm),then an NCL engine should be 32mm long and not 35mm as they are just now. I think that this is what put me off the new one piece sculpts,is that the engines always looked just too long,it always seemed to throw the proportions out to me.

The black block at the rear of the saucer will be the centre section for the yoke assembly. The two larger white sqares are the new shield generator panels and the two small squares,the APR cooling vents.





The yoke assembly has been completed along with the two engines(They'll have the details added once they are glued into position.)



I thought that a little development line photo or two wouldn't go amiss.







Having thought it over,there will be an added difference between this prototype and the final NCL. Externally,this ship will not have the new impulse deck,nor will she have the enlarged shuttlebay of the final production version. Shield wise ,her shields will NOT be as upgraded as the production models are,probably no more than 20pts all round.


Right then lads,put your thinking caps on.....I need an NX number for this ship.

I have deliberately left the tug scanner off,because to save me a lot of hassle,that is where the stand is being mounted.

Engine details added.



Base painting done and as she's just an experimental ship,she won't be getting the full Federation insignia applied. This will just be a basic bare hull paint job. The only insignia that she'll get will be her NX number,I'm not even sure if she'd have a name.



















As you can see,the shuttlebay is on the front edge of the underside of the saucer as per the DD and FF. I also mounted the LS/RS Ph-3's here too,rather than on the upper surface.I have given her the 4 torp tubes as per the NCL,even though I've been basing this ship on Mike West's version of the Fed DD(only two Photons). This is where I've extrapolated the experimental shield levels from.

Hope you like her.

I give you the USS Virgil NX-758.

Nice scratchbuild as always, David!

Lovely experimental prototype to the full production NCL we all know.

Mark

Good looking prototype. Looks great!