Federation Commander

I got squadron box 91 and I have to say that I am impressed with the quality of the ships. I do need help with a couple of questions:
1) What are the rings for?
2) Which parts do I use for the scout and which ones for the destroyer?

Ted

tgalonso wrote:I got squadron box 91 and I have to say that I am impressed with the quality of the ships. I do need help with a couple of questions:
1) What are the rings for?
2) Which parts do I use for the scout and which ones for the destroyer?

Ted

1) The miniatures in that boxed set were originally designed by Col. Lou Zocchi for use with his Star Fleet Battle Manual game... the rings were used in that game. They do not play a part in SFB or Federation Commander and can be ignored.
2) Externally, the Federation Destroyer and the Federation Scout are identical, so you should end up with two identical miniatures. Each consisting of a suacer/neck and a single warp engine.

Scoutdad wrote:2) Externally, the Federation Destroyer and the Federation Scout are identical, so you should end up with two identical miniatures. Each consisting of a suacer/neck and a single warp engine.

Assuming they are using the same molds from long ago, the saucers are different. The Destroyer will have four bumps in pairs on the upper surface representing the LS/RS phasers. The Scout will not have those bumps.

However, that is the only difference I remember, and there is nothing to stop you from just painting them the same and calling them both destroyers.

Good point. I forgot about that difference...

For what purpose were the rings used?

wedge_hammersteel wrote:For what purpose were the rings used?

I never played the game, but IIRC - in SFBM, you picked your target and "guesstimated" the angle off you bow.
Then a string was stretched from the center of your ships counter to the center of the targets counter and compared to the bearings printed on the counter. If the differnce between your estimate and the actual angle was outside of a very narrowly defined range - you missed.

The counters had holes near their centers for the string to be tied (and it was typically wrapped around the counter when not in use.
The minis were assembled with the rings placed over the stands and the string was tied to the tabs...

Deja Vu, I just sent you a PM about that. I didnt noticed the rings when I played that game with the Colonel.

Wow! For having never played SFBM, Scoutdad nailed it exactly!

That was my first "Trek" game. I still remember playing my older brother and hitting the brakes to let him fly past me. I unloaded all my weapons in his rear shield (which wasn't turned on) and that was that...

Anybody got a picture of these "rings"? I've never seen them and I'm curious.

djdood wrote:Anybody got a picture of these "rings"? I've never seen them and I'm curious.

Will:
1/4 inch high plastic ring, ID ~3/16 inch, OD ~1/4 inch with a 1/8 in thick tab extending outward...
They just slipped over the base pins and turned freely.

O- Something like this...

They were molded in the same mold as the Zocchi ships as part ofthe same sprue, so they were in the same color plastic as the ships.

Just me grinding on if they have some kit-bashing prospects. Might make good "skids" for freighters built from plastic tug pods, etc.