Federation Commander

I wondering because I need to collect a set of 12 Battle Station minis and I was wondering if the Base Stations were the same just painted differently.

Thanks!

The miniture being used for the Base Station now, was originally the BATS mini. The Starline 2400 Battlestation miniature have a much greater detail level than the Base Station miniature.
This is the Starline 2400 Battle Station.
The Base Station miniture is the same size/shape/configuration; but it has no hull panels, hatches, or other detailing - except the weapon mounts.

So the Battlestation mini is a one-piece mini while the base station is a 4-piece mini? Is that correct?

They're both one-piece.

The old SL2200 Battlestation (originally 6 pieces; three booms, main-body, upper tower, lower module) was remastered into one-piece and used as the SL2400 Base Station. It is essentially smooth, slightly more bulbous, and slightly smaller than the modern SL2400 Bats. The old assembly drawing HERE is a very good representation of it.

The SL2400 Bats was an entirely new sculpt (also one-piece). It's slightly "flatter", slightly larger, and as scoutdad noted has added panels and other details.

So they are the same apart from the details such as the Fed Command Cruiser to the regular Fed Heavy Cruiser?

Could a Base Station pass for a Battle Station?

Depends on the context, but sure. They're both a flattened sphere main-hull with three arms ending in smaller discs. Different in details and slightly different in size, but fundamentally very close - the comparison between the Fed CA and CC minis is apt.

Yes Will is correct. They can pass for BATS. In fact, the 7 Base Stations I currently have were originally BATS (because that's what they were sold as). When the new mini became available, I just begn calling the on ones Base Stations and got some of the newer BATS minis to use for BATS.

They're about the same size and shape, but they're not identical, each was done separately by a different sculptor without seeing each other's work. But feel free to use one for the other.

When we took over, we decided to use the "rejected" (more detailed) one instead of the one TFG picked. Later, people who liked the other one asked us to market it, and we gave it a different name so as not to confuse stores.