How do we fix this mess?
We collect 1/2500 scale models. There are a lot, in fact in my research over the last month, I have found most of the current ATTACK WING models in 1/2500 or 1/50 scale. These are very compatible scales, and on the tabletop the minor size variations are about an inch. My easy rule of thumb here is keeping within an inch of true to the correct scale. If we approach this project like some scale nazi, then almost nothing will work for us here...screw that asinine hub-bub my bubs. We are trying to have some fun!
Before we get into this article, let me say that I have spent weeks researching this information, and I have collected more than a dozen scale charts which contain all of the important ships in STAR TREK, and ATTACK WING. Many of these ships have been listed at various sizes on these charts.
What I am doing is averaging the commonly agreed upon sizes or the variants of the ships presented here. The goal being to improve vastly upon the Wizkids FUBAR models and make our ship captains proud of their vessels.
Bare in mind that my solution is not perfect either, because no one company makes all of these ships in their correct relative scales. My solution is however... damn close to being right.
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| This is a scaled image which I have edited a bit, of the Eaglemoss ships. This was posted by somebody cool at the Eaglemoss Face Book page. It is not entirely correct either, but it is certainly what I like to call "Damn Close!" :) and that is way better than done completely wrong. Nothing is perfect, but we are going to try... |
The STAR TREK ship models presented here make what I am calling: "Boss' BIG Approved" collection (Pardon me friends, but it is funny). They range in size from three to thirteen inches long, with most being about five inches. This covers ships from 200 meters to 900 meters long. Oddly enough, when the the BBA Collection approach is applied; Hero Clix, Micro Machines, and the official Attack Wing models for craft that are 100 to 150 meters long suddenly become correct in scale.
You can use the STAW Models for these small ships, or an alternate like Micro Machines, and it is all happy space battles time, because the bigger ships have now been fixed by using larger models to represent them properly.
When the small ships are on the table with their larger BBA model counterparts everything will look just fine. Now to my eye, on a four by six foot table, a dozen of these BBA ships ranging in model size from 1 1/2" to 13" long will look awesome, and play just like the standard scale game in terms of maneuvering. It Works.
If you are getting lost, just trust Boss, because he loves all of you Star Trek Babies!
Ha, Ha!
I have made a nice chart to show all of the models we can use, or that need to be replaced based on everything currently in STAW, or that is soon to be released. It is at the end of this article, as a visual review of what we are going to cover in this episode.
Okay lets start looking at the wonderful Boss' BIG Approved Ships that we all want to buy, and hold, and talk to.
"That's my mean little Birds of Prey...you are going to kick some serious butt, because you are now in the proper relative scale!"
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| I found this cool image during my research over the last month. My Birds Of Prey all arrived this week, and currently consist of two of the Hot Wheels models backing up one of the nice and stocky Corgies. Note: The Hot Wheels ships have fully possible wings. I need two more I think. All of these models are right at four inches long from nose to tail. |
The Eaglemoss Collection as it stands today, provides us with a dozen usable ships. All of the Eaglemoss standard models cost $20 each. They are well made but some look good, whiles others look great. One important point to share with you about using these models to game with. They all have a clip on plastic stand that attaches to the back of the ships and into the metal bases. If you want to have a more stable base arrangement you will need to drill mounting holes in the models and supply your own rods for the stands.
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| The two classic core Ships Of The Line, in any Federation force... and we love them both. |
There are thirty three models in the Eaglemoss collection as of this articles publication. Nine of these are right on, and will work with most of the other 1/2500 scale model kits now in production, while three are pushing the limits of our size parameters, but will still look nice on the table. The remaining ships are either way to big or to small for our purposes. Who wants a 5" long Defiant Class on the same table with a 5" long Constitution Class? Nobody.
The almost there yellow ships. I have marked them as usable because they are close to being in scale. To give you some reference to my approach, let me share some math with you. The scale of the Vor'cha is stated more often than not as being 481 Meters. Now the easy way to get a reasonable scale is to take the figure of 4.8 and divide it by 1.5. You will get 7.2, in other words the model should be about seven inches long. The Eaglemoss version is about five inches long. To small right. How much do you want to use this ship, and have it fit in with the rest of our BIG Trek Games? In this case I may be willing to fudge out of my own general within an inch of true rule, rather than not have the ship at all. Then there is the fun reality of knowing that I can buy a very nice seven inch resin version for $75...but this episode is all about reasonably affordable Die-cast and Plastic models. Lets move on.
The AMT Cadet Series of 1/2500 models gives us more ships. All of these Federation models are in their correct relative scale to each other...which is rare to see since other manufacturers toss scale right out the window.
Here are all of the AMT 1/2500 Adversary model kits currently available. Note that the Romulan War Bird is not in 1/2500 scale, but it is still a viable option that will look good with the Federation ships.
The Klingon Bird Of Prey and Ferengi Marauder are not in correct scale either, but they still conform to our BBA scale, and will look very good. Remember we are not counting rivets here gang, we are collecting super cool models that will be fun to game with!
According to my research there is a smaller 1,000 meter version of the Romulan War Birds. The math says that a model of this ship should be about 15" long. The AMT model is 13" long, and that is about as good as it gets, for $20.
There is a Playmates toy that looks very good, and is 15" long, but that thing is hard to find for less than $50. I got mine MIB for $40 delivered, but I was diligent in my EBay stalkings...Ha, Ha! I have seen them for sale used and in good shape for around $25.
Here is an image comparing the Playmates and AMT War Birds. This was posted at AST Forums, thanks for the info guys.
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| Note that the AMT model is not completed in this image, but the owner was kind enough to share the information to help people like us decide on which version to purchase. |
I have both of the War Birds pictured above, as of this articles publication. I am going to use the AMT version to make a Romulan Kerchan. I will be using the Valdore rules for this custom model, it will be cool, and it works..."All Glory To The Empire!!!"
The AMT Round 2 Cadet Series is a great option for anyone who wants to build the core TOS and TNG ships to our BBA scale. All of these kits are currently available at any good hobby shop and from Amazon too of course. This excellent series fills some of the gaps left by the fine Eaglemoss series and provides us with alternates too.
All of these AMT kits are readily available for $20 or less. That is at most $10 per ship if you get the complete series and deal with a seller who is reasonable about their shipping fees.
Rest assured that these AMT models will work very very well with the Eaglemoss range, however there are some slight differences in the exact sizes. For example the AMT Enterprise builds to about 4 1/2 " long while the Eaglemoss Enterprise is right at 5" long. I suggest that you pick one or the other of these brands to purchase. That way all of your ships, by their classes, will be the same size.
If you only want one of each ship then the minor size deference does not matter. This variation issue will not come up much because in most cases there are a number of ship models in our scale that are only available from one company. Some important models that this applies to are; Enterprise C, D, and E, and the War Bird (unless you want to go crazy and get the rare Playmates version, as I have done).
The AMT Enterprise sets are around $15 each. To my knowledge these excellent kits are the only way to get the C, D, and E ships. Keep in mind that you can (and I will) convert these big girls into other models, such as the Sutherland or the Titan.
Well my friends these are all of the Die-cast and Plastic models that I know about that are all currently readily available and are at a reasonable price ranging from $5 to $20 each.
Keep in mind that the AMT Trio Kits are $15, so each ship equals $5. Now there are other options of course, many of the ships covered in this episode can be found as pricey collectable Di-cast series such as Hot wheels, and there are many custom Risen model kits out there. We will cover them in Part Three. Do not forget that the cute little Micro Machines offer some options for the smaller ship, and these can be found on EBay again, for around $5 each.
Now let us review what we have covered here. The STAR TREK ATTACK WING Release Schedule Chart below is the best way to do this I think. All of the models which are framed in blue are models that are already in scale as is, when we apply The BBA Collecting approach to them. Several of them may be swapped out for the more detailed Micro Machines options at our discretion. Particularly the 105 Meter Brel Class Bird Of Prey. The Federation Defiant Class, Nova Class, and NX Classes are also available from Micro Machines as well as a few others in the STAW Game.
All of the models framed in green are out of scale as they are produced by Wiz, but as we have seen in this article we have the very nice large scale models available to us, at a reasonable price, and we can buy them without having to go on a trek into the unknown.
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| We started this episode with a scaled image of The Eaglemoss Die-cast ships, so it is only appropriate to end it with a scaled image of the STAW Plastic Models presented in "Damn Close" glory...Ha, Ha! This was originally posted by someone who feels as I do, at the Attack Wing Face Book page. I have edited it to make it look nicer. This is a good representation of what should have been, and for some of us, it is what will be. |
PART ONE: THE TROUBLE WITH TREKKING!
PART THREE: FIXING THE MODEL SCALE...INTO THE RESIN NEBULA!
Boss out!
Very useful article, thank you for taking the time and putting this together!
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