COLLECTION DIARY: MARCH 2014

This month I have pretty much rounded out my Federation Fleet, with the Hallmark ornaments versions of the TOS Film Era, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager models, and I have also got my Federation Allies started with a Vulcan Command Cruiser.

 Federation & Allies

I am going to get another of these cool ships and some other Vulcan craft, as well as one or two Andorian Cruisers, for Enterprise Era games, and as general Federation Fleet allied ships for larger battles. I decided that my Dominion War Battles will not be on DS9 but rather around it. The cool little Hallmark DS9 Ornament will work perfectly as a Background Element in my ATTACK WING games, in the same way that I am using my beloved Deathstar models in X-WING. The wonderful little Federation Peregrine Attack Fighters made it to EBay this month, and since I am slowly building up for the Dominion War, I had to get a three pack of these babies!

Klingon

Bringing up the rear guard this month...even more Klingons! Never count the Klingons out...it is not a wise decision, and now they have the Flagship Upgrade too, along with the other factions included in this set of course.

 Dominion

Last but not least is the meager start to my Jem'hadar Attack Ships, and a nice third squad of Cardassian Fighters to even the odds with the Peregrines.

Now (Ha, Ha!) for the icing on the cake this month: BOSS' BIG APPROVED STAW BASES...Yeah Baby! I need four or five more of these, but this is a good setup...for now.

Boss out

FFG BEGINS THEIR WAVE FOUR SHIPS PREVIEWS: Z-95 HEADHUNTER!

This week Fantasy Flight Games has begun their spotlight previews series of The Wave Four Expansions, starting with The Z-95 Headhunter.

This is the EU-ship many Rebel Commanders have wanted for a while. I have seen The Z-95 mentioned in just about every speculative forum topic about wave four...now we know, and I like it a lot.

I will be getting a six pack of these babies.

Boss out.

FFG PREVIEWS THE REBELLION'S FINEST!

FFG previewed the new The Rebellion's Finest Expansion today!

I know I am going to get three of these, to go with my three Imperial Aces...because you need three of each.
We knew they would do it...AND THEY DID.

Good job FFG!

Boss out!

BOSS SHOP: BORG DESTROYER CUBE & ASSIMILATED ESCORTS PART 1

I started building The Destroyer Cube this week. This first part of the build diary represents about nine hours of hands-on work.
This time does not of course account for the many additional hours spent in laying out the base materials, and considering what would work best to achieve my goals, which amounts to mentally building areas of the model over and over again, to get it right. I always do this before actually working with the parts.

The super structure is a pair of plastic storage mini-milk-crates, which are perfect for my design. Midwest brand green PVC sheet and a nice Tamiya 4x6" display base, with my beloved little Tea-light LEDs complete the core materials.

This is the magic...Ha, Ha...everything else is just extra sparkle.

I like to see some scale indication when I look at models online...it is a pet-peeve I suppose. The Destroyer will be about an eleven inch square when I am done.

I will be using from two to four of my Tea-lights to produce that creepy green inner-glow effect for the final model. I am not going for a lighted look, but rather an evil green glow; The Corpse-light described by professor Tolkien.

I cut a precise amount of plastic from the milk crates to make the overall superstructure fit together cleanly and to space the supports evenly.

This looks simple, and it is of course, but you have to be clear about what you are trying to achieve and you have to be mindful of what you are doing or you can very easily cut yourself.

Slow and firm shaving down of the rough saw marks left in the plastic is a time consuming process. A good Dremel tool would work faster, but I like to shave and file, because it is easy for me to control the manual hand-tools.

I am going to save much of the leftover plastic for use with some other projects.

Now the superstructure is nice and even, and the openings for the hanger-bays are ready for secondary structures to be built.

PART TWO.

BORG Boss out!

SFMA ON THE BENCH LIVE HANGOUT MARCH 10 2014

This week we had a fun hangout, as usual, and talked about some very cool modeling projects.

The highlight for me this week was meeting Mr.Jerry Hedgecock the owner of HDA MODELWORX. Jerry specializes in super high quality LED and SMD lighting and other related fine model products

Other topics this week included previews of several of the SFMA Spring Builds, including Armies Falcon, and my Borg Destroyer. We also talked a good bit about how to use Jerry's new SMD with Ralph's control boards. Boyd, Ralph, and I discussed lighting the YAMATO 2199 1/1000 Scale kits. Boyd and I had a good talk about how to solidly base models with a rotating metal rod assembly to use with wiring for lighted models, with help from Armando (Army...Ha, Ha!). BIG Wally shot his Phaser too...

These "On The Bench" Hangouts are always cool. Jim and Jeff, we missed you.

Boss out

FFG PREVIEWS HEROES OF THE REBEL ALLIANCE!

FFG posted another preview of the new Rebel Transport Expansion today. This time Fantasy Flight gives us a nice look at The Rouge Squadron X-Wing Escort.

We finally get to see Jek Porkins...my late brother-in-law...Ha, Ha!

Boss out!

BOSS SHOP: BORG DESTROYER CUBE & ASSIMILATED ESCORTS PREVIEW

The SFMA Big Spring Build Contest opened on the first. I am building a Borg Destroyer Cube with Assimilated Federation Escort Ships.
This is the first official Boss Builds Article for this project. We all had to post a time dated image of the parts to verify that no one had started to do any work on their entries.

I am currently organizing the parts to start the Destroyer Interiors. I will be posting regular updates for this project...

Build Diary: PART 1

BORG Boss out!