COLLECTION DIARY: APRIL 2014

This month I committed a great travesty...and mixed STAR WARS & STAR TREK...and I will be doing this again, Ha, Ha!

I finally got my first copy of Attack Wing. The Federation, Klingons, and Romulans are now playable. I will start with a few little learning games soon. I have already read rules, and watched games on the web, so I kind of know how to play the game...I think. I know the X-WING game from front to back, so it will not be hard to get rocking with STAW...after all.

I am going to focus on the Rebel Alliance again seriously, because the Capitol Ships will be available soon. For now I am getting a few fighters while i continue to build a solid STAW collection.

I am currently enjoying the continuing slow forming of Dominion War Fleets. This month I got some more of the wonderful Attack Fighters, and Jimi-bugs. You can never have enough of these small ships...can you?
I really like Kira and so I have decided to also build her cute little Bajoran Blockade Force. This will be a fun tiny fleet for use in several interesting smaller Dominion War Missions and objectives in large games.

I purchased a good bit of ABS rod and some good paint to continue the work on my materials hogging Destroyer Cube. The brass rods are actually tubes, to make nice large stands for my Boss' BIG Approved STAW Bases.

Boss out!

FFG CONTINUES THEIR WAVE FOUR SHIPS PREVIEWS: E-WING!

Fantasy Flight Games continues their spotlight previews series of The Wave Four Expansions this week with the E-Wing Expansion.

This is the ship a few people have recieved about as well as the lovable and down-home-fugly Moldy Crow was ...at first glance.

I like all of the new ships, and the E-Wing will be proven to be as cool as all of the Rebel ships have been.

Boss out!

FFG PREVIEWS THEIR NEW HUGE SHIPS RULES!

Fantasy Flight Games has previewed their new Huge Ships Rules this week.

The Huge Ships PDF is very interesting. I am pleased to know now that Fantasy Flight Games is making all the right moves, in my opinion...they are kicking butt in fact.

Go FFG!

Boss out!

GARMILLAS WARSHIPS SET FOUR AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE THIS WEEK!

The Commanders of The Great Imperial Garmillas Astro Fleet are about have the option of conducting their missions in the heavy cannon equipped Gaiderol Class Astro Battleship. This model is the very cool alternate Haizelard Class version of the original Gaiderol Battleship.The kit also includes a lovely Delamaya Class Amphibious Assault Ship.
 

These are both excellent models to add to any war gaming fleet collection because of the potential scenarios they both offer, when the ships are used for their intended purposes.

The bonus models in this kit include a fine 1/72 scale version of Recon Craft FG 156 Sumaruhe, and a pair of tiny 1/1000 scale Battle-tanks which are going to go into some modeling projects I have planned for my STAR BLAZERS Terrain.

Boss out!

BOSS SHOP: BORG DESTROYER CUBE & ASSIMILATED ESCORTS PART 3

I have begun the main work on the outer-frame this week, which is the most important part really, as it will be the first layer of detailing...The Eye-candy. I have received my new supplies, and I can now continue building this monstrosity without further interruptions, which means construction is now being done in deadly earnest... Ha, Ha, Ha!!!

I have already made illustrations for the Exterior Hull Armour patterns for this month's work. These armour sections will cover most of the outer-frame. I do not like to make the modeling harder than it needs to be to achieve my goals. Scribing is fine most of the time, but not for a large model like this Destroyer Cube of mine.  I need to have deeper layers and more pronouncement in the raised edges, or everything will just get lost in the myriad details.

This image includes the basic under-pinning template for the outer hull and it's counterpart detailing templates, that will be used to complete the main construction of the outer hull.

All of these templates count as The Magic for this part of the model...Ha, Ha! The final construction will include secondary weapons and extra bits of detail. The Borg have a randomness to their construction, and the final detailing will reflect that.

I am using Plasticard for the large solid parts of the construction; .20MM to build the armour sections, and .40MM  for the base and the top of the Destroyer.

The first set of patterns are trimmed and ready to be applied.

The patterns are glued to the .20MM Plasticard and ready to be cutout. I went over them all very firmly with the crisp card edge, using the newspaper to protect them from being worn or otherwise damaged by this setting process. They will stay in place long enough to complete the cutting I think...

For some reason I have come to know this little lady as PreazieAnne, now that she is no longer a nice girl...Ha, Ha!

PART TWO.

PART FOUR.

BORG Boss out!

FFG CONTINUES THEIR WAVE FOUR SHIPS PREVIEWS: TIE DEFENDER!

Fantasy Flight Games continues their spotlight previews series of The Wave Four Expansions this week with the TIE Defender Expansion.

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

For my money this is a ship worth collecting as a trio. Like the TIE Advanced, the Defender is the type of ship your special Imperial characters fly in, as the leader of a large fleet.

Boss out.

BOSS SHOP: BORG DESTROYER CUBE & ASSIMILATED ESCORTS PART 2

Now that I have the superstructure of The Destroyer Cube done, I have focused on getting the secondary structures built. The secondary structures include all of the framework for the Destroyer's outer hull and the interior hanger-bays.

The crates have already been prepared, now it is a simple matter of making the hangers in such a way that they will easily plug into their places within the superstructure.

I have a lot of main-parts and detail-bits for the hangers. This part of the Destroyer is good ole fashioned modeling fun...how much of the cool stuff (detail) can I get into them, and keep everything looking good in relation to the scale?

The tools...I love 'em...Ha, Ha!

The main components of all four Hanger-bays (The Magic) comes from the somewhat hard to find  Platformer Hex set.

I always use a nice damp black hand-rag when I am making a mess, because the bits and shavings get stuck there as neat as you please, and this makes the work less of a hassle for me. When I am done being messy all I have to do is shake the rag over the trashcan then rinse it in warm soapy water, wring it out and fold it, and I am back in business again.

This rag-work as I call it, is something that I have learned to do over the years, to keep mess to a minimum. It is how I like to work, as the debris do not get in the way, and I can wipe the tools off as I go.

The tiny holes for the lighting are all done with a sharp sowing needle, as this is a much easier way for me to control the hole sizes, and that needle will not break like a fine scale drill bit often does. If I need to clean any of the holes out I come back with a drill bit and simply ream out the pin hole, and there is almost no stress on the drill.

I have also figured out exactly how I am going to build the main and exterior frames; the parts that will make the Destroyer a cube. I have to wait until next week to continue this work however as I have limited stock in my supply bins, and had to order several sets of large ABS Rod to complete these sections.

I also started to work on the TOS-A as the first Assimilated Escort model, since I am short on large ABS Rod. This is a nice set of parts for the start of this cool little model. I should be able to get the new look I want for her working from here.

I almost felt bad about burning then carving and shaving this little lady...but it had to be done.

I am going to make the Borg-tech details three layers deep on all of these models.

On the Destroyer that is the interior, main, and exterior frames.
On the Assimilated ships this is being done by making precise panels, to show the tech details just below the original ships hull.
The secondary details will be on the outer hull, and to finish the effect extra Borg paneling, devices, and weapons will be modeled in fine detail above the original exteriors of the  ships.

I have the last batch of big materials ordered. Now I am going to leave the main frame for a bit and continue work on the TOS-A this week, along with the Hanger-bays, while I wait for my new supplies to arrive.

PART ONE.

PART THREE.

BORG Boss out!