Darkwing's Miniatures

Jim Lewis · Post by **Jim Lewis** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 12:04 am

Darkwing wrote:Some people are not going to like this one.

I think this is a cool conversion.

leathernsteel · Post by **leathernsteel** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 12:32 am

That is fine work, DW, thank you for posting the pics!

Darkwing · Post by **Darkwing** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 12:41 am

Thanks, guys! I love to get comments and CONSTRUCTIVE criticism.

@Scoutdad, I considered making the PFs removable via magnets, but I know how things are around my house and decided super glue was the way to go. I'd love to see someone else's take on these ships.

trynda1701 · Post by **trynda1701** » Sun Feb 05, 2012 7:06 pm

@Darkwing

Are the PF minis scratchbuilt or old SL2200 minis? I think they're scratchbuilt myself. They add to the scale of the carrier whatever they are!

Mark

Darkwing · Post by **Darkwing** » Sun Feb 05, 2012 8:09 pm

@Mark, the PFs are scratchbuilt, but scrap-built might be a better description.

They are nothing more than a small square of sheet styrene and a short length of brass wire. The bulb up front was a dab of glue in a couple, but a tiny ball of putty in most of them. I just kind of estimated the size.

I thought they added just a little interest to the models. I wanted a couple of them to stand out. Glad you all like them.

OGOPTIMUS · Post by **OGOPTIMUS** » Mon Feb 06, 2012 5:09 pm

Those are all really nice. Glad to see more people getting into minis again!

Darkwing · Post by **Darkwing** » Sun Apr 15, 2012 4:11 pm

I finally got my decals printed for several of my Federation ships and I thought I would pass these shots along. Understand that these decals are my work and no one should hold them against any company out there printing decals for the 2400/2500 series.

First up, my completed kitbashed DDXs.

That's the scout Donovan on the back row with the Republic. Leading the way is the Lexington. I took liberty with the number (ADB officially has Lexington listed as NCC-602, but I was part of an RPG group way, way back and we were on the Lexington. I HAD to keep the number.)

This second group shows the Excalibur and Alexander, as well as the DGX Hancock.

I was one who took advantage of the Zocchi parts bags back a summer or two ago and I ended up with way too many complete DNs. Many of them have new life now (with the increased size of the 2500s) as DDs. Here is a small sampling. One scout, one DE, and one DDL. (I always loved the fact that there was a scout named Baden-Powell.)

I like the official names for the Federation CFs, but for a FAST ship, I felt like I wanted something just a little different. Here is my fast cruiser alongside the frigate Hornblower.

These will look a little better once I hit them with a couple of shots of top coat.

bluebirds38 · Post by **bluebirds38** » Sun Apr 15, 2012 7:25 pm

good job on the kit bash, cool squadron.

Darkwing · Post by **Darkwing** » Mon Apr 23, 2012 5:50 pm

Before I go too far, understand I am dealing with the remnants of a bad eye infection and it's a bit hard for me to see to read or type, and the detail work on the ship below is not complete since I can't quite focus closely enough to do the finest finishing work.

I did finally get my Klingon fleet boxes from Mongoose the other day.

I have to say I really am liking the metal ships over the resin ones. There are so many less defects and repair work to be done before I can get to building. That said, the one I am working with today is the C8, which is still a resin body with three metal engines.

I had a couple of other Klingon dreadnoughts from squad boxes, so I was looking to branch out a bit from the C8/9, and even my C8S that I already had. I was looking for something unusual and visually different from other ships. The MC8 seemed like a fun choice.

I love the look of the huge battery packs slung to the outsides of these ships and the piping strewn all along the outer hull.

I am not happy with the way the trefoil came out, so that will have to be repainted.

OK...here is how it happened. The piping is brass wire left over from a model railroading project and the battery packs are...crafting beads!!!

Here are some beads laid out on a regular C8 just as a mock up.

Anyway, I know there is a little more work to do on this, but I thought I'd pass these along for folks to see.

Starfury · Post by **Starfury** » Mon Apr 23, 2012 6:15 pm

If you're looking for smaller gems to use on the ships I'd suggest going to a Beauty Supply place or nail salon. They sell small square and round jewels that run about 1mm - 3mm. They also have nail tape which would be excellent for striping ships.

Darkwing · Post by **Darkwing** » Tue May 01, 2012 11:58 pm

That's actually a really good idea, Starfury. I personally like the look of the really large battery packs, but I would not be above trying the smaller ones on another kitbash later one. Thanks for the idea!

Darkwing · Post by **Darkwing** » Wed May 02, 2012 12:27 am

Just a little peek at the Klingon fleet boxes I got at the end of last week. Mixed in are a couple of packs of Starline 2400 ZY fighters and shuttlecraft.

To start off, here is the C7V Pestilence, her escorts Eradicator(AD6) and Misery(E4J), and the F5S Dauntless. The fighters are outbound on an attack run.

A close up of Pestilence. (Misery is in the foreground.)

A rear view of the attack, from over Dauntless' deckhouse.

Here two task forces meet in deep space. The D7C Dawnslayer (with the light gray stripe on her left wing) and the D7A Spellbinder (with the black panels and brim [brim of the "hat"on the command boom]), meet up with the scouting group made up of the D6S Sentinel, the F5C War Lord, and F5s Vandal and Mayhem. Starline 2400 shuttles are transporting cargo that the commanders do not trust to transporters. I wonder what it might be!!?!

This is a close up of my D6S. I chose to add 4 sensor dishes rather than the 2 that are usually represented on this mini, since there are 4 special sensors shown on the SSD. This is certainly not official, but just a personal choice.

Dawnslayer and Spellbinder. One is a resin ship and the other is metal. Can you tell which is which?

And finally a side shot of Spellbinder.

bluebirds38 · Post by **bluebirds38** » Wed May 02, 2012 2:18 am

cool fleet,

nice paint job.

Darkwing · Post by **Darkwing** » Fri Jun 29, 2012 4:23 pm

I've got a couple shots of in progress shots of an FJ-style tug I have been working on. One resin SL2500 BC was sacrificed for this. Then I added a couple of parts from a Zocchi tug to finish it off.

Also, here are a couple of DD variants from Captain's Log #33:

This is the heavy destroyer from that issue:

And in formation:

And lastly, here is an emergency management DD from the same issue. The 570 has one special sensor offset on the saucer. Also, just to be different, the small fins at the back of this warp engine go down rather than up. My Hiawatha DD is the same way for no particular reason.

bluebirds38 · Post by **bluebirds38** » Fri Jun 29, 2012 4:54 pm

great job.