Federation Commander

I'll have to check these out when I get home Howie. I can't install Silverlight at work.

Congrats, Captain McCammon!!!

Thank you Captain.
/ship flashes running lights in salute to Captain Thomas' vessel/

Score!

I made a major find on Craigslist a few weeks ago.

A bunch of old SFB stuff (complete copy of Designers Edition, plus expansions), a better copy of Captains Log #1 than the one I had, old tactics manual, etc.. However, the pièce de résistance and the real reason I jumped on the deal: a box of 1984-vintage lead SFB minis (most still sealed in their blister packs).
All that for 15 bucks.

The minis alone would be a $50-100 eBay deal, especially since there was a sealed Klingon D-7 in there. As it turned out, there were two (the other one missing engines I was able to easily replace). I much prefer the old lead D-7's shape and proportions, so this was a score and half for me.

I gave a few of the minis away to new guys in my group (where I already had more than enough of that type) and I spent the afternoon out in the sun yesterday, prepping them and also resurrecting some of my own old lead minis.


In the picture are:
[top row]
Klingon C-8/9 dreadnought "hulk" (no engines - I already have two completed C-8's. I may rebuild this later as a C-10, or finish and paint it as a Romulan K9R).
Two tiny (old SL2200) Romulan WarBirds (now used as Snipe frigates).
Two Klingon D-7 cruisers (I'd have paid the money just for these alone. The engines for one are "donated" from the C-8/9. both have had hole/slots drilled in their wings and engines to prepare for brass pins. Once pinned and epoxied on, the joint will be further reinforced with 2-part putty. Once finished, they are pretty much as strong as the current one-piece D-7's and look very sharp.
This brings me up to a full three ship squadron of lead D-7's [cue Star Trek The Motion Picture 'Klingon Battle Theme'...], plus an extra as a D-7C. If I find another one someday, I'll do it up as a Romulan K7R. My three SL2400 D-7's are now going to get stripped and repainted as Romulan KR's (I already have three SL2400 D-7's painted as Klingon D-6's)
Romulan Condor dreadnought (I drilled holes in preparation for pinning to mend it's broken wing. I'll probably modify this into a Heavy Condor.)
Romulan SparrowHawk cruiser (one of my old minis from when I was a kid. 1985-vintage lead. All three engines drilled, pinned, and epoxied in-place. They will never, ever, pop off again).
[bottom row]
Gorn dreadnought (another old one of mine from 1985)
Gorn battlecruiser (brand new, from the Craigslist buy)
Gorn battlecruiser (another old one of mine from 1985)
Gorn light cruiser (another old one of mine from 1985)
Gorn destroyer (another old one of mine from 1985)
All the Gorns had the engine mounts/struts clipped off and the engines glued to the hull in the modern "forward" position (as opposed in the old hanging out the back, waiting to get knocked off position). They were then puttied into place with 2-part putty. Holes were then drilled through the entire assembly in two places and brass pins glued in. Finally, the putty and pin stubs were Dremel-ed into shape (blending the putty to look like the modern mini).

The Craigslist "box 'o stuff" also had some plastic and metal Fed/Klingon ships I gave away and a Tholian dreadnought and Andromedan Intruder. those two will be fun to do something with someday. The Andromedan is as big as a door knob and weighs twice a much

djdood wrote:and Andromedan Intruder. those two will be fun to do something with someday. The Andromedan is as big as a door knob and weighs twice a much

If it's as big as a doorknob then it might be a Dominator. The Intruder is only about 2 to 2 1/2 inches across, but now the Dominator.. .that's a hunk of pewter.

Congrats dood,

Last summer or so, I scored a couple winners on e-bay, total of 64 ships, shipping included ran $115 for the 2 auctions ---
Early this year picked up 6 Fleet Boxes, $91 w/shipping

Now all I need is someone to push me into working on them ---

Thanks guys.

The Andromedan is indeed an Intruder and is plenty big for me. I used a B-10 heavy-duty stand for that whopper.

The Dominator must be as big as a mayonnaise jar lid like I've been hearing all these years.

I'm trying to get all the minis I have standed-up and at least primed before one of the groups I game with does a big demo day at a local game store on Sunday. I'd love it if I can at least base-coat my Kzintis too, but we'll have to see if the rains stop or not - I'm lucky I got yesterday afternoon to work outside as it's been thunderstorms all day today.

I don't know what happened, but I've been on a Kzinti-kick during all my most recent games (3-4 weeks now). I started using them to give my trainee opponents something different from their Feds and Klingons to play against (but not *too* different, so they wouldn't get overwhelmed). I'd never used the cats before and now I'm all smitten by the "big drone wave". Eventually my friends will get better with anti-drone tactics (kind of the point) and it won't be as much fun - in the meantime they're still obsessed with "alpha strikes" while the drone wave just keeps getting closer...

dj

I took several B-10 stands --- some 3/8" bolts, 3/8 washer, superglued the nut to the bottom of my Dominator, Intruder, ISC DN, Condor ----

The B-10 stand was just right as the bolt went up up through it, washer picked it up enough the bolt head was off the table and weighted enough to keep it steady ---

Started with bolts 1/2" length, but found they were a bit high for my taste and so switched to 1/4" ---

Works great for the larger heavier mini's --- need to get more stands to do some more ---

One of the guys in my group did something similar (big 'ole 1" nut for a base). He puttied a machine screw coming up out of it, then screwed on a threaded rod over that, and another screw out of that and glued into the mini.

Essentially, he made a small turnbuckle, with a big, honking hex-base.

The point is that he can adjust the height of the "stand post" as-needed, to keep from crowding other minis on the game board. The huge nut as a base keeps it from getting "tippy".

It's clever, but I think it's easier to just swap for a counter than tinker with the stand (I also think it will get loose eventually and the mini will "weather vane").

I've been adding fender washers under the bases of my minis to add weight and that's enough for me.

Was typing from memory, didn't pull out the base ---

I also have an extension (female to end goes on bolt, male to nut on mini),
this is where the length difference was ---

To prevent windmilling, I added a second nut to the extension, then the nuts meet they become a lock ---

Pretty cool. Sounds like the removable bases that Dean (star-ranger.com) does.

Very similar to the one you linked ---

Buying the extension and using nut on the mini seems much easier to deal with --
Except for the cost of the extensions, but the time involved cutting pipe etc would off set the $.85 per ---
Guess with cost of the B-10 Base and other items, comes out to $2 for each finished item ---

I was at a local thrift and got them to let me in the back. I found a bunch of Warhammer Fantasy Orc/Goblin sets cheap; close to $300 retail for under $10. I'll probably never paint them (Do FedCom/40k/Battletech) I'm debating if I want to eBay them or give CL a try to sell them off..so I can buy some more FedCom mini's.

Nice score that.

Starfury wrote:I was at a local thrift and got them to let me in the back. I found a bunch of Warhammer Fantasy Orc/Goblin sets cheap; close to $300 retail for under $10. I'll probably never paint them (Do FedCom/40k/Battletech) I'm debating if I want to eBay them or give CL a try to sell them off..so I can buy some more FedCom mini's.

Names... we need the name of the local thift so we can try to same thing in our areas...