Federation Commander

I've finally been able to get back to painting and detailing again, after nearly a year.

I've got a baker's-dozen of Feds in the home-stretch, but this one didn't need the same amount of work, so I went ahead and finished it. I give you the Federation Star Fleet Auxiliary U.S.S. Cedar Falls -


She's marked as the unfortunate ship featured in the Captain's Log 33 story "The Return of the Juggernaut". The recent flooding in the real-life city of Cedar Falls is an odd coincidence.

I'm looking forward to getting the minis gallery on my website populated with pictures soon.

Very nice job, Will. I have two of my own APT's in the home stretch. I have only to apply the decals and then I'll post photos of them.

i love the windows!

Impressive!
The different shades of grey make the detail stand out nicely.
How did you get your windows so clean ?

I am currently working on my Kzinti fleet and won't have anything ready for a couple of weeks (I know scoutdad, I know, but someone hase to do it).
Nice job djdood, can't wait to see the rest.

malleman wrote: How did you get your windows so clean ?

Windex?




Actually, I think i can answer this one. The APT has better window detail than any model I've seen recently. All of the windows are well-defined divots drilled into the side of the mini. A fine brush or a toothpick with a bit of paint on it will fill the hole quite nicely, and a bit of dry-brushing will cover up any that happens to miss the opening.

That looks great Will. Nice to see you're back in the swing of things.

Are those your custom decals on it?

Thanks for the kind words guys. It really is nice to be back to painting and even better to be actually finishing some, after all this time!

These photos were taken in full sun and the brightness kind of washes out some of the detail, which is a drag. I added some faint panel lines in pencil which washed out in the shots (as did some of the hatches, etc.). I'm going to be investing in a nice photography set-up next month for my birthday, which should improve my picture-taking

Tony (Socutdad) got it right. The APT mini has really nice little molded-in divots on its sides, which I was able to just barely poke with a very fine brush lightly touched into black. I definitely needed my magnifying lamp for those, but they turned out reasonably well.

The windows on the "cockpit" are decals. As OGOptimus guessed, this mini is indeed my first using my new custom "homebrew" decal sets. I made a bunch of random blocks of windows, so I used a few of those.

I wanted to give the APT's front end a better sense of scale. At the 1/3788 scale of these minis, those "window" panels on the mini would be transparencies 2-3 decks high!

I chose to make those panels be anti-glare panels, like the noses on many big aircraft (thus the dark paint) and put window decals at the top edge to represent the bridge and officer's quarter's actual window ports. This made sense to me since the APT (like the FedEx Courier and the Prime Trader) do a lot of atmospheric landings and would need a good direct-view out the front.

In the next few weeks I should be able to also finish: 2 BC's, 1 CA, 2 CS' (modified), 2 oCL's, 1 HDW, 2 DW's, 2 FFB's, and 5 FF's (all Fed's).

djdood wrote: Tony (Socutdad) [Really now, "socutdad"?] got it right. [Hurray!] The APT mini has really nice little molded-in divots on its sides, which I was able to just barely poke with a very fine brush lightly touched into black. I definitely needed my magnifying lamp for those, but they turned out reasonably well.

The windows on the "cockpit" are decals. As OGOptimus guessed, this mini is indeed my first using my new custom "homebrew" decal sets. I made a bunch of random blocks of windows [What an excellent idea that turned out to be. Good Job], so I used a few of those.

I chose to make those panels be anti-glare panels, like the noses on many big aircraft [Hmmmm... I wonder why Will chose to show a photo of a Boeing airliner?] (thus the dark paint) and put window decals at the top edge to represent the bridge and officer's quarter's actual window ports. This made sense to me since the APT (like the FedEx Courier and the Prime Trader) do a lot of atmospheric landings and would need a good direct-view out the front.

In the next few weeks I should be able to also finish: 2 BC's, 1 CA, 2 CS' (modified), 2 oCL's, 1 HDW, 2 DW's, 2 FFB's, and 5 FF's (all Fed's).

We can't wait to see them!

Tony -

You can go ahead and call me "DJ-dud" in a post as payback for my blatant online-handle mangling.

"What an excellent idea that turned out to be. "
Credit where it's due; that was all your idea. I just cloned a bunch of little squares in FreeHand. You're the thinker in this little operation.

"Hmmmm... I wonder why Will chose to show a photo of a Boeing airliner?"
Can't help it. Biased as all get-out.

djdood wrote:Tony -

You can go ahead and call me "DJ-dud" in a post as payback for my blatant online-handle mangling.

Hey! Who told you what we call you behind your back?

I just finished applying the sealant to 2 APTs, 13 Freighters, and 1 full flotilla of Lyran PF's. It's a bit late tonight to wait for them to dry and then photo them - but pictures will be posted tomorrow.

I had the privilege of seeing this one in person at our local Fed Comm meeting. It is exceptional.

Thanks! Glad you liked it. Just wait till you see the Republic and the Prometheus.