TERRAN
FEDERATION FLEET CONSTRUCTION
Here's a shot of the models (minus the battleship) before painting.
Note that the carrier has turrets here because it originally served as
a battleship until the final one (Below) was completed.
The Fighters and scout ship are made from cut down missiles from GI
Joe fighter toys. The Battleship is made from various Zoids toys and computer
parts, with gun turrets taken from Epic scale Ork tank models.
The Bombers are made from guns off a knock off brand GI Joe toy, with Lego
bits added and more turrets.
The new Battleship is made mostly of the front end of a ship
toy from Gundam, with lots of cable connectors and other crap slapped on
the back. I stripped off some of the pieces on top before painting, as
they added too much height and it looked ungainly. Two long side
guns were also added under the wings after this shot was taken...
TRITON
FLEET CONSTRUCTION
The fighters are cut down GI joe missiles again. The rest of
the fleet makes heavy use of round shapes. The Bombers are made from
the Imex Chemical Plant kit, with turrets
added. The Battleship is a gun turret from a GI Joe vehicle, with
Chemical Plant parts for engines, and more turrets taken from Epic scale
Ork Gargants and Zoids. Note that the engines for the bombers and
battleship are embellished with small pieces of Christmas Lights (bulb
holders), giving them that vaned Y-wing engine look.
The scout ship is a GI joe bomb, with chemical plant connector front end
(the sensor dome is an airsoft BB, as are the side windows on the bombers).
The Freighter also uses parts from the Chemical Plant kit, plus some Lego
and computer parts, and a wooden ball. The cruiser (not pictured
here) was also made mostly of Chemical Plant parts, as were the Pirate
Ships!
The carrier came later. The front end are bits from a Megablocks
set, the railings from the Platformer model kit. All this sits on
top of the same Chemical Plant parts that make up the cruiser, with a square
block added to the bottom that has half sections of pipe added for detail.
Note the engines are the same as the ones on the Battleship, except two
more engines are added to either side by using pipe connectors and elbows
to splice them into the ship in a somewhat believeable fashion.
Originally the Triton fleet was green. After making the destroyer,
I realized itwould look a lot better in BLUE, and repainted the whole fleet
in one night!
VOSTOK
EMPIRE FLEET CONSTRUCTION
The battleship came out well, I think. And I finally found a use for
that piece from the Emperor class Titan model I parted years ago... The
feet came in handy too, for tying the round end bits to the square blocky
middle bit. There's disposable razor heads there too, and monitor connector
bits for the missile launchers. I revised the front end a bit since this
shot...
The Fighters are parts from the two different size Sentinel toys from the Matrix. The bombers are all manner of little bits. I shortened the noses since this shot since they were frighteningly large for a bomber. The cruiser is a bazooka from an SD Gundam GP02 toy, with GI joe guns on the side. The nose is from the Emperor Titan of course, maintaining that gothic cosmonaut theme... The scout ship is all Lego, with a radar dish added. The freighter is an old Star Wars medical droid, though I'm revising it for a different fleet actually.
Above is the first Carrier I've ever made- all the carriers came
in late, and are just now settling into place in our games. below
is the alternative Freighter. When I started painting this fleet, I didn't
like the way the old freighter looked, so I made this new one. The freighter
and the carrier both make HEAVY use of the Robotix toy parts, the carrier
is entirely so except for the engines.
ALPHAN
FLEET CONSTRUCTION
A shot of the fleet in process (before carrier and battleship).
The freighter (red) didn't work out as a Vostok ship, and ended up actually
defining the aesthetics for the Alphans, with its Power Plant nose, Airsoft
BB and small bead fuel tanks, and cylindrical body (taken from an FX-7
droid figure). I added Lego engines, and some pieces of tank tread
were added after this pictue. The Cruiser has parts from the Power
Plant kit, FX-7 head, a cylinder shaped piece from a printer cartridge,
Ammo belt and more airsoft BBs, a wheel from a toy, and engine made from
a Construx connector (whew!).
Fighters are short sections of pipe from the Power Plant kit, with lego cones and antenna mounts for the front. Reactive armor plates were added to the sides, and engines made from plastic knobs. Bombers (front to back) are earbud headphones, Matrix Sentinel tentacles, turrets from Epic Ork tanks, Airsoft BBs sandwiched between two Lego discs, and engines from a Saturn V rocket toy.
Here's the carrier in process. For consistency, another
Power Plant piece was used for the front, connected to a cut down toy Revolver
cylinder with a Construx connector. A Lego disc caps the next section,
detailed with plastic clothespin parts and lego studs. The base is
part of a Saturn V rocket, with a wheel in the bottom detailed with Airsoft
BBs. The engine is a rocket cone from a toy, with a piece from the
Power Plant kit on the end.
The battleship (not pictured) is made of various toy and model parts. The notches in the front were made with a rectangular paper hole punch! The Scout ship (not pictured) is made of an engine from one of those Star Wars Transformers toys that always fall apart (the Arc-170, specifically), with antenna bits from the Power Plant kit, and an engine cluster from some Gundam toy I parted.
DERELICT
CONSTRUCTION
These two ships make heavy use of wire connector blocks for the ribbed
details. The ship on the left uses pieces from the Chemical Plant
and Platformer kits, plus Legos and other parts. The Ship on the
right uses a Gundam backpack for the front, tanks from a Marshydog on the
back, and Lego pieces for the verniers. A keyboard button defines
the top shape.
The ship on the left is mainly a piece of a Techno Spawn toy, cut down
to size. The eyes are Airsoft BBs with holes drilled by a pin vise.
Adding engines and guns makes it look more like a ship. The
ship on the right combines parts from several toy and model parts, including
Lego Bionicle (rear), Destroid Tomahawk (bridge), and Robotix (front end).
This is my favorite Derelict model. I started with two half-round
tank details attached to a central block, then added engines and a front
end from toys. The beads that form the spine are from a Mardi Gras
necklace. The cool engine blocks on the sides are from a Perfect
Gundam toy.
The ship on the left is a hybrid of two aerodynamic looking toys.
There's no reason your ships can't look aerodynamic- somebody has to get
to and from the planet surface! The ship on the right is a bunch
of model parts spliced together. Many of the ships have additional
detail added such as tank treads, bits of printer drive belt, small model
parts, and simple divets and holes drilled in. The bases are made
from roofing nails glued to large washers.
SCRAPPERS
CONSTRUCTION
The Scrappers ships are meant to be more "junked" together, making
them more forgiving of errors and asymmetry during construction!
The Grapple Ships were made using claws from the large Sentinel toy
from the Matrix. Claws were cut down and remounted onto closed claw
tips, which are attached to a tentacle segment, which is attached to a
keyboard key button with a lego bit on top. The engines are made
of lego studs attached to a lego jumper plate, attached to the back of
the keyboard button.
The fighters are Ork ships from Battlefleet Gothic, with some winged caps attached to the sides as wings. The caps came from medical surplus parts (IV lines, I believe).
The Scout ship is made of an arm from a Borg action figure, with some extra details added. The engine is a nozzle from a Gundam backpack, attached to a Lego crank wheel with notches filed into it.
OTHER
GRAPPLE SHIPS
TheOf course, A grapple ship was made for each of the other fleets.
From L to R: The Terran ship is made from a toy crane claw, with
Lego engine and plastic bits for rear cowlings. The Triton ship is
more Chemical Plant pieces, keyboard bits for the engine nozzles, a wheel
for a connector, and claws from a 40K Space Wolf Dreadnought. The
Vostok ship uses Matrix Sentinel parts again, plus a threaded cap connector
and claws from a Mechwarrior figure. The Alphan ship has a wheel
hub engine with half a plastic tire from a bike model, pipes from
the Power Plant kit, Lego bits for the sensors, and a claw from an old
toy trimmed down to size.
SPACE
PIRATE CONSTRUCTION
The Pirate Ships are made out of parts from the
Imex
Chemical Plant kit, with plastic key ring skulls for the front.
The side guns are bits of plastic rod with holes tapped out using
a pin vise. Antennas were also added to the tops (this one taken
from a Lego piece and cut down to size).
The space mines were made from various toy bits, painted with a brown
wash and silver sharpie highlights- cute but deadly!
The STARBASE is made mostly from Robotix toy parts.
In this shot of some of our planets and moons, the left two are
foam balls, with craters pressed into them and painted with craft paints.
The other three are from a planet display set, and since the planets could
be opened, I put color cycling tea lights inside for light up fun!
They rest on top of soda bottle caps painted black so they don't roll away...
The Comet is another foam planet, with a tail made of Polyfil that came
out of an old couch cushion. I stuck a straw into the back of the
comet ball to attach the Polyfil to, so it wouldn't droop...
GAME COMPONENTS
For credits, I bought glass pebbles from the local craft and hobby
store (used in displays, very cheap and sturdy).
For sticks, I cut chopsticks and matchsticks to 8" lengths, and painted
them black and buffed them to make them shiny.
For damage markers, I just use the skull markers I've had for other
games for years now...
Looking for more inspiration for your own models? Try the stunning CONCEPTSHIPS website for ideas!
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