Another 15mm Sci-Fi Shuttle (Star Trek Federation) Charity Shop III

A third charity shop purchase (and probably the last for the time being) was another Star Trek collector's miniature - something I view as a "classier shuttle", for Travellers more accustomed to representing the Federation on official business (see below, after performing a nifty planet take-off): 

VIPs and Federation Officials get your electronic boarding passes ready.

Something to "lighten-up" the desk at work: Klingon Battle Cruiser

One advantage of working in IT is the high level of Sci-Fi appreciation. So in honour of the SCRUM team that named itself as culturally "Klingon" (yes they are 'interesting') I brought in a Star Trek genre, Klingon Battle Cruiser (see below):

It went down well! As a bonus in my downtime I can day dream my way into my own set of 'Trekie' space ship battle rules.

PS: I prefer this to the smaller Klingon "Bird of Prey". Call me 'Old School'.

Space: Planets (2) 'Six' Outer Planets

A distance shot of a trio of planetary curios (see below):

• A barren "Rusty Red"
• A fiery "Lava Orange"
• A gaseous "Sickly Blue"

Close up and I think that the "Sickly Blue" one has a distinct gaseous or water feel to it. The "Lava Orange" meanwhile has obvious plate tectonic activity (see below):

The "Rusty Red" seems to have a high iron content which should doubtless prove of high interest to the intergalactic mining fraternity and the associated lawlessness that comes with an asset striping 'free for all' (independent or with corporate sponsorship).

My final trio of planets are "studies in Green" (see below):

• A "Sickly Green"
• The (snow capped) Twin Jungle Greens"

After closer inspection the "Sickly Green" is in fact a montage of dirty coloured gases from brown to blue, passing through green in rather a mucky fashion (see below):

A closer inspection of one of the "Twin Jungle Greens" reveals obvious 'growth' resembling what you would expect from the GW 40K "Tyranids" or Hollywood "Alien" home worlds (see below):

A pressing unanswered question is how do I mount them? If their final resting place is to be a bedroom ceiling(s) in diorama form, then embedded 'hooks' are probably the best bet, but I would like to hedge my options and be able to mount them table-top in order that I deploy then for 'as yet unspecified' space fleet battles. They just seem too useful to be 'just' pretty ornaments.

Space: Planets (1) "Big Ones"

In the immortal words of Dr. Spock, "It's life Jim but not as we know it". I bring to the conclusion a pet wargame, Science or Science Fiction project that I must have started a decade ago having come across some interesting (as in full of potential) polystyrene haberdashery "balls". I covered the balls in PVA glue and rolled them in sand, then let id set and undercoated it in cheap acrylic paint. I then layered further acrylic paints layers to suit style and mood of the moment. The first of my creations id "Big Blue" , a water world of sorts (see below):

She looks "Earth-like" to my eyes although the painted continents are nothing like our planet (see below):

Now comes a rather clumpy looking desert planet, which has a Saturn like appeal to it. Yes that is the "Mark 1" hanging hook (see below):

A more prosaic planet without said attachment methinks (see below):

As well as 'big balls' I managed to pick up some smaller ones, I obviously had plenty of paint left from the Saturn planet to finish off these two smaller moons (see below):

It was fun as I could be creatively messy after taking inspiration from pictures of planets from out Solar System and old episodes of Star Trek and Star Wars (see below)

Next: The outer planets

Expanding Science Fiction Fleet (Star Trek IV)

Star Ships of Star Trek IV: The Undiscovered Country

The "Good Guys", the Federation Excelsior (Sulu) and Enterprise (Kirk) need to avert another Klingon v Federation war (see above). The wannabe "Good Guys", Klingon's in a rather scary Battle-Cruiser (see below):

Meanwhile the real "Bad Guys" (including a Vulcan) are using a Klingon 'Bird of Prey' to try and start another war between the Klingons and Federation (see below):

All courtesy of the current Star Trek magazine series running fortnightly in the Newsagents (it is so great feeling like a kid again).

All I need now is a simple set of "space star ship battle rules" ;)

Star Trek "To Boldly Go" (again) in the Revamped Original

Orbiting a huge red planet or Sun going "super-nova" the USS Enterprise (as per the original "Motion Picture" film version) prepares to engage its "warp" drive (see below):

OK so you may have guessed having seen "Issue 2" (at a slightly inflated price £5.99 from Issue 1's bargain of £1.99) I found myself (once again) having no self control and purchased it alongside the milk and bread on the shopping list. Returning home I had a genius idea of simply adding USS Enterprise to the bottom of the shopping list, but the wife was not to be so simply fooled!

Now to find a bogus use for it ;)

STOP PRESS UPDATE: Small child of three engages USS Enterprise in Saturday morning 'play session'. There was only ever going to be one winner and the USS Enterprise lay in pieces. Can you hear my wife's mocking laughter in the background? Interesting to note the small chap seems to have been sophisticated enough to use dice. The roll of 3, 4 and 12 on the "critical systems table" must have indicated a massive structural failure, perhaps even highlighting a design fault!

What would Captain James T Kirk done in this situation? Well obviously he would never have gotten himself into such a jam. instead by reversing "Times" polarity, adding in a few faster than light quarks for god measure and THE USS Enterprise would have reassembled itself. My version required the aid of a packet of super-glue (see below):   

"All is well that ends well." 

The "spaceships" of my Federation Fleet are now resting on a much higher (and hidden from prying little eyes) shelf.

 Note: This also means my youngest son has 'done the double' by taking out the "Second Generation" and "Original Motion Picture Film" USS Enterprise(s). Who knows, in a future post there may well be comparative study on Klingon and Romulan starship design versus "the deadly hand of a small child"?

"To Boldly Go" for £1.99

Oh, how I laughed at the sheer lack of will power that some other wargamers have. Just because a magazine in their first issue offers a throwaway bargain doesn't mean to say "you have to buy it"! Have some "will power" and don't succumb to those adolescent style fantasies, naming no names of course (cf David Crook).

Yes of course I got one too!

I'd buy a three legged hairy troll for £1.99 if it looked good enough so I snapped up Pecard's Enterprise, much to the interest of my three children who were loitering with me in the Co-Op sweetie isle when I spied 'The Enterprise" in the magazine section.  

Note: The price I paid for the "sweeties" was more than what the Enterprise cost me! Those kids sure know how to take advantage of a distracted daddy ...

However I now have the "Next Generation Enterprise" (See below):

For the record, I am no hard core Trekky but it is a nice looking spaceship for as yet an unspecified Sci-Fi 'Federation' adventure (the old middle-aged RPG'er friends of mine be warned, take note of this for a planned Xmas special coming to an area near you, start making your excuses now).

Head on she is mightily impressive (see below):

The typical Klingon Bird-Of-Prey 'attack view' of her (see below):

Note: Although 'die-cast' there are plastic pieces attached, as my 'Klingon' three year old son soon found out, detaching the starboard-side warp engine in a fierce 'space' battle (he has a strong grip for such a small child). Luckily daddy had some 'super glue' and 'plastic glue' to hand so I didn't cry that much. Hmm, I don't think I remember seeing this particular TV episode.

;)

While the Romulan could always 'de-cloak' and get underneath for their attacks (see below):

Still no matter which angle you attack from there is always the 'business end' of the USS Enterprise to deal with (see below):

"Fire photon torpedoes Number One". I think more Sci-Fi is to come as I saw 'the second in the series' is out in the shops.

Ah those adolescent years, oh I also had a crush on Kate Bush too ;)