JKB-1's Romulan Eagle Fleet in 1/2500 -- WITHDRAWN

[jkb-1]

[The Star Fleet Battles game divides Romulan ships into three "generations:" the Bird of Prey ships, or "Eagles;" the Klingon-supplied "Kestrals;" and the Klingon-influenced but Romulan-designed "Hawk series." I like "Eagle fleet" for this period when the Federation is still viewing them as Romans. SPQR and all that.]

The plan is to do:
FASA's

• V-1 Starglider
  V-6 Gallant Wing
  V-8 Bird of Prey
  V-9 Night Flyer
  Q-1 Great Defender
  and I-4 Graffler

Seen at https://www.ststcsolda.space/

and. SFB's

• War Eagle
  Battle Hawk
  Snipe
  And Falcon

From https://store.starfleetstore.com/merchan ... Code=14-15


The ships that would have come screaming through the Neutral Zone if the "Balance" had been tilted more in the Romulan's favor. More than that, though. It's also a celebration of the Bird of Prey as a rubber starship, confused in size from 68 meters to 136, and also stretched out longer, or wider, or fatter. As such, I'm skipping ships such as the V-2 Hunter, which is a similar not-quite-saucer and nacelles, but which body is not the classic bootheel shape. (The Starglider isn't a boot heel, but I just love those wings!)

When I get my regular internet connection up I'll post a picture of the material I've gathered.

[jkb-1]

Polar Lights' 1/2500 Bird of Prey surrounded by shiny things to distract me. Just lost the post I thumb-typed. Will try again tomorrow.

[slawton]

If you are able, I'd love to get a copy of the Gallant Wing.

[Drop_Bear]

The ships that would have come screaming through the Neutral Zone...

Cool!

[jkb-1]

If you are able, I'd love to get a copy of the Gallant Wing.

Nothing sparks interest like interest! I want to test my idea on building these, so I've started the Night Flyer with the Gallant Wing to receive lessons learned from that. Now to take pictures and write my report. *sigh*

[Julien]

Great project ! I look forward to it !

[slawton]

Hey JKB-1 - I was looking forward to your build. Any updates?

[jkb-1]

The Round 2 and SFB's Snipe went easily enough, but with FASA's Night Flyer I ran into several hitches. The interesting one involves discrepencies between the views and the lack of a bottom view. I'll see what I can do about another hitch tomorrow, and try to post pictures.

If I can do the Flyer, the method should work easier on the Gallant Wing. I also have two ships that can be adapted to make at least a squadron.

[jkb-1]

Even with my severe case of the summertime blahs I thought I had the solution to completing the contest. I would declare the fleet "done" at the closing date no matter how many models I hadn't finished, saying I had to invade the Federation with the fleet I had, not the fleet I wanted to have.

Unfortunately, I planned to paint all my finished models at the same time, so I wouldn't lose the can or forget what color I was using between models. Well, the first week in September was a washout for painting, and I am not going to rush putting decals on paint that hasn't dried.

Maybe with the pressure off, I'll be reinvigorated, and see what I can do by "The Balance of Terror" (Dec 15). Here's what I have been working on:



By a chain of circumstances, the ADB gaming mini of their Bird of Prey is the size and shape of a 1/2500 Snipe. That's it on the left, with the Round2 BoP, and an Attack Wing BoP that is coincidentally the size and shape of the Mike McMaster Bird. Way off to the right is the gaming mini of the Snipe.




The FASA Night Flyer is where I ran out of steam. It seems fairly easy: a sheet of styrene for the top and bottom, cut a slit down the middle of the back halves and bring the edges together to give the slope from the center to the edges. The first picture is the bottom: the angles were thoughts I had for the undercut before I decided not to give it one, just make the aft end a straight wall. The top is a bit different with a flat section in the aft -- in cross-universe technological alignment I'm declaring them shuttlebay doors -- it might take a little putty to smooth things over. Still whenever I go to transfer the patterns to plastic sheet I back off.



From a game store clearance sale, something suitably Romulan. Shown next to an OS "Vulcan" shuttle and beneath the nacelle of a BoP. The piece of sprue on the side is one I had been trying to file down to a nacelle for it using my Dremel as a lathe. It'll have to be a lot thinner, but working it takes a lot of patience: I've snapped several other pieces already. Then there's rounding the front. You can see a small green pinhead that is too big to use.