 April 4, 2010 - 3:10pm | Hey folks, I have recently been bitten by the bug for SF again, but this time it's along the Knight Hawks line. Now, I am aware that the availability and selection of ships for the SF universe is pretty slim and was wondering if anyone had tried their hand at scratchbuilding their own vessels for the game? Given the very basic designs used in the official SF material, this doesn't seem like it would be all that difficult. -Eli |
 April 4, 2010 - 3:22pm | I made a Sathar frigate a while back, wanted to make a fleet of destroyers. In every age, in every place, the deeds of men remain the same. |
April 4, 2010 - 3:29pm | Sargonarhes, How did you go about it? Do you have any pics? Thanks, -Eli |
 April 4, 2010 - 6:59pm | My brother does. He takes old model parts, cuts n shapes and adds things till he has mini ships. Old engines and missile pilons become destroyers and frigates. Old Gundam parts become fighters and battleships. He started this after reading old magazines that showed how in the old miniture makers in hollywood would buy model kits by the dozens and piece work projects for films like star wars and battlestar galactica. I'll see if I can dig some pics up of his stuff. Gold is for the mistress-silver for the maid-copper for the craftsman cunning at his trade.But Iron-Cold Iron- is master of them all |
April 4, 2010 - 8:21pm | That is really cool. I've done that before, but never to try to replicate a specific look or style of ship. I am thinking that Sathar and UPF ships can both be cobbled together using different sorts of beads and some plastic rod or tubing. Details can be done with card and or green stuff. -Eli |
 April 4, 2010 - 8:33pm | We want pics! I think it could be done, with some sculpting talent. How about with clay - fired dry, glazed and painted? |
 April 4, 2010 - 8:56pm | I've shopped at Ground Zero Games for ships - but I was thinking to resurrect a scratch building project. Here's a space station I did with a small plastic ring from a craft store- plating is just paper glued on with zap-a-gap and spokes are toothpickt and the central core is dowel. round pieces you see are from a rotory hole punch (for leather) used on paper- on the central core the red circle is the largest hole punch from the leather punch then that hole was punched again with the next size smaller hole and glued in place with zap-a-gap  This next pick has some space terrain: planets made from styrofoam balls and an early expirement at asteriods.  next is a WIP vursk scout ship that i made with hexagonal brass tubing (a pain to work with) and plastic beads. Plan on running down some plastic hexagonal tubing which should be easier to use  next is a copy of planaron base from the SFKH0 module which is made from a pumice stone and odds and ends of stuff glued on  I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
April 5, 2010 - 7:33am | Excellent pics there. I've built similar stuff for other fleet games and may still have some laying about. The big kicker igoing to be resurrecting long OOP fleets without losing the character of the original designs. There is a bit of room for fudging it - newer designs, updated timeline, etc. - but I'd like to stick as close to the original asthetic as possible. |
April 5, 2010 - 8:39am | Your hexagonal rod idea got me thinking and it occured to me that I have a ton of old Games Workshop sprue laying around. Much of that sprue has a semi-hexaginal cross section. The plastic cuts easy and is plentiful so mistakes aren't costly. -Eli |
 April 5, 2010 - 8:46am | I scratch built an ag ship. At least I got to scare an alien rabbit thingy...... |
April 6, 2010 - 6:02am | I never really finished it mind you, and I went with the idea that it should have 3 engines. It's just a short dowl rod with a small wood ball at the end, with pasticard for the engine mounts. The engines were from the molding spurs from out of a model kit. In every age, in every place, the deeds of men remain the same. |
April 6, 2010 - 8:26pm | @ Umungus: Sorry dude - I meant to trumpet your ag ship but got caught up and distracted by kids while posting Your ag ship is one of my favorite models. @ sargonarhes: still a nice model worth playing with Thought: if the worms weren't so suicidal I'd advocate for giving them a capability right out of Star Fleet battles: Klingon Boom separation- main hull self destructs and the boom is used as a life boat. The shape and design of the models suggest this but it doesn't match their physcology. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
April 7, 2010 - 10:58am | Hey thanks Jedi. Sarg' that is a cool scratchbuild. You could add a few bits and pieces on that thing and it would look really cool. At least I got to scare an alien rabbit thingy...... |
April 7, 2010 - 3:09pm | Well I'll have to look around and see if I got any bit small enough to put on it. And then think about another one. In every age, in every place, the deeds of men remain the same. |
April 7, 2010 - 3:53pm | you could use pencil lead for pipes, really small doll eyes, cardstock and printer paper for panels. At least I got to scare an alien rabbit thingy...... |
April 7, 2010 - 6:34pm | Green stuff is incredibly easy to work with. The best way to use it for surface details is to add a bit and then cut the parts you don't want away, leaving the detail you do want. The key thing is to keep your black slick when you are doing the cutting away. I use olive oil in small amounts. Also, clever painting can add a lot of detail (though this is not my specialty). -Eli |
April 7, 2010 - 6:54pm | Green stuff is incredibly easy to work with. The best way to use it for surface details is to add a bit and then cut the parts you don't want away, leaving the detail you do want. The key thing is to keep your black slick when you are doing the cutting away. I use olive oil in small amounts. Also, clever painting can add a lot of detail (though this is not my specialty). -Eli There is other 2 part epozies besides green stuff. there is one that is brown that is suppose to hold sharper edges and is used specifically for sculpting metal parts and weapons. I've not used it but that what I've read about it. Procreate white/gray but its fairly comparable to green stuff. I've read about and briefly tried olive oil but settled on water though I found a recommendation on the net that spit will work too, not that I endorse it. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
April 7, 2010 - 8:09pm | I mention green stuff more out of name recognition for the lay folks. I have worked with brown stuff and it is better for hard details and things with crisp edges like tech. Procreate is what I usually work with and is great because it can be blended in various proportions of the two parts to render different working times, hardness, etc. I recommend Procreate for anyone trying to get into workign with putty. |
April 7, 2010 - 9:31pm | Great stuff! The funny thing about KH though, is that you usually stack so many ships in a single hex that you almost need a side card to hold all of the ships in a given stack. So minis are a little impractical for the big battles. Not that you can't use them, of course. |
 April 8, 2010 - 2:56pm | Great stuff! The funny thing about KH though, is that you usually stack so many ships in a single hex that you almost need a side card to hold all of the ships in a given stack. Not a bad idea at all Imperial! - I like the idea of a enlargened hex for 'fleets' Another good compound to use is milliput - much cheaper than your green and brown stuff, plus like the brown stuff, it is good at holding onto edges. As always, practise with these materials will bring you on leaps and bounds. Milliput will also survive the moulding process (if your models are that good!) I have had mixed sucesses with rubber epoxys for moulding (very messy) - but this was done a few years ago and I don't know where my little ships are nowadays ( moved house, little kiddywinks, etc). Another unusual method is to use plaster mixed with a good amount of salt - helps the mould to survive the heat when pouring your alloys - friend has had a number of good results (5+ castings) |
April 8, 2010 - 6:08pm | Great stuff! The funny thing about KH though, is that you usually stack so many ships in a single hex that you almost need a side card to hold all of the ships in a given stack. So minis are a little impractical for the big battles. Not that you can't use them, of course. thats why I have "Fleet Markers" on my to do list I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 April 9, 2010 - 4:15pm | If you place the minis in a clear plastic cube you could stack several mini's into a single hex. I use to use this method with the fasa star trek tactical combat simulator game mini's. I would assemble and paing a mini and then use a plastic rpg dice container, about the size of a film canister to hold the mini. It served two purposes, it protected the mini's paint job from getting tossed arount too bad, and it also allowed the mini's to be stacked. Now, St:tcs used larger chits and hexes then KH, which i actually liked a lot better bc i am a very visual person and loved the art used on the full color carboard counters. Since reading this article I may try to do some mini modeling. I had in mind creating a model using clay, casting a mold in plaster with the clay model, then making castings in some medium like plaster. I dont have the time, resources, or knowledge to melt down the lead to do lead castings but im sure i could probably come up with something equally fun that wasnt metal. |
April 9, 2010 - 5:08pm | I was planing to model up a Fleet symbol (though I'll have to look to see if the sathar have one) out of bake-able clay with task force 1 on a base and TF2 and so on. will do 1 or 2 pirate fleet markers as well; either the star devil symbol or the classic jolly roger. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 April 10, 2010 - 7:35pm | There is another thread on this site discussing How-To make mini's. I went to a hobby store and bought some glue, wood balls, rods, etc. Still working up time to make some mini's. Chris Harper has a very sweet Ag ship I want to make. It was published in the webzine, FYI. jedion - my son wants to come visit and play with the mini's you posted. Please say you live next to umunugs so I can make one trip. LOL! ;-) I made this a while ago from the Sathar Fleet Maker chit that comes with knight hawks boxed set. (need to redo - didn't come up perfect)  |
