Fleet Action Excalibur

[eek]

Hi folks!

I've started collecting Fleet Action ships. To get around the gaps in the range I've decided to scratchbuild them, starting with the Excalibur. Here she is so far:

Measures at just under 3" long. I'll be tidying it up and filling in the gaps in the hull next, but I'm stuck concerning the front section. I tried making the panels out of paper with little success... any suggestions?

I'll tell you this much, I'm dreading finishing this because I'll probably be scratchbuilding the Drakh next... :shock:

 

[McKickaha]

Making the curving panels,

Few ideas spring to mind;

(1) Slice up some styrene tube, of the right diam, makes already curved panels. File to shape.

(2) Get an empty soft drink can & cut it open with strong sissors. the edge will be razor sharp but since there it is aluminium it is very easy to blunt with sandpaper/file then further cut and form curves. Gives a very strong but thin section plate. See my post on the Third space cruiser which shows frigates which use this technique for the "leaf"

(3) Use flat styrene sheet cut your plate to suit then form over a curved surface, pre - heating the styyrene in boiling water. Pencil/Pen comes to mind as a suitable former.

(4) Sculpt your centre of the nose then let it cure then form the plates on top with putty.

Would probably go for (2) myself since it will be thin enough for FA & also allows addition of in scale raised markings as per the canon ship.

Great looking start by the way - very well done.

Look forward to seeing the completed ship - excellent work.

For the Drakh - Some ships & fleet styles are easier to make with styrene sheet some are better sculpted. For the raiders I would use, styrene with a small amount od sculpting. For the larger Drakh ships, especially if you are new to scratch building then sculpting putty over a rib.

For the larger Drakh I would however probably make a block of styrene layers then sand down. Technique is more difficult to master but in my opinion produces better looking results and offers better control.

The curved half dome on my Sekhmet cruiser, in another post, is made by this method, in fact all the curves on that ship were.

I do sculpt with putty as well but no ships shown on the forum although I am working on a Death, "Dredd" diaorama which has some sculpting and intend to post up in a month or so, other projects permitting.

 

[eek]

Thanks, I think the can approach sounds best.

The Drakh raiders should indeed be simple enough. I think I should be able to pull off the styrene sheet method for the larger ships, I'll need a few of them so it sounds like a more efficient method. Although for the mothership and carrier I think I'll sculpt them over a skeleton since they're one of a kind, and pretty big compared to the others.

 

[Banichi]

If you made your mothership the same size as the ACTA mo ship it would look awesome next to fleet action scale minies.

 

[eek]

Things got busy for a while but this weekend I managed to make a lot of progress:

I think all that's left is just to tidy it up a little and I can get stuck in with painting. After that I think I'll make the Victory, which should be easier with all the lessons learned from this one. Would there be any interest for a tutorial and templates?

 

[McKickaha]

Would there be any interest for a tutorial and templates?

Don't know how I missed your update - Doh! (although I was MIA for 10 days)

Looking good. have you painted her yet.

As for a build / template post, I for one am always interested in any model build process.

by the way have you thought of making a FA scale Marathon.

 

[eek]

Aye, she's all painted up, I just haven't gotten round to taking a picture yet! :lol:
It'll be up shortly.

I'll write up a tutorial and make the templates as I make the Victory.

 

[McKickaha]

Great;

look forward to seeing the pics and build process.

 

[eek]

Here it is!

I'm rather pleased with it overall, although there's one or two minor alterations I'll be making for the next. It might be a few weeks before I get started on the second because I have 101 things to do in the meantime, but I'll get there eventually!


But on a related note, I also made a FA Jumpgate:

The clear support needs a little more reinforcement though.

 

[McKickaha]

Very nice looking mini and great reflection of the canon ship.

Gate is also excellent.

Reminds me to get around to finishing off my larger standard scale gate which I started, built one prong, and then left aside some months ago. I intend to use the same transparent mounting idea, although I am also toying with the idea of making the struts movable. Size will be wide enough to take an Octurian.

Quite a boring build tho which is one reason I have put it aside till now.

BBTW what are your FA scale build plans beyond the Victory class.

 

[eek]

Thanks.

Once I'm done with the Victory I'll probably move on to do the Drakh, since they're the biggest gap in the range. Starting off with the smaller ships, seeing as how they're the easiest.

Good luck with the jump gate!

 

[AdrianH]

I'll be interested to see how you made the Excalibur because I may want to copy your method for a somewhat larger version...