Modelling scouts - ACTASF

[The Big D]

Now we have the new scout rules and the ship stats to go with them we are all going to want to start using them!

The question I have for people is how are they intending on modelling their scouts?

1. Use the base hull as is and do a a different paint job/name to show it is a scout.

2. Use the 2400 series as a guide and add additional dishes to the 2500 ship miniature.

3. Add some other design of sensors/arrays to the ship model to represent the sensors.

4. Wait for the scout miniatures.

5. Use 2400s.

The reason I am asking is I really want to make some myself and am torn between 2 and 3. I could simply add the dishes to the ships but they seem a bit lazy design wise for future sensors - a big radar dish. I prefer the thought of making flat sensor arrays on the hull of the ship but I am not really sure how to design them, so hunting for inspiration!

Geoff

 

[billclo]

Strictly from a realism standpoint, it seems to me it'd make more sense to have phased array type sensors. But it wouldn't look as cool.

I have some extra sensor dishes from my Fed FF that I didn't attach due to difficulty that I might be able to adapt in a pinch...hmm. Have to think about that.

 

[Da Boss]

Probably just use the normal models - luckily most of my ships are being painted by an awesome painter and will be pretty individual - so can easily differentiate.

I'd be tempted to use BFG sensors to add to ships.........

 

[McKinstry]

A combination of the normal models and maybe adding one of the extra sensor dishes I got for my 2400's.

 

[scoutdad]

I will most certaily be using the standard 2500 models and adding some type of sensor array. Not sure if it'll be extra dishes or something else, but there will be something visually distinctive about them.

 

[H]

Probably just use the normal models - luckily most of my ships are being painted by an awesome painter and will be pretty individual - so can easily differentiate.

I'd be tempted to use BFG sensors to add to ships.........

an Awesome Painter? I thought you used Hugh....;-)

 

[McKickaha]

Probably just use the normal models - luckily most of my ships are being painted by an awesome painter and will be pretty individual - so can easily differentiate.

I'd be tempted to use BFG sensors to add to ships.........

an Awesome Painter? I thought you used Hugh....;-)

Now just hang on a minute until I find the report button 8)

 

[djdood]

A bit of fluff that might help.

Years-in, it was decided that in the SFU the sensor dish on ships is not a parabolic signal "collection" dish (as in the modern day) but rather is a wave-guide type structure for subspace energy being transmitted out.

There are other ways to do it (conformal arrays, etc.), but with form following function it explains how ubiquitous the apparently inherently-efficient "dishes" are in the SFU.

When I kitbash my Franz Joseph scout, I'll have to ponder long and hard about if I want to add dishes to the periphery of the saucer (as on the Starline 2400 metal scout mini, itself made using a galactic survey cruiser saucer), or stay true to FJS' drawings. If I go the no-dish FJS route, I will put copper foil on the "corners" of the saucer and the command bulb to represent conformal special sensor arrays.

 

[ctchapel]

Another option

What I did was to take the support strut of a center line DN engine and mounted a button on it to make a SWAC rotating dome. Painted black and white with crossed lightning bolts, it stands out from the other DD hulls.

 

[Trenchknife]

What I would do is add false panel lines to the entire rim of the saucer section so that it looks completely different from the standard. If I really wanted to add even more so it was really easy to spot I'd add very small pieces of thin plastruct to sections of the saucer on the ventral and dorsal sides as well. After that I'd add a flat-circular piece or two to each of those new areas.

 

[LimeyDragon]

Another option

What I did was to take the support strut of a center line DN engine and mounted a button on it to make a SWAC rotating dome. Painted black and white with crossed lightning bolts, it stands out from the other DD hulls.

I'd love to see pictures..