Viper MkIIIs

 I've just finished the latest additions to my Bbattlestar Galactica collection, a brace if Viper MkIIIs from the "Blood and Chrome" miniseries. These are 3d prints from Thingiverse, modelled by nic3pu.

I'm broadly pleased with these but worried that they my be a bit too dark, so I'm printing a 3rd to try in a lighter grey.  But for now these will do.

Blackbird Finished

 Fresh out of the paint shop, I'm quite pleased at how this has turned out :)

BSG - The Blackbird

Alas "Battlestar Galactica - Starship Battles" is coming to an end as Ares has lost the licence to produce it. But the online discussion surrounding this has prompted a bit of 3D model building. Today I was pointed towards an STL for the "Blackbird" home-made stealth Viper that features in a few episodes of the reimagined series. It's just popped out of the printer and looks good. During tonight, paint job tomorrow along with a few more ships from The Expanse.

If anyone wants to try this themselves the model is by nic3pu and can be found on Thingiverse:

Blackbird by nic3pu - Thingiverse

Snoopy in Spaaaace!

Inspired by Trevor Dow's model that appeared on Facebook recently, and in the same light hearted vein as my "frakkin' toaster' models from last year, here;s the great WW1 flying ace in space.

Oh the joys of Thingiverse and a 3D printer :)

Galactica Shuttle and StealthStar

A quick post to showcase the fist model of 2020 - the shuttle from Battlestar Galactica. Readers may remember that I got hold of a copy of the game from Ares via a friend at the Essen show in 2018 (I guess mien was one of the fist production sets in the UK :) ) Since then I've been expanding my selection of available ships with 3D prints from Thingiverse, as well as the official releases.

My first completed model for 2020 is the shuttle from the original series of BSG. Like a Volvo its boxy but its good. In this case the print was a pig, at least the aft hull was, due I think to some thin sections that screwed up the overall print. But since it took 9 hours to do I didn't fancy rerunning it - instead some filler was applied to seal the holes. This means the middle part of the model looks a little rough - or "hard worked and battle damaged, as I like to think. Either way, I was very pleased with the result.

At the end of 2019 I also finished a print of the StealthStar, a covert ops Viper from the new series. Again, quite pleased with the result. Both of these will give me some additional gaming options before Ares get around to more official releases.

Shuttles

Whilst I was thinking about storage for my new BSG/Buck Rogers fighters I got thinking about how some more "targets" (aka "vessels in need of escort") wouldn't come amiss. Some hunting around on Thingiverse and a few hours of printing later.....

The model is based on the Senators' Shuttle from Star Wars but has been modified by "Snickett" to act as a typical ship's launch or cutter in the Traveller RPG setting, so it also makes an ideal shuttle for use in my BSG/BR games (and might also work for X Wing). 

If anyone wants to try  the model out you can find it here:  

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2867344

Frakkin' Toasters!

The ability to splice 3D models together brings some interesting possibilities. So here's an example of a well known sci fi phrase being brought to life :)

Also just completed, a couple of B5 Starfurys, almost my favourite SF fighter (just edged out by the Buck Rogers Thinderfighter and one other that shall be revealed in a few days....)

Bidi-bidi-bidi

More ships rolling off the Photon production line, this time Buck Rogers in the 25th Century is the subject, with some more fighters made for use with Ares' "Battlestar Galactica" game (there is a link, the Thunderfighter from Buck Rogers was originally intended to be the design for the Viper in BSG, but didn't quite make it).

There are some lovely STL files on Thingiverse for the Thunderfighter, the "Traeger2 variant, and the Quadfighter 4 seater, as well as the Draconian "Marauder" or "Hatchet" fighter. I was a firm fan of Buck Rogers when it first appeared on TV and my love for the series (series one anyway, series 2 was dreadful) continues. And all because of the designs of the fighters. Yes, just because of that....

Anyway, here they are.....

Vipers and Raiders

I've been quiet here but busy "at the office". The latest models to come out of the print and paint shop have been a trio of Colonial Vipers and Cylon Raiders from the original Battlestar Galactica TV series. Some readers may remember I got a copy of BSG from Ares last year prior to its launch, but my chums in the local games club didn't really take to it. Despite that I thought I'd add to my stock of fighters with these 3D printed models.And to be honest I've always preferred the original series Raiders to the re-imagined ones.

Berkeley Vale BSG

Ares' new Battlestar Galactica game made its debut at the Berkeley Vale club last night. A few pictures from the action (which featured an impressively statistics-breaking number of double 1s for gunnery rolls).

So, how did the game go? We played two games, swapping sides between the two. In game #1 the Colonials won 2-1, in the second it was 2-0 to the toasters.

Everyone agreed the models look lovely. We had the expected "what were they thinking??" comments when the graphics on the various cards were examined (orange text on a  brown background in small font? Realy?) And amongst my chums there was a distinct feeling that the game itself, whilst is a bit too fiddly (especially the rotating fighters), and so perhaps this isn't going the be reappearing at BV in the near future. That may change with more familiar and easier play - and when there is more variety in available craft, so I'll hang fore on this until I have a few raptors and heavy raiders. But for now its parked in the bay. Which is a pity as it is a beautiful looking game.

So Say We All

Alan Paull picked up a copy of the new Ares "Battlestar Galactica - Starship battles" miniatures game at the Essen show the other week. I've just opened the box and wow, the models are lovely! The rules are rather good too. No playing tomorrow as its Armistice Day and I don't wargame on that day, so my proper run-out with them will have to wait. But it will be worth it.

Also picked up today from Alan - "The Cousin's War" by David Mortimer and "Northampton 1460" by Graham Evans.