Federation Star Fleet

 

Battleships

BB (1 “retired” kitbash)

    

USS Mars. Decals Pending: USS Kali

 

The Federation BB Mars was one of my earliest kitbashes.  Completed in 1999, I was constrained by what miniatures I could actually find for parts.  The Mars was built from two old Fed CVA minis, with an old NCL engine bar supporting the top engines.  The huge engines put a lot of strain on the little engine bar and where really too big for the devices they were intended to represent.  But at the time, with no Fed BB in production, this served as my standard opponent for the Klingon B-10.  Over time, the mini has taken quite a beating, and really needs to be completely stripped down and repaired.  With a new BB mini available, the Mars is now in a sort of retirement, safely in storage. 

 

Dreadnoughts

DN

USS Federation

 

DNL

 

USS Star Tiger

 

I saw the fast ships like the DNL and CF as an opportunity for some unique paint jobs.  If the Federation were ever to adopt “flamboyant” or “hi-vis” paint schemes on ships, it seem the fast ships were a natural choice.  Not wanting the miniatures to be overtly different when viewed on the gaming table, I kept the unique paint to the saucer bottoms.  The paint selected for the Star Tiger was an obvious choice.

 

DNG

Decals Pending: USS Entente

 

DNH

Decals Pending: USS Konkordium

 

CVA (kitbash)

 

USS Julius Caesar

 

SCS (kitbash)

 

Decals Pending: USS George Washington

 

While the Federation CVA is now available as a production mini, I’ve opted to continue to use the kitbashed CVA and SCS I completed using CVA(O) and Zocchi DN parts I built in 2000.  The photo at right shows their original paint jobs.  The CVA Julius Caesar is now complete, with the SCS George Washington still waiting for decal application.

 

CVA (old)

USS Alexander the Great

 

Cruisers

BC

 

USS Bismarck. Decals Pending: USS Kirov, USS New Jersey

 

CA/CC

    

 

    

USS Constitution, USS Enterprise, USS Essex, USS Kongo. Decals Pending: USS Hood, USS Potemkin

 

CCV (kitbash)

Decals Pending: USS Nelson

 

CVS

Decals Pending: USS Nimitz

 

CF

 

USS Wolverine

 

Like the DNL Star Tiger above, the CF Wolverine got a unique “hi-vis” paint scheme on the bottom of the saucer.  I’m obviously a fan of Michigan Wolverines football.  If I had to guess, the motto of the USS Wolverine would undoubtedly be “Hail to the Victors”.

 

CVF

Decals Pending: USS Gryphon

 

GSC

 

USS Lewis and Clark

 

CX (FASA)

 

Decals Pending: USS Vincennes, USS Enterprise, USS Revolution, USS United States

 

TUG

 

USS Copernicus

 

CS (1 kitbash)

 

Decals Pending: USS Prometheus, USS Agamemnon, USS Atlas

 

NCL

      

USS Kearsarge, USS Prince of Wales, USS Warpsite. Decals Pending: USS Scharnhorst, USS Olympia

 

NLF

Decals Pending: USS Derfflinger

 

I don’t really consider this a kitbash.  I purchased an extra NCF and just omitted the aft hull and third engine.

 

LTT (kitbash)

Decals Pending: USS Gompers

 

A straightforward kitbash, accomplished by adding a small styrene strut from the tail of the primary hull to a docking pad from a Tug kit. 

 

NCA

 

Decals Pending: USS Chicago, USS Tokyo

 

NCF

Decals Pending: USS Manta Ray

 

CL

    

USS Texas, USS Crassus. Decals Pending: USS Macedonia, USS Falklands, USS Virginia, USS California

 

COM

USS Normandy

 

While probably not “canon”, I decided to distinguish Federation commando ships from other CLs by using non-standard paint schemes.  The Normandy is finished in desert tan.

 

CLH

USS Sanctuary

 

CLS (kitbash)

USS Viking

 

Destroyers

DD

      

USS Genghis, USS Nebuchadnezzar. Decals Pending: USS Hannibal, USS Aggripa, USS Czar Alexander, USS Halsey, USS Scipio Africanus

 

SC

USS Bowie

 

DDF (kitbash)

USS Two Moons

 

DW

 

Decals Pending: USS Oldendorf, USS Issac Hull, USS Stonewall Jackson

 

DWH (1 kitbash)

    

USS Panzer Lehr. Decals Pending: USS Old Guard

 

NDD (kitbash)

USS Bainbridge

 

This kitbash happened largely by accident.  Years ago, I obtained an old lead FASA Constitution-class mini.  I assembled the kit, but never got as far as painting it.  One night, one of our pet cats decided he simply could not resist checking out the table where I had been working on minis.  I was awakened by an enormous crash, and turned on the lights to find the board I had used as a painting surface lying on the floor along with the twisted wreckage of several miniatures.  Said Constitution-class ship had the engines struts wrapped around the secondary hull like a burrito.  Hence forth, this became known as the “Cat-a-pult Incident”.  The cat survived, but I had a mess on my hands.  Most of the minis were repaired, but this one was beyond help.

 

Years later, looking at what was left of the ship, I decided to make some use of the parts.  I used the primary hull, which looked different than anything else I had, I discarded the secondary hull, and re-shaped the engine struts to attach to the rear of the saucer belly, wrapping around the bottom of the engines.  The resulting mini is a decent representation of the often-mentioned Fed NDD.  I’ve posted my own SSD for this ship here.

 

DDH (FASA)

USS Loknar

 

DDX (FASA kitbash)

USS Excalibar

 

Frigates

FF

      

USS Burke, USS Graf Spee, USS Yi Sun Sin, USS St. Vincent

 

FFB (1 kitbash)

 

Decals Pending: USS Ramius, USS Prien, USS Tanabe

 

FFH (kitbash)

 

USS Enright

 

The Enright was an early attempt at a fitbashed FFB.  With limited information to go on regarding the FFB’s physical appearance, I let the parts I had on hand at the time dictate the shape of the ship.  I fitted the rear hull of an NCA between the two nacelles of an FF mini, cutting off the impulse sections from both the rear hull and the stern of the FF.  I cut a sheet of styrene the same thickness as the saucer edge into the wedge shape of the upper rear deck, with a concave forward edge to mate with the FF.  After some alignment work getting the FF mini, NCA rear hull, and the rear deck in position, I touched up a few gaps with putty. 

 

Since building the ship, its become apparent that the FFB doesn’t look at all like this, but I still like the mini and have kept it in the collection.  I’m now calling it an FFH and have posted my own SSD for the ship here.

FFX (kitbash)

Decals Pending: USS Rickover

 

Other

POL

 

Decals Pending: USS Masterson, USS Wyatt Earp, USS Texas Ranger, USS Peacemaker

 

FASA Excelcior Class

 

USS Excelcior, USS Proxima

 

FASA Remora Class

 

The Big Fleet Refit

            When I first began painting miniatures during the Interregnum, I did what I could to procure whatever miniatures I could find.  Most were Federation ships and as a result, much of my Fed fleet was much older than the rest of my mini collection.  As with all hobbies, you get better over time, and sooner or later, you look back on you very early work and think “I can do a lot better than that”.  By 2007, most of Federation minis had made four cross-country moves, endured a number of conventions, had faded paint, and were looking pretty rough/substandard when compared to the rest of my miniatures.  See the “retired” Fed BB at the top of the page for an example. Additionally, I had accumulated a bunch of newer Fed minis but had never had the time on sea duty to work on them.  With some spare time on shore duty, I resolved to give the Feds a complete make over.  All the unpainted ships were assembled, while I cleaned up or stripped older ships.  The entire fleet was painted over a one-week period with a common paint scheme and I began the slow process of decaling ships.  Unlike most other ships in my collection, which might receive 1-4 decals on average, if any, my Feds are getting the whole smash.  Some minis have received as many as 50 decals.  As a result, this effort is not finished.  I have all the decals, but time will remain the governing factor.  But overall, I’m much more pleased with the current state of my Fed fleet, which now stand up well against the rest of my miniature work.