Monday, 15 September 2025

"Kirk, You Do This..."

"...You'll never sit in the captain's chair again."

This Terran D-3A Destroyer was created using some "Bambu Lab" Matt White PLA (Polylactic Acid) on an A1 Mini 3D Printer, and can be purchased as an STL (Standard Triangle Language) file by "Fat Dragon Games" as part of the company's "Battlefront Valkyrie" Starter Set. The two-piece starship has been printed using a 0.2mm nozzle, with a 0.1mm layer height in order to minimise any striation lines on the finished model.

Somewhat intriguingly, the 'kit' also comes with a rig STL, which allows you to produce a docking bay of sorts that supposedly lines up the spacecraft's single engine with the hull. However, I really didn't think the model required such a device - feeling you could easily align the two parts using just the naked eye, and indeed, when I did superglue the vessel together using the rig I found the engine to be slightly off-kilter from where I'd have plonked it if doing it manually.

"Wargames Foundry" WIPs - Three Napoleonic German Grenadiers at various stages of completion

Once assembled, the miniature was undercoated using a couple of licks of "Vallejo" Heavy Bluegrey and shaded with "Citadel" Nuln Oil. I then patiently dry-brushed it with (more) "Vallejo" Heavy Bluegrey, before 'picking out' the warp nacelle on its propulsion unit with a combination of "Scale 75" White Alchemy and "Citadel" Talassar Blue.

Currently I'm planning to use all this range's starships for some homebrew "Star Trek" rules - based upon the Original Series and its subsequent movies, so must confess that this particular sculpt has left me a little bemused due to only having a single warp nacelle. For now I plan to use it as a proxy for the U.S.S. Excelsior under Captain Lawrence H. Styles' command, due to it being disconcertingly larger than the Frigate model which I'll be using for my Constitution-class substitutes. However, as "Fat Dragon Games" continue to produce more designs I may well change my mind...

"Hasbro" WIPs - The Hulkster is just doing up his bootlaces

With so simple a painting subject completed, I have unsurprisingly found plenty of time to make some more progress on a trio of 28mm metal Napoleonic Austrians by "Wargames Foundry". These identical figures from the Newark-based company's blister AN026 German Grenadiers 1805-15 Marching, are arguably showing their age in their casting. But should be reasonably quick to get tabletop ready, now I'm a bit more familiar with all the different details on them.

In addition, I have been lucky enough to acquire an STL scan of the old WWF Hulk Hogan action figure by "Hasbro", so have produced an approximate 40mm scale version using "Elegoo" Water Washable Resin on my Mars 3 Pro 3D Printer. As with the Andre the Giant miniature I own, the detail is rather soft, so I'm planning on just using a few base layers and washes to get the Hulkster ready for a "Wrestlemania III" rematch...

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