Scratch built..

Jeff,

	Thanks for the tips on the KV. The first doesn't work on a 4'x4'

table. I'll have to give it a ty on the 12'x6'. More room for manuevers.

The other is inhumane, but... that's along the lines I was thinking.
Even 
a few fighter groups to force a choice of targets would be nice. Again, 
size constraints (1000 pts) made a carrier unrealistic when I wanted a 
decent balance. I did manage to hold out five turns and kill five of the

nine ships with my fleet (hvy cruiser, 2 light cruisers, 2 destroyers
and 
3 frigates). All in all good leesons learned. And you can play several 
games in 4 or 5 hours.

	As far as building fleets goes, I have to do it as cheaply as 
possible. One of the reasons I got my dealer's license several years ago

was to get my toys cheap. My brother has done some work with balsa and a

Dremel. Mstly large space station stuff. Asteroids look pretty good when

you cut irregular chunks of styrafoam and melt the surfaces with a
lighte 
or candle. They paint up with this pebbly texture and the surface
hardens 
due to the melting. I ordered KV ships and recieved a NSL light cruiser 
in one of the KV light cuiser packages. After looking at it a bit and 
painting it I decided they could be built out of matt board and scrap 
card stock. Dowel rods for the engines. Some wire and putty for detail 
work. Cheap battle fleet. It would work for ships laid out on a 
horizontal plane also. I do a lot of sculpting with Sculpey. It can be 
added directly to the base ( no styrafoam or plastic!) or baked in
blocks 
for subtractive sculpting. Endless possibilities and it runs about $9.00

for two pounds. Lots of ships!

	Well, that's it for now. Thanks again.

						Rod