Re: Micromachines Ships

     With this discussion of whether to use micromachines based on model

size or official background material, I realized that I had a 
psychological block against using model size.  I just couldn't look at a

model and not think of its power in its respective TV show/movie.  But I

really want to use model size as it's the only way to run a mixed fleet 
where a Minbari Cruiser and Klingon Bird of Prey can face off with a
Star 
Destroyer in a consistent fashion.  So I figured I needed to quantify
the 
different sizes of my micromachines.  Since ship design is based on mass

I put each one on a scientific balance.  I then picked a standard ship 
normalized all the masses and then converted to FT masses (more on this 
later).  This is not meant to be a definitive list but something for 
reference and enjoyment.  I think a better measure of ship size would be

volume (to account for varying plastic densities, and even usable for 
metal minis) but I don't have access to the equipment to do this.  Maybe

some 
enterprising chem student could measure the water displaced by each
model 
and give us a report.  

I weighed every model I had that didn't have an obvious cockpit.  I then

chose  the Enterprise C as the basis.  I divided every mass by its mass 
(6.5g) to get a normalized mass.  I decided it would be a heavy cruiser
(FT 
mass 32) and multiplied all my normalized masses by 32 to get every 
ship's FT mass.  I tried several different bases and the Ent C seemed to

give the most even distribution of Cruisers vs Capitals (although very 
few escorts).  Here is a list with ship, real mass in grams, FT mass, 
ship class (somewhat arbitrary).

Sulaco 4.5/22/lt cruiser
Star Destroyer 10.3/50/Battleship
Rebel Blockade Runner 10.2/50/Battleship
Super Star Destroyer 5.4/26/Escort Cruiser
Vorlon Cruiser 6.0/30/ Hvy Cruiser
Vorlon Transport 8.1/40/Battle Cruiser
Centauri Passenger Ship 10.2/50/Battleship
Centauri Transport 6.6/32/Hvy Cruiser
Minbari Flyer 5.1/25/Escort Cruiser
Minbari Cruiser 6.0/30/Hvy Cruiser
Babylon 5 4.3/21/lt cruiser
Green Ship 4.6/23/lt cruiser
Raider ship 2.0/10/Frigate
Narn Heavy Cruiser 12.2/60/Battledreadnought
Narn Transport 7.2/35/Hvy Cruiser(I'll still use it as a freighter)
Crew Shuttle 9.4/46/Battleship(I like it as an survey cruiser better)
EA Shuttle 5.4/26/Escort Cruiser
Vor'cha 3.9/19/lt cruiser
Bird of Prey 4.9/24/escort cruiser
Romulan Scout 6.3/31/Hvy cruiser
Warbird 7.8/38/Battle cruiser
Cardassian Galor 5.7/28/Escort cruiser
Ferengi Marauder 4.5/22/lt cruiser
Borg Cube 17.3/85/Superdreadnought
Klaestron 5.4/27/Escort Cruiser
Miradorn 3.5/17/Destroyer
Jem'Hadar 5.9/29/Esc-Hvy Cruiser
Numiri 11.0/54/Battleship
Kazon Fighters ~8.2/40/Battle Cruiser
Kazon Mother 15.1/74/Light Carrier
Enterprise B 6.7/33/Hvy Cruiser
Ent C 6.5/32/Hvy Cruiser
Ent D 6.1/30/Hvy Cruiser
Future Ent D 8.0/39/Battlecruiser
Excelsior 6.0/29/Hvy Cruiser
Grissom 6.3/31/Hvy Cruiser
Reliant/Saratoga ~6.7/32/Hvy Cruiser
Stargazer 7.3/36/Hvy-Battle cruiser
Farragut 10.6/52/Battleship
Defiant 11.5/57/Battledreadnought
Voyager 8.2/40/battlecruiser
Runabout 4.6/22/lt cruiser

So this gives 1 frigate, 1 destroyer,6 lt cruisers,10 escort cruisers, 8

Hvy cruisers,7 Battle cruisers, 6 Battle ships,3 Battledreadnoughts,1 Lt

Carrier, 1 Superdreadnought (I think I miscounted as I fiddled with some

of the classifications where the masses fell between 2).

Like I said, just take from this list what you want.  I didn't write it 
as a restriction.  It is probably best as a general size comparison.  
Just because ships didn't come out as carriers doesn't mean you can't 
designate them as such.  I will probably make more of my big ship 
carriers and more of my small ships escorts but now at least I have some

undiluted view of which ones are small and large (it's still going to 
take some time to think of the super star destoyer as one of my smaller 
ships!)

Karl Schmidt