Re: Building 'unusual' starships

>Well I went to the craft (read beads) shop at lunch and have some
'ideas'
>on cheap starships for FT/2nd from plastic and wood beads (real stones
go
>for my jewelry and besides, cost too much at these sizes.)
>
>Question:
>
>Given the measurements (approximate) I was provided by a fellow gamer
as
>follows
>
>SC: 1cm
>FF: 2cm
>DD: 3cm
>CL: 5cm
>CH: 6cm
>BC: 7cm
>BB: 8cm
>DN: 10cm
>SDN: 15cm
>CVH: 17cm
>
>Would beads (especially round ones) be passable at about 67-75% of
these
>lengths due to increased mass (or appearance of same?)  In other words,
>assuming a base 'main body bead' of a 16mm wood beads (with seed beads
-
>those 'way too tiny' jobs some people sew on clothes - glued on for
>'turrets, sensor arrays, etc.') seem 'in scale'?
>
>Mostly I am thinking of cylinder or spherical wood/plastic beads as
main
>body with other beads (squares, tubes, pinwheels, barrels, and/or 
cones)
>glued on front, back or sides to give 'functional form' to the ship's
>shape.  Mounted on wire/rod part of the base.
 
I took a similar approach for my saucer fleet, but using
o  Wooden buttons in various sizes, and a wooden yo-yo kit,
   for the main body. (I filled the holes with a bit of
   epoxy putty, then sanded.)
o  "acrylic cabochons" and "acrylic faceted gems" in various sizes
   (1, 3, 5, 7 mm, I think) for sensor & weapon pods.
For engine pods (to provide a directionality for gaming), I used
gun turrets from an old (and incomplete) 14"-long SDF-1 model.
 
I'm particularly proud of the ex-yo-yo halves: fleet carriers
with an ungodly number of launch ports (7mm "faceted gems").
 
I painted them with a mix of dark brown and gold for the base,
with gold sensor/weapon pods and dark gray engine pods.
 
One of these days, I'll get some photos up, but don't hold your
breath! ('Course, one of these days I may even deploy them,
but I'm not holding my breath, either!)
 
- Sam
____________________________________________________________
Samuel Reynolds
Armageddon Outfitter: http://www.primenet.com/~reynol/gaming/war/ao/
Full Thrust at Spinward Stars: http://www.spinwardstars.com/ft/
Gamer's Gallery at Spinward Stars:
http://www.spinwardstars.com/ggallery/
reynol@primenet.com, samuel_reynolds@csgsystems.com