Re: [GZG-OLC] February Update

Alan Brain wrote:

> >The two
> >ships in the photo are the first new additions to the Federal Stats
Europa
> >and Kra'Vak forces, and are also the first to be sculpted for us by
Oerjan
> >Ohlsson

Dunno who that is - it's not my family name <g>

(I and my SO have *almost* the same family name - mine is "Ohlson", hers
is 
"Olsson" - so we're always bickering about which of us it is who spells
it 
incorrectly... so of course I can't admit to being called "Ohlsson"!
<G>)

> >- we think you'll agree he's done a superb job of following the
> >style of the original FSE and KV ship designs while creating some
> >excellent new miniatures.
>
>You think rightly.

Thanks for the compliment :-)

> > FT 425 Kra'Vak TO'KI class Destroyer (pack of 2) £2.50
> > FT 625 FSE HYDRA class Destroyer (pack of 2) £2.50
> >
> > [PHOTO]
> > left to right: FT425, FT625
>
>OK Oerjan, how did you do it?

Same way as Schoon did the FSE Requin, Jon did the new FT ranges and
Tony 
Francis at Brigade Models does the various SemFed ships: by glueing
styrene 
bits of appropriate shapes together, making sure that there are no
cavities 
inside the model ('cuz if there are, it'll cave in during the 
mould-making). Railway modelling shops have a lot of styrene strips,
tubes 
etc. in all kinds of interesting shapes which provides nice raw
materials, 
and so do plastic sprues from model kits (eg. the Hydra hull structure
was 
built from parts of a GW plastic sprue). A sharp knife, razor saw and 
mitre, and a file or sanding paper did the rest of the shaping.

Sounds easy? It really is! (...though a bit time-consuming to put all
the 
small details on - if Paul Copeland used this same technique to create
the 
original FT ranges, I'm frankly amazed that he had the patience to do
all 
the tiny panels everywhere...)

Well, at least the modelling is easy as long as I stick to straight
edges; 
I'm still trying to figure out how to do decent-looking large curved or 
double-curved surfaces like the nose of a Komarov or an NAC bridge
section 
<g> I guess there might be a reason why Brigade Models have so few
SemFed 
ship designs with large curved surfaces ;-)

The hardest part was to come up with the ideas for the basic hull shapes
- 
similar enough to the older models to fit in well in the existing ranges

yet different enough to be distinct new models. The Hydra and To'Ki 
("Seeker Spear") were both originally created to represent ship designs 
I've used enough in my own games to want dedicated models for (in these 
cases evolved variants of Rob Hofrichter's Epée and Tur'Kee designs 
respectively, so he gets part of the credit for these models and is
really 
to blame for me getting into modelling in the first place :-) ) Most of
the 
other models I'm working on or planning now have similar backgrounds,
being 
inspired by designs I've used and liked, both my own and ones I've
picked 
up from others.

(The "and liked" bit is important - while I have used NAC fleets a fair 
bit, particularly during playtest games, I like neither their visually 
appearance nor their game stats very much - so don't expect to see any
new 
NAC models from me!)

>Don't spose you'd care to flesh out the OU range a bit?

Not anytime soon, I'm afraid - mainly because I don't have any good
ideas 
for new OU ships at the moment (at least ones which don't just look
exactly 
like the existing models scaled up to BC/BB/DN size...), while I do have

ideas for a fair number of other ships I want to build first and not
very 
much time in which to build them! (I'll also need to ask Eureka for 
permission, but I don't think that'll be any problem.) Will keep it in 
mind, but I won't promise anything.

Later,

Oerjan
oerjan.ohlson@telia.com

"Life is like a sewer.
  What you get out of it, depends on what you put into it."
-Hen3ry