"Plastic Spaceships - Where?" Topic

Where can I get some plastic spaceships, for my Starmada game, on the cheap?

I already got a bunch of Micro-machine Star Trek & Star Wars ships, but I want to branch out to different looking ships.

I'm not familiar with Starmada, so forgive me if these are entirely inappropriate:
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(bottom of page)

Doug

No offense, Doug, but those look more like fighters.

Looking for something a little bit bigger, on the average, and less atmospheric looking.

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The "space cruisers" are very small (1/2"?) and made of rubber (or synthetic rubber).

The others are about 2" long and made of plastic. They're over-sized versions of the old Silent Death minis. Technically, they're fighters, but you can use 'em for whatever, and some are generic enough to be anything.

In any case, they're dirt cheap.

Ah, less atmospheric. Alas, you're out of luck on that. I know; I've tried.

If you feel up to some conversion work, though, plastic wall anchors (also called "mollies") come in a lot of sizes, and many would pass quite well for "old school" cylinder style capital craft.

Look for the parts for the Twilight Imperium board game. There are 4 or 5 different ship designs in there in hard plastic. Fantasy Flight used to sell them seperatly.

G.

Perhaps these?

auction

Dan
TMP link

i scratchbuild my spaceships from disposable razors, wall anchors and other bits.

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cut the handle of the disposable razor into sections, add sections of wall anchors, drawing pins, toy bullets… whatever you find on your desk:-)

Unless you are really married to plastic, I'd go check out "Studio Bergstrom". They have a whole lot of incredibly inexpensive metal spaceship minis.

studiobergstrom.com

Their 1" miniature Starships are $1.25 USD each.

"No offense, Doug, but those look more like fighters. "

That's because they are, specifically for Silent Death: The Next Millennium.

Leland R. Erickson

If you're willing to try scratchbuilding, this guy makes it look easy, and he gives pre-paint pics of all his creations.
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Look for clicky singles from TrollandToad.com or similar?

On the Wargames Factory "Liberty and Union League", Leland suggested a modular plastic starship idea that has long ago gained 100% support. Alas, it seems to be far on the back burner (okay, off the burner, in the back of the refrigerator, in an old Tupperware container with a loose lid, gathering considerable layers of mold). But maybe someday…

I second the recommendation of Studio Bergstrom. I have his Hive fleet, which is very nice and reasonably priced.

i scratchbuild my spaceships from disposable razors, wall anchors and other bits.

link

cut the handle of the disposable razor into sections, add sections of wall anchors, drawing pins, toy bullets… whatever you find on your desk:-)

Wow, those are nicely done.

They are a bit expensive but GW's Imperial and Chaos ships for Battlefleet Gothic are plastic. You get two to a box with tons of parts to build them out with pretty much any weapons load out you could want.

Imperial

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Chaos

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There are some scratch-built nice ones that have been posted on this site as well. Just do a little searching in the message archives.

The builders usually use balsa/basswood, and/or styrene sheeting, strip, rod, etc.

You can probably make a great looking fleet rather quickly for under $10.00, if you have the time and a little modeling skill.

Mongoose Publishing (please, no opinions, this is just providing info) will be making the Noble Armada miniatures line available again, which includes plastic sprues with smaller ships from two factions and some auxiliaries. Old stock is sporadically available on Ebay.

Outside of that, you are going to need non-traditional sources. Twilight Imperium, 3rd edition is an excellent source, with 4 different capital-class ships (destroyer, cruiser, battleship and carrier/transport), plus fighters and stations. You shouldn't pay more than $70 USD online for more than 200 usable minis, $50 USD on Ebay with a little patience. Plastic is not available separately.

Starcraft: The Boardgame is also an interesting source for a similar number of minis, but is diluted between capitals, fighters, armor and infantry. Again, about $50 USD online. The expansion has also come up on Tanga for cheap – who knows if there is more.

I know of a few people that have made starships from the bits off Warhammer 40K Tau weapon and drone sprues, and bioships from Tyranid sprues. Not sure how cheap that would be, but it's an interesting option. There are a couple retailers on Ebay that break sprues down for parts that might be worth a look.

That's really about it for starship gaming on the cheap, unless you make your own or go for the cheap toy from China approach. I think the best bet for an instant starship collection is the TI3 boxed set.

Or for all things Spaceship, check out SCN
star-ranger.com/Home.htm
As well as checking the manufacturers page take a look at the message boards. Print on demand miniatures is one option if you don't mind paying, or if you want cheap there are pages of scratchbuilding ideas.

Robert

Oh, just reread the origional post and saw "on the cheap" best go straight to the scratch build then. Make sure you track down Froggy the Greats wall anchor fleet.

Robert

"Mongoose Publishing (please, no opinions, this is just providing info) will be making the Noble Armada miniatures line available again, which includes plastic sprues with smaller ships from two factions and some auxiliaries. Old stock is sporadically available on Ebay."

I think they said on the Mongoose forums that they will all be metal, no plastic, and that the metal versions will have better detail than the plastic versions.

Show me an empty deodorant container, and I'll show you a starship:

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Waste not, want not…

Leland R. Erickson

Many of the Silent Death paint up looking like larger ships as long as you're careful not to paint the cockpits AS cockpits. Thanks for the like, by the way. Didn't realize they were still out there that inexpensive.

Some you can easily trim back the 'wings' for less atmospheric.

CC: "Perhaps these?"

Very soft plastic 'party favors', similar in consistency to the ships from Buck Rogers Battle for 25th Century. Polyethelene? Interestingly, includes ships from anime 'Message from Space'.

Look for the Scratchbuild contest that was on here awhile ago. Some was AMAZING.

One guy used GW sprue; everyone thought from the first piccies it would be crap, after some work, jaws dropped.

Doug

Those Scratchbuild ones are awesome!!!

What are wall anchors, Deserter?

Might have to give that a try!!

Wall anchors are those soft plastic thingies that you use to fix a screw into a hole in the wall… they come in different sizes and colours… have fun building your star fleet!

I think they said on the Mongoose forums that they will all be metal, no plastic, and that the metal versions will have better detail than the plastic versions.

Ah, well that's too bad. Probably for the best – the plastics are kind of lacking without the supporting metal line.

Just to make sure I was clear, the Noble Armada ships that were done in plastic, will now be done in metal instead. What I originally stated might have been interpreted in meaning that the plastic ships were not being done at all and that is not the case, they are being re-done in metal this time.

"Look for clicky singles from TrollandToad.com or similar?"

Most of these sites have nothing in stock. :-(

Here's a picture of some common wall anchors. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes, and you can buy them at any hardware or DYI store:

picture

I've seen pictures of a wall anchor fleet, but I haven't been able to track it down.

Thanks,Parzival!

Just got back from getting some cool looking wall anchors.

Deserter, thanks for the rules.

Pics of Froggy the Great's Drywall Fleet are here:
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These appear to be metal drywall anchors for larger screws and bolts (1/4"+). Very retro and cool.

Deserter, do you have a larger picture of those ships?

Ha ha! I love the Drywall Fleet!

Glad to hear that the plastic Noble Armada ships are going to be redone. I wonder what difficulties Holistic Design's been having; there's a market for their minis, but they haven't been providing for a long time!

Scratch building is so rewarding…great times to be had…drywall anchors, disposable razors, disposable lighters, etc.

Fun times and certainly worth the effort.