"Racing spaceship minis?" Topic

Does anyone know of any models/figures/minis that look close to the stylings of any of the following ships? I'm making myself a starship racing game and was looking for some decent ships to use.

Those look pretty neat.

Sorry, can't think of any offhand, but imagine there should be quite a few you can press into service.

I was thinking about a similar game, though with smaller, fighter-sized racers.

Carmen, you and I are singing from the same hymn sheet…

One of the things that's attracted me to Machinas is a desire to create a sci-fi race game, in which the vehicles are pulling Mach 1 +, which is impossible to reproduce in an 'ordinary' racing game with a circuit, as in Formula D, for example; you'd need a HUGE board, or really tiny miniatures, which would reduce the fun, in my opinion.

I've been experimenting with some 3D renders of designs for miniatures, inspired by Modern and 1960's Formula 1. Give me a moment, I'll go dig 'em out…

Here they are:

1960's Retro-Hover Racer, with elements of MiG 21!

Modern F1 Hover Racer

Of course, they have open cockpits (Driver safety has rarely been the first priority of the FIA!) And I imagine them as having removable engines and fins, allowing some customisation.

No guns on these, I envisioned them as genuine racing machines. Heck, pulling Mach 1 in an open cockpit? Dangerous enough, without the lead flying around!

Sweet- I like that first idea: A big engine with a pilot.

Yeah, I was thinking of making this a pure racing game (no shooting- and definitely no ramming, since the pack is together but spread out over miles instead of feet.) … and yes, using Machinas mechanics :)

The third and fourth look a bit like Darth Maul's ship.

Sounds like a plan…

I think I'll polish up some of my sketches of other designs over the holidays. I've already worked out four suitably different racers, all with elements of aircraft and racing design from the past.

I'd love to do these in a fairly large-ish scale, maybe 1/64 or even 1/43, allowing players to customise them with decals and parts from slot car and die cast after-market accessories. Allows people to have Dan Gurney or Graham Hill (who looked like a fighter pilot anyway) piloting their Matra-Boeing M-66B to victory across Australia's Simpson desert!

Each miniature (as I see it) would come with separate body and engine, maybe with rare earth magnet connectors, so engines can be swopped out to show different power configurations without wrecking the model.

Before anyone asks, I think of the pilots wearing very large helmets, maybe coated with some think, ablative material, to reduce the risk of injury from supersonic debris impact. Still think birdstrike would be a worry, though.

Hmm, maybe this could be more than a pipe dream for a line of miniatures…. What say you, fellow TMPers? Who'd be up for a team or two of 60's Hover Racers?

Hydra war rock pirates have a race feel . some of the silent death fighters look the part . most air racers were converted fighters .

I think many of the Silent Death minis would work, especially if you added some fins out of thin sheet brass or plastic: link

A lot of the details are scale-neutral.

Keyword search on Shapeways: Retro Spaceship turned up a number of likely suspects. Other keywords may yield results too.
link

MacrossMartin, have you ever seen the anime short film The Running Man by Yoshiaki Kawajiri? It features a cool "death race" between jet-powered hovercraft, and it's one of the few animes I really like. You can find it on YouTube.

H-1 Battleracer from Ninja Magic. Available from Rattlehead Games. link

Why don't try the Silent Death plastic minis from EM-4? If you don't like the design, you can still use them for kitbashing what you want.
link
£ 2.55 or $4 USD-5 US for a dozen ships! They're plastic so easy to kitbash.
-ZG

Two words.

Pod Racing :)

Agree Ed.

Look at Hot Wheels. You can remove the wheels and/or cover them up. Some of them would be great spaceships.

Look at Hot Wheels. You can remove the wheels and/or cover them up. Some of them would be great spaceships

Good idea.

Why don't try the Silent Death plastic minis from EM-4?

Very cool! Gave me another great reason to use them, thanks,
Ed

Some of the old Battletech/Aerotech fighter designs would fit… particularly the ones 'inspired' by Crusher Joe.

I'd love to do these in a fairly large-ish scale, maybe 1/64 or even 1/43…

I was a bit disappointed that I got here too late to be the first to suggest Silent Death > EM-4 ships, but will point out that I.C.E. did BIG scale, well 3:1, and I think Leland was saying something about bringing them out again.

Not saying as big as you're talking, but pretty large…

Doug

Edit: Looking back at the first post, I just remember some look like greebled Star Cruiser Yamato designs. HLJ still has the reissues are pretty damn cheap.

OK, after some looking around I might take this project into a slightly different direction (keeping it in space with the addition of a couple proper helmets). From top to bottom, these are made by Bombshell Miniatures, Anetociti and Hydra Miniatures. Other grav bikes out there?

Other grav bikes out there?

Evil Empire(tm)?

Doug

I had looked at those, too (eldar bikes and the Tau pirahna). In the end, I went with multiples of the Bombshell Miniatures rocket. I loved their retro look. And they turned out to be easy to convert into variants:

I can't look at any without thinking 'retro', aside from the Pirahna, and those are a) 'cars' as you sit IN them, b) will forever look backwards to me.

Those are impressive; do make me want to look at the basement pile of aircraft models for conversion.

Doug