Another Spaceship Project

[Mako]

I've been collecting bits and pieces, anytime I see something that looks promising, in order to come up with a spacecraft interior that can be used for gaming. 

Not sure if I'm going to go with just 15mm (probably the best scale for this), and/or if I can also use the bits for 25mm - 28mm, and even perhaps the larger 32mm figs.  We'll see.  It'd be great if the parts could be used for all, or at least the main hull pieces, swapping out interior bits when/where needed, for use with the larger minis.

To start though, I think I'm going to go with 15mm, since there are so many nice figures out there, and they're very economical.

For the hull pieces, I'm going to go with clean, carry out pizza boxes of different sizes, just to make life easy.  Don't know if I'll remove the lids permanently, or keep them attached for storage, and to keep the dust out.  I like the latter idea, but they might get in the way.  Perhaps a combo approach, where I make them removable, but they can be reattached with magnets, as needed.

They're cheap/free (if you ask nicely), robust, and offer a variety of sizes and in some cases, even shaped.  One of our local places has the two top corners clipped for some reason, which makes them look a bit more streamlined (clipping the corners gives them six sides, instead of four to the box).  I was thinking about using a smaller pizza box for the bridge, and larger ones for the main hull, and/or engine room sections.

Last night though, I got a to-go container from Taco Bell, for their Nachos Bell Grande, and it's a nice, black, oval shape with a clear lid (don't know if I'll keep/add the lid, but it is an option).  So, a new, more streamlined bridge for the small scout vessel has been found, accidentally, as well. 

The oval bridge will be "mated" to the small, streamlined pizza box, to create a nice looking, two-section craft, suitable for exploration, and short-range operations.

Sorry, no pics yet, but I'll work on that.

Need to start coming up with an interior layout, and some flooring to make the sections look interesting.

Looks like the oval bridge could also be connected to the hull with a short, square, or rectangular neck section too, if you desire a different look.  The rear of the oval could also be easily cut off square too, if a more flush fit with the "hull" (pizza box) is desired, instead.

[CookAndrewB]

I will be following with interest. The pizza box idea is very interesting. It certainly gives a large pre-shaped exterior set of walls. Lots you could do on the interior after that. Can't wait to see what you come up with!

Also, if you use a mix of Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, I think you need to name it the USNS Yum!

[War Monkey]

I will be following this as well.

[Mako]

Not very inspiring without at least some basic pics, I suppose, so here are a few showing the basic components of the bridge and hull. 

The floor of the plastic, oval Nachos box from Taco Bell is 7.5" long x 5" wide x 1" deep (without the clear plastic lid - adding that doubles the depth).  The overall size is slightly bigger, but the dimensions given are the usable, interior floor size.

The inner dimensions of the Round Table Boxes are as follows:

Personal Pizza Box = 7.25" x 7.25" x 1.5"
Small Pizza Box = 10" x 10" x 1.5"
Medium Pizza Box = 12.5" x 12.5" x 1.5"
Large Pizza Box = ?  x  ?  x 1.5"  (haven't collected one of these yet, but think it's about 15" x 15", or 16" x 16" in size)

Pics shown with minis are from GZG, and are their 15mm (actually about 18mm tall now) UNSC Hardsuits, which are a must buy for any "Space Marines" type unit equipped with body armor/power armor you may choose to field.  They're going to be my "go to" troops for any hostile boarding actions, and/or for any squad complement on spacecraft traveling the far reaches of contested space, where pirates, mercenaries, or worse my possibly be encountered.

Given the height of the walls for these, I'm definitely going to go with removable/swap-able, interior decks for both 15mm/18mm, and 25mm/28mm minis, since they're tall enough to permit that.  That will be a nice bonus for this project.  Also, I've decided to add in "interior" wall sections, where needed, so that I can make the lids removable, and will keep those only for transport/storage, in order to keep dust out.  I think I'll use mini-magnets, or magnetic sheeting to attach and secure those as needed, since that's pretty simple to do.

Nachos Container Bridge and Personal Pizza Box Hull:

[Mako]

A larger, multi-box design, using a Small Pizza Box, Personal Box, and the Nachos Bridge section.

Silver bits are the 15mm GZG UNSC troops - two standing (circular bases), and one lying prone (elongated base).

The smaller Personal Box at the rear is where the engine room is located on this design. 

As you can see, the beauty of these is also that you can just add in more sections as desired, for a bigger or longer vessel.  The boxes can be butted up to one another as shown, or you can add in some smaller sections in between, in order to make a hull spine that they are attached to.

My personal preference would be for square pizza boxes, when attaching multiples of those in a series, for a more pleasing, and functional look.  May need to hit up some other local pizza stores for those, soon.

[Mako]

Side view from above, showing 15mm GZG troops and a Small Pizza Box.

[Mako]

Nachos Container bridge section with 15mm GZG troops shown for size. 

I think I'll lay in a foam-core floor, and will probably glue in a printed paper, or cardstock floor over top of that, in order to make it look better.  A metal grid floor would also work here, for a more utilitarian look, where access to critical bridge electronics and power conduits is required - that can be created using wire or plastic mesh, or "granny grating" available in craft stores.  In the case of the latter, I'd probably leave the plastic black, and paint the mesh grating silver or aluminum for contrast.

I'm considering a couple of designs for this section. 

For the first, I think the bridge will be in the front half, or two-thirds of the container, and be a single room.  For the rear, crew quarters will be located in this area, perhaps on either side of a corridor, and will contain bunk beds, lockers, and probably a dresser and shower section.

For the second one, I'm thinking about having the entire oval be the bridge and crew ops area, and then have the crew quarters in the front half of the pizza box hull, instead.

The bridge, and/or other hull sections will be connected to one another using some sort of magnets, so they don't detach during game play.

[War Monkey]

Looks like your off to a great start, can't wait to see more.

[tomrommel1]

promissing Start

[CookAndrewB]

Greeble that up and I'll bet it will be more than satisfactory for an epic adventure! Nice of the Round Table to give you some freebie boxes! The other thing you could do is stack boxes on top of each other for multiple levels. That is something which can be difficult if you are scratch building each deck, but easier now that you have a dimensional building unit (pizza box). Need the crew to get to deck 3C to defend against a boarding party? Now you can build transit tubes and fight in 3D!

[Mako]

Thanks for some of the suggestions and feedback.  I appreciate them.

I especially like the multi-level idea, though with some of the smaller ships I may stick to just one level, at least for the bridge section.  Might go with 2 - 3 levels for the rear hull and engine room though, since that has some interesting possibilities.

I think I'm definitely going to go with some sort of removable deck pieces, at least at first, unless/until I get more bridge and hull components.

Playing around with them just a little demonstrates very quickly that they'll need to be weighted down, magnetized (to keep them removable), or eventually glued in place, since moving any figures around quickly causes even the one terrain piece I have partially completed to move and/or fall over.  It's the tactical view-screen for the front of the bridge, which turned out pretty neat, even with just some basic work.  I'll want to have the ability to swap this out too, as needed, in order to show maneuvers by nearby spacecraft.

Thinking perhaps maybe a thin magnetized sheet for the hull deck, and/or a metal one.  Those will be coated with the colored deck prints, and then sealed for protection.  Then, the view-screen, chairs, tactical work stations/desks, etc., can be added in too, and should remain in place reasonably well, hopefully, even if bumped.

I need to find something to make a short passageway/airlock for the bridge to hull section.  Thinking a small, square, or rectangular box-like structure might work, and I can perhaps notch it, so it fits snugly over the join between the bridge and hull section.

Not sure what to do about the walls/workstations yet.  Thought about just printing some images out on cardstock, and that will work, but I'm liking the black plastic hull interior, so we'll see.  Might sacrifice another food container to get a curved, one, or two-piece, countertop, but don't know if that will be wide enough or not.  I guess I could always make one out of styrene and/or card and then paint it black, too.

I hope to re-double my efforts in the next week, in order to at least get a few chairs made, and perhaps some control stations too.  I've got some ideas and stuff for the engine room too.

Anyway, here are some images of what I'm talking about, along with a couple of 32mm Star Trek figs for scale, and since they show up better in the pics than the smaller, 15mm ones.

[Mako]

I'd say the blue decking is definitely Federation standard.  Might want to change that if I can, but this was one of the few textures I have access to in my current version of a Word processing program.

It works okay for now, until I have more time to come up with something I like better.

Starfleet Red Shirt facing off against a Romulan with a Disruptor Pistol.  Should be interesting to see if the "Red Shirt" luck holds true in my universe as well.

[Mako]

Here's a shot of another deck texture.  Not sure I like it, since the hexes are too big, and the lines between them a bit too bold in the larger size.

I've found a new one which I like better, so may swap it out instead, but at least here you can see how different the bridge can look with just a single, minor change.

Orange would probably be better for a Klingon vessel, so need to find some of those for another test shot, when time permits.

Anyone else played around with adding in chairs, desks, computers, etc., etc., onto their deck plans, and attempting to secure them into place, so they don't go flying off across the room during game play, and character movement?

If so, how are you dealing with that?

[Daeothar]

Nice start!

I'm in a bit of a Star Trek frenzy at the moment too, so this is relevant to my interests

The hex floor immediately reminded me of a holodeck (even though I believe those actually had blue squares?) for obvious reasons, but I agree that the lines are too heavy. Nice, but heavy.

Those miniatures are WotC clickies sans base I presume?

And as far as fixating furniture to the floor, how about a thin metal sheet beneath the floor layer, and magnetized furniture?

[CookAndrewB]

For the furniture, I'd simply mount them on their own bases, as in the picture below. You can move them around, set up in different configurations, etc.


The only other option I would suggest is to simply glue in place. For this ship I glued all of the controls/furniture in place. If you don't think the particular piece needs to be changed up too much, then I'd say this is a perfectly good way to go. For bridges you could end up simply building 2-3 deck plans and purpose build each in a different style? Federation, Klingon, Romulan. Then all of your different deck texture options might be needed to mix it up.


Magnets and such sound neat until you start to fiddle with it, IMO. It adds cost and frustration where I don't think you need any. Magnetizing a fancy WH40k model might make sense if it is pricey, but magnetizing a pizza box? Dude, get more pizza boxes and build away! Glue stuff in until your heart's content and if you don't like it toss it away and start over. That's my thought on the matter.