Federation Heavy Cruiser (CA)
U.S.S. Intrepid, NCC-1708

1:3125 Scale Mongoose Publishing Gaming Miniature

Copyright
2012 Jim Lewis/GunTruck Studios
All Rights Reserved Worldwide

Finishing materials and sequence can be found here on this page.
Gallery

Awards & Honors

Of the first five Starline 2500 miniatures I received as a set in Squadron Box #1: Federation, the Heavy Cruiser (CA) was in better shape overall and only took about an hour to cleanup and putty over the biggest flaws in the casting. The Constitution-Class Cruiser being universally recognized as a symbol of the Federation in any Star Trek-based gaming system, I'm glad that I received a relatively good one to work with first time out. I had a good bit of mold slippage and pour casting remnants to contend with on the secondary hull, and the starboard warp engine pylon was brittle and snapped during cleanup, but pulling it together proved not to be a difficult exercise. The primary hull called for some minor filling around the edge of the saucer too, but it mated to the neck squarely and in mostly good alignment. From the outset, I decided to mount my Heavy Cruiser to a Gamescience Stand to match the rest of my Starline 2500 miniatures, and only had to slightly enlarge the hole in the secondary hull with a 7/64ths inch drill bit. It builds up into a handsome miniature, and captures the essence of the subject very well - even without finishing. Once adorned with custom markings from Tenneshington Decals, my gaming miniature USS Intrepid leapt off the workbench.

In detail painting USS Intrepid, I tried out some different ideas. I painted the raised boxes on the Warp Nacelle Pylons with an undercoat of Vallejo #864 Natural Steel and overcoated them with Tamiya X-24 Clear Blue. I wanted to replicate the traditional SFU Painting Guide for replicating Shield Emitter Grids, but since no particular "blue" color is suggested, I went with this idea. With the finish flattened, these details look interesting. Still with the blue theme, I painted my fore and aft Navigation Lights blue as suggested in the old Guide. I like the result. I took care not to heavily wash the deeply engraved grid on the saucer, trying to avoid the starkness and how they can overpower the decal markings. I think it looks better, and will keep trying to refine this idea in future Starline 2500 builds. Tenneshington Decals provides bonus view ports and hatches, as well as a couple of extra ship's name decals for you to further customize and individualize your miniature. I used a set on the lower area of the Secondary Hull, just aft of the Deflector Dish housing. I also used one extra ship's name underneath the Primary Hull, which I hadn't done before doing so on my FFG Martin Luther King. Both really make a nice addition to the standard markings and enhanced my enjoyment of putting together this miniature.











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