'Lab Eagle' from 'Space 1999'

Hi All!

Like many hobbyists of a certain 'vintage', I was a child of the 'Space Race' between the USA and the USSR, with the Apollo and Skylab missions occurring throughout my early childhood. Everything that was in vogue during that time was 'space age' and 'futuristic'.  It seemed that the world had this optimism that, after the lunar landings, we could do absolutely anything. Riding upon this 'space enthusiasm', in 1966 NBC launched 'Star Trek' (which surprisingly debuted 2 days earlier on CBC here in Canada), with 'UFO' coming along in 1970. 

My first experience of 'Star Trek' was when in went into re-run syndication, and like many around my age, I was completely entranced with it. Nonetheless, as good as 'Star Trek' was, there was another show launched in 1975 that, for me, eclipsed Captain Kirk and the USS Enterprise, and that was 'Space: 1999'.

I've shamelessly copied Wikipedia's description of the show as it's better than anything I could do:

The premise of Space: 1999 centres on the plight of the inhabitants of Moonbase Alpha, a scientific research centre located within the crater Plato in the Moon's northern hemisphere. Humanity had been storing its nuclear waste in vast disposal sites on the far side of the Moon, but when an unknown form of "magnetic radiation" is detected, the accumulated waste reaches critical mass and causes a massive thermonuclear explosion on 13 September 1999. The force of the blast propels the Moon like an enormous booster rocket, hurling it out of Earth orbit and into deep space at colossal speed, thus stranding the 311 personnel stationed on Alpha. The runaway Moon, in effect, becomes the "spacecraft" on which the protagonists travel, searching for a new home. Not long after leaving Earth's Solar System, the wandering Moon passes through a black hole and later through a couple of "space warps" which push it even further out into the universe. During their interstellar journey, the Alphans encounter an array of alien civilisations, dystopian societies, and mind-bending phenomena previously unseen by humanity.

'Space: 1999' had this vibe that was completely different from 'Star Trek'. One could definitely see 'Star Trek' originating from the United States, whereas 'Space: 1999' was from the UK and Europe. 'Space: 1999' seemed darker, more realistic and quite introspective. The stakes seemed higher and there was more of an edge running through it. Though it only lasted for two seasons, I thought it made its stamp on the genre and I still enjoy watching re-runs when I come across them.

I really liked the technology of the show as it seemed quite practical and utilitarian, but still stylized and kinda groovy. The Moonbase itself was wonderful, with all these pods radiating from a central core, and the costumes and gear were excellent as well (so very 70s). 

You can see how these uniforms influenced the designs for 'Star Trek: The Motion Picture'

Maya was such a hottie and rather kick-ass as well.

My absolute favourite bit of 'Space: 1999' kit was the 'Eagle Transporters'. These were girder-framed spaceships and kind of insectoid-looking in design. They had this neat modularity about them, and could be configured by swapping out their central module to fit a wide assortment of missions. As the show did not have 'beam-me-down transporters' like Star Trek, the 'Eagles' were often pivotal to many of the episodes. 

I was absolutely transfixed by them. So cool.

There was this wonderful model railway shop in Saskatoon that had all the diecast Dinky Toy versions of the Eagles.

I can tell you, I spent many an hour with my nose pressed against the display cabinet glass, pining for them. I remember them being quite expensive at the time, and I knew very well what the answer would be from my parents if I asked for one, so I just made due with looking and daydreaming of what it would be like to have one. 

I've looked at these on Ebay several times but have not pulled the trigger on one... yet. I'm sure it will happen as nostalgia and disposable income often make a convergence, so it's only a matter of time. Nonetheless, for this post I thought I'd print an Eagle and try my hand at painting it up. 

This is a 'Lab Eagle' with the central module having booster rockets and little more room for, you know, lab stuff (besides what bad thing can happen in a space lab...). The model is only about 3 inches long, so about 1:600 scale.

I have to admit, it was a bit of a rush job as this week was busy, but I think it captures the fundamentals of the original design, though there is some damage to the exhaust (damn aliens). Perhaps I'll print a slightly larger version, but that will be another day.

Thanks a bunch for stopping by!

- Curt

Proof of Concept - 3mm ACW Regiments at 1:1 Scale

(Note: This is a cross-post from the Challenge blog.)

Alright everyone, this post exhibits a certain amount of nostalgic obsession and nerdy madness so please bear with me.

Ever since I was a kid I’ve been fascinated by miniatures and their relative scale. I have great memories of packing my Airfix plastics out into the garden and placing them at distances relative to their size (or the best I could determine, as math has never been my strong suit). So when the British were deployed amongst the peas and potatoes, and the Germans settled in amongst the corn and cabbage, they all somehow related to one another and therefore seemed more real to me. 

Anyway, when I started getting into historical wargaming in my teens I understood the need to abstract scales in order to fit scenarios onto tabletops, but I still held a desire to see these historical formations in their true form, at distances that reflected how the men of the various periods gathered, moved and fought.

Don Troiani's work seems to capture what it must have been like to live within the chaos of black powder battles...

These 3mm (1:600 scale) ACW figures (yes, they are very, very tiny) are from Pico Armor. I picked these up a few years ago in a fit of madness knowing I could finally indulge my fascination with 1:1 scale formations. I started working on a few bases, but soon became distracted by other projects (I know, how typical). Nonetheless, I found them tucked away in a drawer the other week, so pulled them out, the spark took light once again and so here we are.

What you see here is two American Civil War Confederate regiments. The one regiment on the left is made up of close to 500 figures while the other is about 340. These numbers align roughly to the historical strengths of average, campaign-strength ACW formations.

Each regiment is made up of 10 bases, with each base being a complete infantry company at 1:1 scale.

Below is a great educational photo. You can clearly see the incredible length of a mid-sized regiment drawn up into line (with another regiment in the distance). When I see this I’m immediately struck by what must have been a huge challenge of command-and-control for officer to exert their will over such a strung-out formation. I look at this and understand that having a good cadre of experienced NCO’s and junior officers was an absolute necessity for having any kind of battlefield effectiveness. 

Both regiments drawn up in line.

When you see the same regiments drawn up in open and closed columns it illustrates why so many generals (certainly in the Napoleonic period) liked to keep their soldiers in more compact formations as it enabled them to be better controlled and also it had a morale effect as they typically gained confidence by the closeness of their comrades. 

Column of divisions, two companies wide at full intervals.

Close column, two companies wide. Highly inefficient for combat but much easier to control.

Column, one company wide and at full intervals for ease of maneuver.

The 3mm farmhouse is from Pico as well. I’ve placed it on a pill-shaped base and made a snake-rail fence out of cut card ('Nells' the workhorse is in the paddock). 

Painting in such a tiny scale required me to rethink how I approached the whole process. The sculpting detail is surprisingly clear so it would be easy to go down the rabbit hole and attempt to paint these figures as individual models. But that way madness lies. Instead you have to think of these strips of figures merely as components of a mass and not get drawn into details that nobody will ever see. So with this in mind I primed them black, drybrushed them light grey, thin coat of brown wash, popped in three blobs of flesh for their faces and hands, brown for the musket stocks, bright silver for the bayonets and then put in some varied colours for blanket-rolls and hats. That’s it. Done. 

My first base. I has the Regimental Colours as part of a company (which is incorrect).

To me, the trick to doing microscale figures often comes down to the basing. It has to be minimalist enough for the figures to be clearly identified, but not so stark as to leave them looking simply like little nubs on strips. These come in strips of eight figures, so I mounted them in two ranks, but situated them off center on the base so players have a better sense to place facing the same direction (more on this in a moment). Then I used a smooth gel medium to build-up the base roughly to the edge of their bases so they are better masked. Once the gel medium cures I then drybrushed them shades of light brown and then use a green semi-opaque emulsion to infer grass. The only basing material I’ve used with these is a few traces of clump foliage to mimic bush and brush.

When I first started basing these I quickly realized that players needed some sort of visual queue to which way the units were supposed to be facing. So with this in mind I decided to design a special base for the colour party. As you see here it’s shaped roughly like an arrow with a rectangular tab at the rear in order to place unit identification (thanks to Martin at Warbases for manufacturing these for me). As an experiment I’ve tarted up one of these bases with a small piece of L-shaped plasticard and rare earth magnets so nameplates can be easily ‘clicked’ into place but otherwise be stored separately.

The Colour Party with arrowhead front and rear tab.

Magnetized rear 'L' tab.

I’ll be up-front right now in saying that this project is largely just a silly aesthetic and intellectual proof-of-concept, but who knows, if I get enough stuff accumulated I may try using something like ‘Black Powder’ to do a clash of brigade-sized forces in 1:1. Otherwise I think I may use four of these bases along with a colour party base to serve as a regiment in ‘normal sized’ games like Longstreet’. 

I have an artillery battery that I’m currently working on but more on that later. I’m not really sure if I’ll expand on this collection that much as what I’m really keen to do is Napoleonics in this scale. I have a suspicion that massed cavalry formations would look amazing done at 1:1 scale…

Thanks very much for sticking with me through this overly long post!

From MilesR: 28mm ACW Confederate Regiment, German Hanomag & USS Ironsides (147 points)

From Miles:

I have a bit of an eclectic mix of submissions for the competition.

First off is my second 24 figure Confederate Infantry regiment - the 15th Alabama from Law's Brigade at Gettysburg (hmm the second unit from that battle, I wonder is that's a hint on my next big project…) 

Like the first unit, these are the new 28mm Perry plastic Confederate Infantry and I can not recommend the figs enough - they are a real pleasure to paint.

Next is a 28mm German Halftrack from Warlord games that I'll use with my Bolt Action armies - I need to start painting the German Infantry.

Lastly there is a 1/600 scale ironclad, the USS Ironsides.  This model is produced by Thoroughbred Figures who make a great range of 1/600 ACW Ironclads

A super mix of toys Miles. I have a few of the Thoroughbred models and I found that they were really fun to work with. What rules do you use with these?  I think that last time we played we used 'Smoke on the Water' (which is such an awesome title for a set of riverine rules).

This varied collection of miniatures will give Miles 147 points.