Spectre 2 - Hera Syndulla

I also got Hera cleaned up and rebased today, and I have now put some filler on her and Brian Blake's bases.

I absolutely loathe the plastic those Imperial Assault miniatures are made from, but a good side cutter and a sharp X-acto blade go a long way when working them.

I expect to prime Hera at the same time as Brian, so she will be ready for painting when I have finished Brain and the Barbarian for Lea's Sellswords & Spellslingers party (Galactic Heroes has been released, now, and as soon as I have Hera and Chopper painted, I am going to purchase both that ruleset and FfoL Horse and Musket, which I want for very small scale Napoleonic conflict (smaller than Song of Drums and Shakos)).

I may not get to work a lot on myhobby stuff tomorrow, as I have to do some more work in the vegetable garden before noon (while the sun still shines), and I have promised the kids to play some games after lunch, but I still expect to get basing finished on both Hera and Brian Blake, so that they can be primed Sunday evening.

Land Speeder Reprise

Thought I would show one of my prints with a couple of minis - I also needed a place-holder for the pic to use it at one of the forums I use 😏

NOT 3D Printed Star Wars Rebels Phantom

*Gasp* 😛

I have been seaching and asking for a printable version of the modified VCX-series auxiliary starfighter known as 'Phantom' in Star Wars Rebels, and was pointed to this Hasbro toy.

It is probably a wee bit oversized - Wookiepedia has it at 11.63 metres, and the hull is a bit more than six Heras long (my new official Star Wars measurement unit 😉), which would indicate about the right length, but Wookiepedia does not state if the front twin laser cannon is part of that length.

On occasions, we see up to three members of the Spectres in the cockpit, and i think that with bases swapped with 20mm washers, I should be able to squeeze that many minis in there.

Wookiepedia also gives passenger capacty as eight, which is probably what can fit in the back compartment, so all in all I think this is the Phantom I was looking for!

I am very happy with this purchase, and it is now time to begin prepping Hera and Copper so that they can be painted and fly their first solo missions (as soon as I have decided on which skirmish rules system to use, that is - I may go for the Goal System, either Blasters&Bulkheads or Void Pirates, while I wait for Galactic Heroes to be published...

Star Wars: Unboxing the Spectres - and Then Some

Yesterday, I received my latest order from Hyggeonkel, and set about unboxing everything right away


Why Imperial Assault, I hear you ask; simply because I am probably going to buy that game in a not-too-distant future, and I really want to be able to use the Spectres (also for other games like the upcoming Galactic Heroes from Jake Wiley, and perhaps a sci-fi version of Sellswords & Spellslingers), - and I have a standing invitation for joining an Imperial Assault group this fall.

Well, the first clamshell I cut open with my lightsaber (pair of scissors) contained everybody's favourite pair of droids.

I included R2-D2 and C-3PO in my order, simply because they are available. No Star Wars collection is complete without them, and they are an obvious choice for complications, objectives, secret missions, and other ideas for spicing up scenarios.

I have NO idea about the rules, yet, but I expect to have a clue after my first evening playing the game.

Note the two Deployment Cards for R2-D2 - that concept is really puzzling me!

Next up was Spectre 2 and Spectre 3/Chopper; Hera Syndulla and C1-10P - simply because I was in the mood for more droid, and a getaway pilot is always handy!

Spectre 1 and Spectre 6, master and apprentice, Kanan Jarrus and Ezra Bridger.

I would have preferred to start with an earlier version of this pair - Kanan with his eyesight, and Ezra with uncut hair, as seen in the earlier seasons of Rebels, but I guess you cannot have it all...

Spectre 4 and Spectre 5, Zeb Orrelios and Sabine Wren.

Sabine is one of my favourite female Star Wars characters, because she is displaying such a complex dual personality; the artist, and the crazy pyrotechnician. That, and because she is tagging the phoenix that is turning into the emblem of the Rebellion.

Zeb is the brawler of the group, and although the knuckle-cracking pose is often seen, I would have preferred a more dynamic one for gaming.

Once more, I just have to settle for what has been made available, but I really hope FFG makes another pose for Legion, should they decide to add the Spectres to that game!

All in all a nice haul, and I am looking forward to getting some of them painted and used in a game (I also plan to mock-up some stats/rules for Legion, so that I can play covert ops/sabotage missions/fuel and food raids, and other scenarios as seen in the Rebels show.

Finally, a 'family photo' of the entire group in front of some of my recently completed jungle bases (and 3D printed giant tree trunks).

I shall probably paint up Hera and Chopper, first - as pilot and astromech of the Ghost, they are indespendable (and may fly missions on their own, which is also a good reason).

3D Printed: Door Frames for Imperial Assault

A friend of mine asked if I could print some pieces found on Thingiverse for FFG's Imperial Assault, and of course I accepted.

The first one I printed without reading the instructions, so it was printed top side up, with supports which would have been all right if the new filament (Fiberlogy) did not require other temperature settings than my other brands (3DE and Spectrum), and caused a lot of bed adhesion problems.

This attempt ended up with a lot of visible stepping, and a slight layer shift close to the base. I also had to remove supports from the narrow slot in which the cardboard door is supposed to fit, which is rather tedious and difficult work. I would say, with a bit of filing and sanding, it will probably be passable, but of course I was not content with this.

The solution to the adhesion issue was to not just print at higher temperature, but only do so on the first layer, lowering the nozzle temperature for the rest of the print - which also means that I can get good adhesion AND print a low speed!

I then read the instructions that said to print in reverse orientation, with raft and supports, and I did so with lower print temperature. Only problem with this method is that the top (bottom) layer does not come out very smooth, and will require some filling/sanding (probably just some filler primer), and I felt that my printer should be able to do better.

So while I printed a second piece with those settings, I pondered how to do it.

I decided to try printing right side up, with raft and supports, but while this gave a nice top, it once more required a lot of material to be removed from the finished model (including the door slot).

So I played around with the Cura settings until I succeeded in printing directly on the glass bed (higher first layer temperature with some glue stick applied), and the fourth door frame is the first piece I have printed that way (but hopefully not the last). I printed it upside down, with supports (although they probably were not necessary), and as the first layer is shaped by the surface of the bed, it turned out almost perfectly flat.

The photo is a bit blurred in the foreground, could not get the focus to work without a proper light setting, but you get the idea.

There will be some cleaning up to do, especially around the small buttons, but nothing an experienced miniatures gamer will find difficult. I think I shall try printing one without supports tomorrow, as I would like to see how clean a result I can get...