although i do not yet have any of the Epic set expansions with all the rules for using them, the Huge ships and other Epic level projects makes me want something of the kind for myself. for use as terrain in games, if nothing else.

sadly i didn't have any model kits that were near appropriate scale (and most model kits i have are Star Trek ones), nor the budget to go out and buy a kit for this, though i really wish i did, be cause the BSG Colonial One model looks awesome and is perfect size. and my scratch building skills are.. iffy. i've done a bit in the 1/285th scale for battletech, but i do better on small stuff there, rather than something 6+ inches long.

So i started looking around for something fairly simply that i might be able to replicate. in the end, i settled on the Omega Class Freighter , first seen in the old Droids cartoon . while kinda ugly and ungainly, its fairly simple blocky design looked like something i could duplicate.

I considered various ways to scratch build the parts, then i had a facepalm moment. and went looking for papercraft examples of the Lambda shuttle and the AT-AT. which netted me a few kits in roughly the right scales that i could do just a little bit of image resizing to get a 1/270 sized set of parts. i've tried to reuse as many parts from the papercraft sets as i can, though i haven't made very many changes to the base parts (aside from a touch of recoloring where i can)

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1cifsLw-wK6F-QFlc8CQY9i53llwmgtEd

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1jbJocbIK5VsByNmf1UOUTCrfFAzLcFul

these are not final versions just yet, i might tweak the parts a bit. but the basics are there. the AT-AT body is the cargo-hull, with the Lambda cockpit in front, and as it current is, the Lambda drive section mounted underneath as the engine section, with the struts sideways holding the fins. sizewise it should end up about the same size as the GR-75 model, but in (roughly) 1/270, the same as the rest of the fighters. due to the nature of the images involved, i can't change the colors much (too much pixilization going on) but hopefully it'll turn out OK. i'm going to be using some offcuts of cardstock and cardboard i have to create some internal bracing in the empty hull so it doesn't collapse under pressure. the end result hopefully will look a bit like a tramp-freighter.

one thing i haven't sorted out yet is a flightstand. i'd like to be able to use this as a proxy GR-75 eventually (once i have the GR-75 set) but for now i just need to figure out how to make it 'fly' over a cardboard base. i've considered using some straws or something, but figuring out how to fix them to the ship without glueing (since eventually i'll want a proper base with arcs and stuff) has been tricky. and i don't have any extra FFG stands or budget to buy proper stuff for that. so scratch build is the name of the day here.

I think i have figured out a basing option, but i'll have to source a few items. i think that if i can get some of those adhesive backed fridge magnet strips, i can stick a bit of one inside the ship, and a bit of some ontop of the flight stand bit, letting me remove the ship from the stand, and build a stand i can stick a printed out base card on. since fridge magnets are pretty weak, i don't think that i'll have issues with damaging the model when i remove the stand, either.

anyone know where i can get a 1:1 image of the normal GR-75 huge ship base-card to print out? i have one for sizing purposes, but it is a fan made one with some wonky fire arcs on it. i'd rather have one for the standard no-weapons version of the ship, since that is what this will largely be proxying if/when i get to do epic games.

These are really good! My group hates with love the Epic ships and I am never able to play with them...

-DD

papercraft is definitely a decent alternative, if you can get them to fold and glue right (takes some practice). can be tricky to find models for ships in the right scale though. i did find some PDF's in an old thread here on the forums that had papercraft Nebulon-b PDFs (in true 1/27 and epic 1/350 sizes) , and through google, a PDF's for a Halo cruiser that could probably pass as a frigate.

cold weather (with snow and freezing rain) has prevented me from going out to grab the magnet strips i need (i live at the top of a hill, and my car has near-zero tolerance for icy conditions in terms of traction) so might be a bit of a delay on the base design. gonna dig through the family craftroom and see if we already have some tomorrow.

apologies for the long delay on this one.. life intervened, and this project kinda fell to the wayside. with 2.0 conversion to worry about and taking up my X-wing budget, i probably won't be buying an official FFG Epic anytime soon (unless i get really lucky on ebay, and even there i'll probably be better off buying more fighters to better exploit the conversion kits) but i feel like i should still make this.

i did get a copy of StrangeEons so i've been playing around with some possible stats in 1.0.. but i mainly did it so i can have a properly sized baseplate.

i have updated the template slightly.. with a version that has Imperial Logo's, and what should be better (or at least, easier to fold) mounting struts for the fins.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1dMhCp1JR71OksnbEvL86iYbzGABz1C5p

since i've just gotten my computer and printers set back up correctly (had a crash a little while back.. had to basically reset to first install stat on windows. ugh. least all my files survived) i'll try to print out the templates and do an initial build. if for nothing else than to help figure out the stand issue.