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Lou Zocchi's Star Fleet Miniatures

Chris_Johnston

Chris_Johnston

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Captain
I was just reminiscing about the nifty set of little (3") Star Fleet miniatures put out by Lou Zocchi's Gamescience company (to go with his Star Fleet Battle Manual) in the late '70s - early '80s.

Couldn't believe how perfectly they followed Franz Joseph's schematics of the Constitution class, the Dreadnought, the Destroyer/Scout, and the Tug.

I had the whole set but, alas, it was lost.

Such minute detail: the deflector grid lines, the running lights (with wide bases), the phaser ports...
And I loved how well the pieces fit together, so you didn't need to glue 'em.

Only model I ever owned of a Constitution-class (or any Trek vessel) where the nacelles didn't wobble, no matter how much you shook it! :thumbsup:

Anybody else ever see/own these?


P.S. Sure glad I kept lookin'...

RE: Gamescience Star Trek minis -- GZG List Archives -- March 2000

Gamescience Miniatures - HobbyTalk

...otherwise I wouldn't've found this site or this one!

Looks like I'll finally be able to restore my collection! :drool:
 
I have tons of this sort of stuff... all the Gamescience stuff, alongside all the FASA stuff. (Also, all the Agents of Gaming B5 stuff, but that's another story)

Glad you found a source. Zocchi's minis are still the best ever made, IMHO.
 
I've got some of the recent metal Star Fleet Battles miniatures. Long ago I also had some of the plastic ones but they seemed to break a lot. The metal ones are definitely stronger.
 
But do you need to glue the parts?
The plastic ones held together by friction quite nicely.
But I was endlessly dorkin' with the nacelles, trying to get 'em perfectly aligned. (That's my biggest gripe with Trek designs!)
 
The metal ones certainly need glue, and require a bit of sanding to remove some flash before painting as well.
 
The origional Zocchi miniatures that were origiojnally packaged as the Starline 2200 SFB line are still available at the home site for Star Fleet Battles. I just had a friend a couple of weeks ago buy some. But you have to buy the Fed Fleet box #2 to get them. The individual ship minis for sale are not the Zocchi reissue, but are the ADB new metal minis released in 1996 which do not measure up to the origional Zocchi minis. The origional Klingon, Tholian, and the Romulan are no longer avialbe and are replaced with the newer 1996 versions relaesed by ADB. But withthe Fleet box#2 you can still get the Fed DN, CA, TUG, DD, SC. YOu may have to paint them tohugh. My friend had to settle for the glow in the dark type and plans on painting them for gaming.

I'll see if I can find the site adress I send my friend a couple of months ago.

I still have the lion's share of my origional Zocchi minis.
 
Just finished mounting my new SFB miniatures game map. Took a standard "Captain's Edition" black game map and scanned it in, and printed it out at 47 by 38 inches. Each hex is an inch and a quarter which is about the same scale as the Megahex map and terrain that Task Force sold in the early 1990s. Spray mounted it with a large sheet transparancy overlaid on top with duct tape arond the edges on foil backed foamboard. The map is mounted on a 1/2 inch thick 48 x 40 foil backed foam insulation board bought from LOWES hardware. Nice smooth surface to use wet markers on for making tactical notes on the transparancy on top. Map is intended for the origional SFB 2400 scale minis. ( The Lou Zocchi scale....Starline 2200 circa 1982 - 1986...) Sending a copy to a friend in Pennsylvania so we can play over the phone with his SFB Zocchi minis he just bought. SFB over the phone. Would be impossible if not for the numbered hexes and lettered facings. Scanner and printer for outputting my own SSDs and forms. All set.

Man...life is good. Now if I can convince the wife to let me spend the money on the all in one volume of the complete "Captain's Edition" rulebook. Maybe for birthday.:rolleyes:
 
Chris_Johnston said:
I was just reminiscing about the nifty set of little (3") Star Fleet miniatures put out by Lou Zocchi's Gamescience company (to go with his Star Fleet Battle Manual) in the late '70s - early '80s.

I had the whole set but, alas, it was lost.

Anybody else ever see/own these?
Click to expand...

I also used to have the whole set. Had everything SFB up to the Captain Editions. (and I mean EVERYTHING). In the early 80's I was stationed overseas, and when I came home on leave, I had a local model store that would set aside one of everything that came out in the previous year for me.

But, I became overwhelmed with SFB, and began to lose players at my base as they rotated back to the states. When I came home, I couldn't find ANY players and eventually gave the whole set away for free. I'm still kicking myself.

Like you, I'd love to have them back again, but have only found good deals on a couple (I'm no longer a young single guy with no family, free Uncle Sam room and board and 100% disposable income... growing up sucks!). And I no longer build models as I did 25 years ago, so I can't detail them out anymore (I still can't find my airbrush!!!). Not to mention I still can't find any local players. And on top of that, Steven Cole of ADB has been rather cold shouldered about the Federation Commander/SFB module I made for Vassal (I guess he's too busy to even look at a freebie for his company).

(Vassal is a free online graphic gaming tool written in Java for playing any boardgame across the internet, if a module has been made for that game)
 
P.S. You can pick them up off of E-bay often too. Sometimes for a very good price. (I picked up the fleet box #2 for $5.50, but that was admittedly a freak accident of good luck).
 
When I was younger played the Star Fleet Battle Manual (many fights with the bad guys starting upstairs, and the good guys downstairs, leading to the battle of the Sixth Stair Up!) :)

Then, moved on to Star Fleet Battles. Finally, discovered Federation Commander - got all the miniatures sets from Klingon Border/Klingon Attack, and at the moment awaiting Border Box #6 - the battleships.

Of course, cos there's Romulan and Gorn ships in there, then it would really be a bit of a waste if I didn't get the Romulan Border/Attack boxes, and of course with the Tholians and Seltorians, have to get the Tholian Attack ones, then of course the Hydran and Lyrans - guess my bank account and painting hands are gonna be pretty busy!!:)

But, the thing I really want - The Juggernaught!!! :devil:
 
Yeah, the Juggernaut models do look cool...


...I like the Andromedan Dominator model, myself (the big one on the right). Suitably menacing, and good level of detail on the model.

(I really hope ADB release a Devastator model one day!)
 
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