Whilst I did have vague plans for some additional spaceships, as I only had one remaining unused flight stand, I believed that once I’d published my Final Frontier rules, that would be it for the time being in respect of spaceships.
However, as I’d been regularly browsing the web looking at various UK manufacturers for starships in a scale and style compatible to my ideas for the factions within my own universe, returning to the plastic spaceships on offer from eM-4 Miniatures. Was it that several of the 12 individual sculpts suited the design aesthetic I was going for? Was it that the models ranged from 10mm to 37mm, meaning that they were roughly the size I wanted? Or was it because they cost £2.55 for all 12 and they came with 12 black plastic flight stands?
Actually, it was a combination of all three, but mainly the last one. £2.55 for 12 ships WITH flight stands? That’s just over 21p per ship including the flight stand. Even if I decided that I was only going to use one or two of the ships, I could still use all the flight stands and wouldn’t have to paint them, as they’re already black.
So, I ordered two packs, as I had specific plans for certain ships and needed more than one of them.
So, what do you get for your money? Well, they come unboxed (as it says in the description on the website) and you get two sprues of 6 spaceships, injection molded from hard plastic. The detail is a lot better than the poor picture on the website suggest, and whilst there are a few obvious mold lines, flash is minimal. However, I did note on a couple of the ships depressions in the body of the ship, where obviously the plastic did not quite reach. May be due to the age of the molds.
As the ships are not all the same way up, I’ve provided pictures of both sides, so you can see the details better;
So, the detail is very good, without being overdone. You get a nice variety of ships, but given that each ship has a pretty obvious cockpit, I’d say these were probably designed as starfighters rather than larger scale ships.
However, other than a couple which look a bit too like one person fighters, I’m not overly concerned by this and feel that either a bit of judicious filing or a suitable paint scheme will hide this, so will be using them pretty much unaltered. The other may get converted or may contribute parts to another scratch-build. We shall see.
Anyway, I decided to detach some from their sprues, mount them on their stands and photograph them next to my scratch-built spaceships, to give an ideal of scale.
Here are the first three:
The ship on the back left is one of my favourites and just seems to suggest that it’s pilot is not human. The one at the back right was one of the reasons I bought this pack – as soon as I saw it, I thought “That’s a Hummingbird-class Corvette of the Aztek Imperium” and the one front left is one of the less starfighter-y looking ones.
And here are the next two:
The one on the right will become The Talon, the ship owned by the infamous privateer Captain Samuel Crowe, however I also feel it could make a good Klingon Bird of Prey Proxy. The ship on the right is one of the odder designs, but will be joining my Karrian fleet, as there is something machined and insect-like about it.
The final picture below shows my Bulldog-class Frigate next to The Talon. This highlights the difference between the painted flight stand on the left and the pre-coloured stand on the right.
All in all, a worthwhile purchase. Even if I only use 10 of the 24 ships I bought, that still works out at 50p each and I’ll still have 12 spare flight stands.
Right, that’s all for this week. As the nights are drawing in and Halloween (and my birthday) creep ever closer, our thoughts turn to things of a more macabre nature. So over the next month, expect the flavour of the blog to being somewhat more…ghoulish.
Carrion Crow's Buffet 
I’ve got four sets of those ships myself Jez (from EM4 but in a box a couple of years back now, he must have run out of boxes) they are really nice models. They are on my “random painting list” but their number has only come up once!
Looking forward to your “gruesome ” posts.
Cheers Roger.
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They are surprisingly well-detailed and each model has its own definite character. And you can’t really argue with the price.
And October will see a return to superheroes, but with a seasonal twist.
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Bargain!! Those ships are triff and blend well with your scratch builds. Nice one Jez
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Thanks Andy. As my friend Chris said, other than a hex map, in my last two posts I’ve provided everything you need to play a space combat game for under a fiver.
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The Em-4 ships were originally for Iron Crown’s “Silent Death” starfighter game. Doesn’t affect their utility as naval vessels, but might help with tracking down more in the same style if the whim strikes you.
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Thanks for the info, Kitchen Wolf. I assumed they were designed as starfighters, due to the cockpit size, but wasn’t aware that the were designed for a specific game.
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That is incredible value Jez and they look pretty good too.
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You know me, Michael, I try to be cost-effective when gaming. And whilst they’re not entirely scale-accurate, a few tweaks here and there and I feel that most, if not all could work for my purposes.
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Lovely models and in plastic too, really good value for money. The cockpit of a few is off scale for the federation ships (makes the glass cockpit HUGE when next too a star trek vessel) but even that is sortable. I`d probably buy them just for those cool flight stands alone, but the vessels themselves are actually remarkably lovely. So its a win-win situation all round really.
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Thanks Tarot. As I said in the post, a bit of judicious filing here and there, or the addition of extra ‘bits’ and they’ll be suitable. Who says that the ‘cockpit’ is actually that? Could be the command deck under a dome. If painted the same colour as the rest of the ship, it’s just a bulge on the fuselage. And they may not all get used for this – might be drones for a sci-fi game or backpacks for hi-tech heroes.
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Hey these are niiiiice. I can see why you invested in these. Like Tar` says also, the flight stands alone cover the value of the ships you don’t even use.
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One of the main reasons I bought them, Steve. Even if I don’t use the ships, I’ve still got the flight stands. Although I do have plans for specific models – just need to decide of appropriate livery and whether to add anything to them.
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Oh absolutely. I`d say you got yourself a bargain and no mistake.
As for the cockpits, I think the giant domed flight deck idea works best in my mind :))
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