Friday, March 9, 2012

Superior Models original starships packaging

Da Baron, one of the players in last night's battle in the Chancellor campaign, very generously brought me a couple of boxes of Starfleet Wars miniatures.  Since I'd thrown away the packaging of my vintage SfW acquisitions long before I started my blog, it's time to share photos of the original containers for these models.
Each box is about 3 inches wide, 5 inches long, and 1¼ inches deep.  The only label is the sticker on the lid, with the word "STARSHIPS," in a font reminiscent of 1960s acid rock album covers, above a photo of a Terran galactic dreadnought.  Beneath the picture, there's the Superior Models logo and a small copyright notice dated 1978.
Hive-class GAC and Mosquito attack craft
Inside the box, a long piece of foam (about 10 inches or so) is folded in half to hold the spaceship models.  Interestingly, Superior sold its galactic attack carriers in combination with 10 starfighter models.  As you can see, the attack craft came in a separate, sealed plastic bag.
Hornet-class SCs and Sting-class SB
The company packaged some ships, like these stellar cruisers, two (sometimes three) to a box, although the starbomber in there is just a bonus from the previous owner's collection.  Since these escorts are all primered, I'll need to soak them in PineSol to strip the paint so I can basecoat them black before applying my Entomalian color scheme.

These ships were a nice surprise from a sporting wargamer and all-around nice guy.  Thanks again, Baron!
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7 comments:

  1. Black VulmeaMarch 9, 2012 at 10:09 PM

    This is such a trip down memory lane.

    I think my Terran destroyers came three to the box, if I remember correctly.

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  2. Desert ScribeMarch 10, 2012 at 7:27 AM

    Yep. I just checked an old order form, and stellar destroyers, starbombers, and star armored pursuit ships were all sold in packs of 3 for $5.

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  3. GonsalvoMarch 10, 2012 at 9:30 AM

    I don't have any of the original ship boxes, but I do still have the box the game and the five sample SD's came in.

    Oh, and I did save the foam for protecting/storing the painted model!

    Just bought an Entomalian "Web" space station and a modular Terran SS from The Panzer Depot (excellent service, and better pricing on some models but not all, than MKP itself). I will probably add some more ships, 30+ years later, to my Entomalians and Terrans!

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  4. Tom ParkerJune 23, 2013 at 12:53 PM

    I came across this while Googling because I found 6 to 8 of these in an old box last night. I'd been thinking about them and was surprised to find them.

    I still can't find any of the old rules that were used for these, which is a bummer.

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  5. Desert ScribeJune 23, 2013 at 1:54 PM

    Tom, welcome aboard the Dreadnought! What ships do you have? Are they painted? When's the last time you used them in a wargame?

    Speaking of the rules, take a look around this Starfleet Wars blog and see what you find ;-)

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  6. Tom ParkerJune 23, 2013 at 2:47 PM

    Looking again, there are more than I realized. Lion, Eagle, Shark, Condor.

    There are some missing the tag: a pair of destroyers, maybe, 2 different carriers with fighters, something very Lion-like and Shark-like. Labels found in the bottom of the box are for the Stingray and Leviathan.

    A couple are primed. I never got around to painting them.

    I definitely haven't played a war game with these since the 80s. My circle of gamers were mostly RPG, with some Dune board gaming to mix things up. We did some Star Trek based game (was Star Fleet Battles a thing; that comes to mind), but I've probably only gamed with these once or twice.

    And then moved them from house to house for 30 years.

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  7. Desert ScribeJune 25, 2013 at 9:49 PM

    Are you thinking about gaming with them again?

    I have a set of rules I can recommend :)

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