GZG service and stands (was: assembling FT minis)

> Jason S. wrote:

> Of all the people and companies that I've had to deal with in all the

Well, as an ex-pat Aussie who does deal with Jon and co. regularly, I
can say that I have _no_ complaints with GZG service whatsoever. The
guys are friendly, helpful and reasonable; they'll go along with "odd"
requests (for spare parts and the like) with no worries at all; and turnaround
time is good and getting even better. Nic may be as good as everyone says he
is, and more power to his elbow if that's the case (and more power to it
anyway if he keeps producing the excellent OU stuff), but Jon and his
offsiders will do me while I'm over here.

Later, the Great Stand Debate included people who said that they had problems
with the standard GZG plastic stands, especially with the bigger ship classes.
I had a few of those myself, but I found a simple
solution: a hand drill and 1/16" and 1/8" bits (has to be inches; the
metric equivalents are just that little bit smaller, which can ruin things).

For the smaller classes, I simply drill out the existing mounting hole
with the 1/16" bit (if necessary; it's best to check how the fit is
before bothering), and that generally means that the model sits
comfortably on the stand peg without drooping. Droop/slop is why I
don't like the idea of metal stands myself; I haven't seen the GeoHex stands
(except in photos), but my experience with metal stands does not
encourage me. I have a couple of AoG B5W minis with the T-post stands,
and I don't like them at all! Give me plastic any day.

For larger ships, I use one or two GZG stands with the little peg on
top of the post cut off. The post fits neatly and securely into a 1/8"
hole, and the model is nice and stable. Even the FSE SD sits happily (and is
quite stable) on a single stand that way; the only ship I've
had to use two stands for was the Clarke-class survey ship, because
the CG of the completed ship was at a point where it wasn't practical to drill
a hole (!).

Phil