Mini Stands

On Thursday, June 25, 1998 4:48 PM, John Atkinson
[SMTP:jatkins6@ix.netcom.com]
wrote:
> I kinda like the NSL ships, except that thrice accursed light cruiser.

Buy a plastic stand - GW make some nice round ones
which can be painted to look like the GeoHex Metal ones. GZG do nice black
plastic hex ones.

I'd like to be able to get the GeoHex stands in the UK any plans supplier
dudes?

This is how I've decided to do my stands (and yes, I had to hack a bunch of
old ones off to go over to my new standard, but I think the end result is
worth it).

I got GW flying bases - they are available in small (25mm) and large
(60mm) varieties. When ordering from GW, make sure to tell them not to include
the posts; it will save you 50%!! Use the small ones for small ships and
fighters, and the large ones for anything that you're worried might tip over.

Next, head out to a hobby shop and get either brass tube or brass squares in
three different sizes that will fit snugly into one another. For fighter
bases you'll also need some small diameter brass rod (I think 1/16th).
For smaller ships, use the two smaller sizes for the following steps, and for
larger ships, use the two larger.

Cut 35mm and 5mm sections of the larger "tube," and a 15-25mm section of
the smaller. The 35mm section gets epoxied into the GW clear circular base.
Put the 5mm section over the smaller piece, and epoxy both into the
miniature's mounting hole. Make sure that they're perpendicular BEFORE the
epoxy sets.

Now you have a figure that can be put in the stand for play, and taken out for
transport or storage. In fact, you only need enough lower stands to fit as big
of a battle as you expect to play, as they're interchangable (with the
exception of small vs. large dia.).

They have no angles or markers, so you'll need "rings" for during play, but on
the other hand, they look really classy, and no matter how many times they
change the rules, you never have to change bases again.

For fighters, drill 6 holes at random intervals on one of the small bases
(just make sure they're not too close together). Then cut the small dia. rod
to random lengths of 5 to 15mm. Epoxy the rod into the stand, and superglue
the fighters to the rods, and you have a very cool looking "formation" that
doesn't look like a hex. All of the groups will look diferent, which is also
very cool.

Of course I like these methods, because otherwise I wouldn't have decided to
use them. I'm sure that others may substitute or improve in different ways.

In fact, to give credit where it's due, I got the idea from one of the earlier
threads on basing miniatures. Sorry, I can't remember who it was.

> At 17:57 25/06/98 -0600, you wrote:

Personally I prefer them to break early on, it only really seems to happen
with the big ships or those some unmentionable drops. Most of the GZG models
already have a hole cast in them for a stand. Using the plastic GW or Warzone
stands, glue peg to model, let glue dry, break peg! You have now blocked the
hole 'cause if you do it right it should snap at the base of the model. Take a
fine drill and drill into the model where the remains of the peg are and then
into the peg itself. If using a hand drill, no problem. If you're like me and
using an electric drill (dremel sort of thing) do it in small stages or you'll
melt the plastic and gum up the drill. Drill into the model until up hit
metal, drill about half way down the other section of the peg. Once you have
your holes use a length of brass rod to rejoin to two sections of the peg. You
should have no more problems. If mounting new models just cut the top section
of the base peg and do as above but drilling directly into the model.

> Speaking of plastic hex stands. I recently glued a bunch of

I had to do this for a number of my VTOLs, and I quickly got sick of it.

I know use the Metal bases, with the bottoms flocked, when I can. The only way
that I have come up with to fix the broken one is to file the top of the
broken base flat, drill a hole in it, glue a section of wire into the hole,
repeat the process with the piece of plastic still stuck in the ship, glue the
whole thing, and hope like hell that it will hold.

Generally, it does.

> At approximately 6/25/98 7:40 PM, Sean Bayan Schoonmaker wrote:

[lots-o-ideas on stands snipped]

I just wanted to say thanks Sean. I've been attaching brass rods to the

bottom of my ships and drilling out plastic stands for a why. Your brass tube
idea sounds quite useful (my ships end up swiveling too much).