Starship Basing Alternatives

Hello all,

I recently had a horrible tragedy. My Fleet was destroyed when a horrible
fuzzy space cat knocked it from its orbit on a shelf. All vessels were lost
and all hands with them.

I am currently rebuilding my fleet (thanking god they weren't painted yet) and
would like to know if anyone has any good alternative ideas for basing them
rather than spindly, stick-like flight bases

Eli

> on 3/13/01 13:42, Eli Arndt at emu2020@wattosjunkyard.com wrote:

> I recently had a horrible tragedy. My Fleet was destroyed when a

Sounds like a tragedy worthy of the annuals of historical events.  ;-)

> I am currently rebuilding my fleet (thanking god they weren't painted

I continue to use flight bases, the ones that Geohex supplies with the larger
ships from the Full Thrust line. However, I replace the post with square brass
tubing just the right size to fit in the hole in the base. The ships meanwhile
have the next size smaller in square brass tubing inserted in the mounting
hole. I also put a collar of sorts on the ship's mounting post to protect the
paint job on the bottom. This style of mounting allows one to put the ship on
the base during play and to detach it from the base during transport and or
storage.

I hope this helps.

> I am currently rebuilding my fleet (thanking god they weren't painted

I'll recap my basing strategy:

The key ingredient is telescoping brass square "tubing," available at most
decent hobby stores.

Mount an Outer sized "tube" in the bottom base.

Mount an Inner sized "tube" on the miniature (this doesn't have to be that
long) and a small Outer sized cuff (so that when mounted on the base, you
don't ruin that excellent paint job).

You have removable figure / base combinations that are quite
resistant to breakage, and you can use your bottom base for any ship if you so
desire.

...and of course it gives the opportunity to say "All your base are belong to
us!!"

> on 3/13/01 15:19, Sean Bayan Schoonmaker at s_schoon@pacbell.net wrote:

> ...and of course it gives the opportunity to say "All your base are

Obviously someone else viewed yesterday's installment of Fox Trot.  ;-)

> I am currently rebuilding my fleet (thanking god they weren't

I use barrel clasps, they are used in jewelry to connect bracelets or
necklaces and are composed of two pieces that screw together and can be found
at most craft stores. I mount one side on the bottom of the mini and the other
on a cut down post of a flight base (epoxyed for strength). The ships screw on
the base for gaming then screw off for storage and travel.

Compared to the tubing bases of Schoon and Kevin Walker, I can pick up the
mini and the base will not fall off, but on the down side, you need a unique
base for each mini since the threads may be oriented differently so by
switching bases, the minis probably won't always towards the 12 o'clock
position of the base.

> At 03:44 PM 3/13/01 -0600, you wrote:

Or went to http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~pyang/base/allyourbase.swf

> At 03:44 PM 3/13/01, you wrote:

Or has read virtually any other web comic in the past three weeks. Sheesh. If
Sega was charging royalties on usage of the phrase, they wouldn't be
'restructuring' at the moment.

"... they found only an old man, who claimed repeatedly that everything was
false, though he was later found to be lying."

I have the feeling that I'm the only person that doesn't understand this.

What the heck does "All your base are belong to us" mean?

It's not even proper English.

--Greg

> Obviously someone else viewed yesterday's installment of Fox Trot. ;-)

Oh no! This is the site!

http://www.stileproject.com/base.html

> Obviously someone else viewed yesterday's installment of Fox Trot. ;-)

http://www.stileproject.com/base.html

Try this...

> on 3/13/01 19:09, Jim 'Jiji' Foster at jfoster@kansas.net wrote:

> Or has read virtually any other web comic in the past three weeks.
Sheesh.
> If Sega was charging royalties on usage of the phrase, they wouldn't

Boy, have I been out of the web loop for a while. I guess I just don't
frequent the proper sites anymore.

To get this discussion back on topic..

I use a washer, 1 1/2" with a 1/2" hole. I then glue a nail on the
bottom, such that the nail head completely covers the hole plus a little
extra. I
use 2" nails but 1 1/2" would also work fine. To glue the metal together
I use 5 min. expoxy, but any really strong glue will work. The obivious
advantages are price, and strength. Disadvantages are that the nail may be too
wide for the hole in the miniature. And nails are a bitch to cut down.

You can then paint the arcs on the base.

This method work quite well with scratch-built ships, as the nail and
washer provide some weight and thus stability.

Don't I know this one! I've had many fine games get interupted by a "horrible
fuzzy space cat" sitting down on the board.

Sounds like your "fleet base" needs better defenses...:-)

Donald Hosford

> Eli Arndt wrote:

> Hello all,

> > would like to know if anyone has any good alternative ideas for

There are some photos in More thrust (I think) of bigger bases used for
capital ships. There are still spindly, but they seem to be metal, and are
probably quite heavy. I haven't a clue though where to get those.

There was also a discussion recently about building flight bases yourself.
Don't know if it was here or on r.g.m.m. One idea was to use 2 different
diameters of square tubing so you can remove the ships from the base for
storage. The thing that has been bugging me about this idea though is how to
make square holes in a metal base. I don't have a
square drill:-)

> On 27-Mar-01 at 02:45, Frits Kuijlman (frits@pds.twi.tudelft.nl) wrote:

That's what I do, although that square drill thing is difficult.:)

Epoxy doesn't care, the big problem I have is getting the post square to the
ship. All my ships cant in different directions.

It makes storage easy, I buy tackle boxes and put a little foam in them, cut a
hole in the foam for the rod and away you go. If I wanted to shelf them I
would drill holes in a strip of wood. Insert the square tubing if you want to
be obsessive.

OK, the nice metal bases you can get at the same place you order all the
official FT miniatures......GeoHex!!! Just go to the Full Thrust section and
there is a menu choice for 'bases, wings, & things' You can order 4 metal
bases for US$7.50. I actually like the metal bases the best as they already
have facing markers on them. I order extra metal bases even for my smaller
ships and any non GZG ships. That way my fleet is consistant and facings are
easier to deal with.

If you want a cheaper way out, try this......go to your local home improvement
store and buy some nice heavy washers and some fairly heavy roofing nails. You
can then snip the tip off the nails and glue the head of the nail to the heavy
washer.........taaadaaa instant base. This works well because it's cheap, and
you can vary the weight of the stand by how heavy washers and nails you
choose.

> --- Frits Kuijlman <frits@pds.twi.tudelft.nl> wrote:

I've spotted a pair of these dread "horrible fuzzy space cats" also. My
research labs have come up with a new weapon that they say is very effective
on "fuzzy space cats", a "water cannon".

Enjoy, Tom Granvold <thomas.granvold@eng.sun.com>

Donald Hosford worte:
> Don't I know this one! I've had many fine games get interupted by a
and
> > would like to know if anyone has any good alternative ideas for

I envy you,

In my sector of space the Space Cats seem to have developed a resistence to
water cannons, newspaper torpedoes. Sonic weapons such as "Hiss"
emitters don't deter them and even chemical "Pet-stay-off" gasses are
losing their effectiveness.

I beleive the primary difficulty in my sector is that the "Space Cats" seem to
have adapted themselves and now are attempting to live as we people do.

Wish us luck,

Eli

> Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2001 09:08:49 -0800 (PST)

[quoted original message omitted]

> Frits Kuijlman wrote:

> There are some photos in More thrust (I think) of bigger bases used

You're thinking of the big transport ship under attack by fighters on MT p.11,
no? That's the same type of base which GW used for the "Space Fleet" capital
ships. All plastic, but AFAIK they're long since out of production.

> Shawn M Mininger wrote:

> OK, the nice metal bases you can get at the same place you order all

I suspect that Eli (who originally asked for metal bases) lives in
Germany, however. If that's correct, then ordering trans-atlantic from
GeoHex is rather expensive.

GZG make metal posts for their standard plastic hex bases, though. Much
nearer, and cheaper :-/

Regards,

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> On Tue, 27 Mar 2001, Tom Granvold wrote:

> I've spotted a pair of these dread "horrible fuzzy space cats"
also.
> My research labs have come up with a new weapon that they say is

I thoroughly agree! My supersoaker is the only thing that seems to make any
impression on my local fuzzy megolomaniac space aliens.

Cheers,

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> On Tue, 27 Mar 2001, Eli Arndt wrote:

> In my sector of space the Space Cats seem to have developed a

This is not good news. Any chance you can keep this terrible new threat
contained?

> I beleive the primary difficulty in my sector is that the "Space Cats"

This cannot be true. Are you suggesting the space cats are abandoning their
overlord position to join the thbrongs of their servant races?

Cheers,

> Roger Books wrote:
Aha! I tried to think up something smart for square holes. Sigh:-)

> Oerjan Ohlson wrote:
Oop and plastic? Ah well. It semed to look massive though, must be the
paintjob.
> Shawn M Mininger wrote:
I live in Holland, and ordering metal from the US is expensive in shipping.
Especially for something like bases which aren't that complicated to make.
> GZG make metal posts for their standard plastic hex bases, though.
Much
> nearer, and cheaper :-/

> Frits Kuijlman wrote:

> You're thinking of the big transport ship under attack by fighters on

It is massive. But massive black plastic, not massive metal :-/

[snip]

> GZG make metal posts for their standard plastic hex bases, though.

I haven't found the small footprint to be a problem - quite the
contrary, in fact, since the models are most likely to tip over if you have to
put their bases on top of other ships' bases. Small base footprints reduce
that particular problem.

The main reason to use metal rather than plastic posts is that metal posts
don't break (or at least don't break nearly as easily) when some
clumsy oaf (or cat) drops the model onto the floor :-/

The models I really want metal bases for are the *small* ships -
especially plastic ones, 'cause they are so light that they'll blow away if
someone waves with the rules or simply walks past the table too
fast...

Later,

> Oerjan wrote that Fritz wrote:

If anyone does need some of these GW Space Fleet bases, let me know as I seem
to have accumulated a bunch I don't need.

8< snip >8

> The models I really want metal bases for are the *small* ships -

I mount a couple 7/8" fender washers in the bottom cavity of the plastic
hex base for weight and to lower their center of gravity. Afterwards they have
a decent heft and it really does reduce their propensity to tip over.