I picked up a copy of Zaxxon by MB games "The family version of the classic
arcade game". Not really a classic, but fun to play with my kids.
The little space ship models in the box can be set to low mode or high, to get
over the walls on the board. It is a little plastic stem, which clicks into
the two positions.
This got me thinking about a simple mechanism to enable the same altitude
change on a Dirtside or Battletech VTOL. I considered a couple of very small
close fitting brass rods, but getting the perfect fit would be difficult.
Another option could be the classic radio telescopic aerial but they tend to
be relatively long and I only wanted an inch or two of movement.
Any thoughts?
Regards
> Any thoughts?
Only that some of the Mage Knight/HeroClix figs have height-adjustable
bases. I'd assume they'd be as easy to relieve of fig as the rest of Wizkids
products.
Don't know if there are any in the cheap-as-dirt group, though.
The_Beast
> Robin Fitton wrote:
Actually a decent hobby store will have various sizes of brass rods which will
fit quite nicely inside each other, in round and square
cross-sections.
I have used square cross-section rods for mounting some mini spaceships.
I take about a half inch of a rod and mount it in the bottom of the mini, and
I take a length of the next size up and mount it on a base. The small rod on
the mini fits perfectly in the larger rod on the base, and since they're
square the ship doesn't rotate on the (hex) base (obviously one must take care
to make sure everything is aligned so the ship doesn't end up pointing in some
"weird" direction).
I think I used 1/16 and 3/32 inch sizes, not sure off hand though.
ANYWAY, you could do something similar for your VTOLS; take a short length of
brass rod, put it in the mini's mounting hole. Take a length of the same size
rod, put it on a base. Then just use varying lengths of the next size up and
swap them in and out to change the height of the
VTOL.
[Warning: bad ASCII diagram follows.]
VTOL
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You could make, say, 1", 2", and 3" height adjustors for different height
modes.
Cheers,
That's a good idea, creating a set of different length brass sleeves.
Thank you.
[quoted original message omitted]
It's terribly fiddly.
Roger Books
> On 29-Apr-03 at 08:41, Robin Fitton (robin@robinf.com) wrote:
In a message dated 4/29/03 7:05:30 AM Central Daylight Time,
robin@robinf.com writes:
> Any thoughts?
Drill out the mounting hole to pass THROUGH the model big enough for a piece
of stiff wire. Mount the brass wire of whatever length will be appropriate to
a wooden base. Use an alligator clip below the model to adjust it to whatever
height on the pole you want to indicate.
You could try cordless phone antennaes. It would require a larger base (maybe
3" across) but I've seen a 6 section antenna that expands to 11". You'd
probably only need the bottom three sections, or maybe could cut one in half
and get two stands per antenna. Check Radio Shack online and look for
replacement rod antenna.
--Binhan
[quoted original message omitted]
Glue 1x2 lego plates to the bottom of VTOL and the top of base and add as many
as needed inbetween.
Chan Faunce
[quoted original message omitted]
Make the base a square lego. Insert a lego for high mode.
> On 29-Apr-03 at 14:49, Chan Faunce (cfaunce@woh.rr.com) wrote:
Generally, I just carry a small supply of clear cups, that works for most of
the VTOLs that I have and need to go to high mode. Of course the High Mode
counters work too.