Assembling the flight stands

[Jiraiya1969]

Putting togerher the flight stands has proven to be more dif.ficult than I thought. I have had more than a few dry leaning to one side.

Anybody have any ideas or techniques on how to accomplish perfectly perpendicular flight stands?

Thanks,

J69

 

[Ben2]

The flight stands annoy me as well.

Superglue or epoxy the ball and stick, and the same with the female receptor and the underside of the ship and I would advise against popping them in or out again (as I've tried to do to my cost). Get it on, give it a wiggle to get it perpendicular and then leave it.

 

[Tuladin]

I put the ball into the socket unglued (it fits tight enough that it doesn't fall out) and then stick the post into the ball - also without glue - when playing. You can then tilt the ship at whatever angle you want. Works so far.

 

[Dagretto]

I use regular plastic solvent glue for my stands....

I recently decided to start magnetizing all my ships. The dry run with the Romulan Skyhawk was a complete success!

Here is how I do it:

1. Attach the ball piece to the stick piece as normal. Use plastic solvent glue. I used PLastruct PLastic Weld.

2. File down the top of the "ball" flat. Drill in a guide hole roughly centered in the piece.

3. Drill a hole roughly the size of the magnet (IIRC the ones I'm using are less than 1/4" sized; about the same size as the hole in the bottom of the ships)

4. Glue a magnet into this hole.

5. Drill & glue a magnet into the bottom of the ship. I used superglue for this part.

6. ???

7. PROFIT!!!

This makes the ships much better wearing IMHO and makes transport much simpler.

I also paint the bases of my stands black, and intend to put a cute little starfield, as well as the ship's name on them...

Damon.

 

[billclo]

The flight stands annoy me as well.

Superglue or epoxy the ball and stick, and the same with the female receptor and the underside of the ship and I would advise against popping them in or out again (as I've tried to do to my cost). Get it on, give it a wiggle to get it perpendicular and then leave it.

I mainly do this, though it's not so hazardous to remove the ship if you hold the ship by the female receptor glued to the bottom of the ship. You can and might want to very carefully tweak how hard the socket is to remove by using some very fine grit sandpaper/a fine file to move a very little bit of material from the ball.

 

[archon96]

I said to hell with these stands and pieced my own together using a arc tool based from silver compass and core sec eng screw togther stands.

 

[GamerDude]

I use regular plastic solvent glue for my stands...

3. Drill a hole roughly the size of the magnet (IIRC the ones I'm using are less than 1/4" sized; about the same size as the hole in the bottom of the ships)

Where do you get your magnets and which ones do you buy?

 

[Dagretto]

I use regular plastic solvent glue for my stands...

3. Drill a hole roughly the size of the magnet (IIRC the ones I'm using are less than 1/4" sized; about the same size as the hole in the bottom of the ships)

Where do you get your magnets and which ones do you buy?

I bought mine from TheWarStore.com (great source of stuff if you're in the US; this is where I bought both the ACTA: NA book & minis as well as the ACTA: SFB book and minis). Specifically I bought: http://www.thewarstore.com/product72358.html

Damon.

 

[AdrianH]

I don't glue anything on the stands. The ball needs some careful filing if you want the ship to be posable. Without filing it moves with great difficulty if at all and could break either the socket or the stem; too much filing and it moves too easily, leaving the ship at a permanent TOS-style "dead in space" angle. But if you get it right, the ship can be angled easily and will then stay there. (If you overdo it, use the ball and socket for a small ship like a frigate, then try again to make the ball and socket for a cruiser. The lighter ship will be less likely to tip over due to an over-filed ball.)

If the stem is not glued into the ball then it can be removed, making the model and stand a lot easier to transport. I don't even bother gluing the stem to the base, so that the whole stand can be dismantled and lie flat in the transport case.

 

[scuy]

I don't glue anything on the stands. The ball needs some careful filing if you want the ship to be posable. Without filing it moves with great difficulty if at all and could break either the socket or the stem; too much filing and it moves too easily, leaving the ship at a permanent TOS-style "dead in space" angle. But if you get it right, the ship can be angled easily and will then stay there. (If you overdo it, use the ball and socket for a small ship like a frigate, then try again to make the ball and socket for a cruiser. The lighter ship will be less likely to tip over due to an over-filed ball.)

If the stem is not glued into the ball then it can be removed, making the model and stand a lot easier to transport. I don't even bother gluing the stem to the base, so that the whole stand can be dismantled and lie flat in the transport case.

I did exactly what you did, but glued the stem to the base, because it doesn't stay put and isn't a clean fit for me, to loose at times.

 

[lastbesthope]

I glue the hat to the ship

The ball to the stem

And that's it.

Allows for easy disassembly for transport

LBH

 

[scoutdad]

I glue the hat to the ship

The ball to the stem

And that's it.

Allows for easy disassembly for transport

LBH

Ditto here. No problems to date and have probably 200+ games under my belt (counting all those played by others using my minis)

 

[Darzoni]

My procedure is to glue the stem to the stand first, glue the cup to the ship. Then I put the ball joint in the cup, insert the stem into the ball, and adjust the ship for leaning. When I get it right, I remove the ship with the cup and ball attached and glue the damn ball in the cup.

Otherwise I get some serious drooping on the larger ships (I'm looking at YOU, Federation Dreadnought!). And I can still remove the stem for storage and transport.

 

[scuy]

My procedure is to glue the stem to the stand first, glue the cup to the ship. Then I put the ball joint in the cup, insert the stem into the ball, and adjust the ship for leaning. When I get it right, I remove the ship with the cup and ball attached and glue the damn ball in the cup.

Otherwise I get some serious drooping on the larger ships (I'm looking at YOU, Federation Dreadnought!). And I can still remove the stem for storage and transport.

This is a great idea for the heavy boys, good thing I didn't glue all my stand up will have to save some for this.