Sweet basing method

[Jal]

as has been pointed out the threads wear out quickly... the minis and stands are made of a soft alloy so i would not reccomend it as a good basing method for that reason.

wish i had noticed this topic earlier.

 

[Burger]

Bad luck Skorro, it was a nice idea. Keep it up, one day you'll hit on a winner and become an overnight millionaire :lol:

 

[Locutus9956]

you could try glueing a small nut over the hole and gluing a bolt to the end of the post perhaps? that way the actual threaded join would be made of steel or iron or whatever and be alot tougher

 

[Lord David the Denied]

You could also look at getting stands machined out of steel. Glue a nut to the bottom of the model and screw it together on the day. It ought to work either way.

 

[CheesyRobMan]

A much easier way is to file the top of the stand flat, and glue a small rare-earth magnet to it, then glue another one to the model (with the right polarity, obviously). It'll hold it nicely in place, rotates freely so there's no alignment issue, and can be pulled off at will for storage.

 

[katadder]

i tried doing the magnet thing with a tigara, didnt work. the magnets are powerful but not that powerful.

 

[CheesyRobMan]

Which magnets did you use? I've been using 5mm-diameter disc magnets for my Centauri, even the heavy ones, and they work just fine. May have to get some slightly larger ones for an Adira if I ever get one though.

 

[katadder]

yep thats sounds exactly like I used. perhaps wasnt getting balance right or something but it tended to go quite easily. and the wieght pulled it off the stem.
the rare earth magnets are ok for customisability of a plastic dreadnought or something but for me they didnt seem to work for keeping bases on ACTA models.

 

[Chernobyl]

I'm basically resigned to the fact that the bases need to be glued on (at least, for me). It makes them a little bulker to pack, but its OK.

Chern

 

[tschuma]

Actually it's not the use of hand tools thats the problem, it's the fact that the models and post are of a soft metal and of the same composition. The metal will gall when using soft metal and ruin the threads after a couple of uses. We see this in the manufacturing industry with aluminum.

Tom

 

[lastbesthope]

You could always stick a nut to the mini and a screw/bolt to the base stem and use those to screw the model in place

LBH

 

[Star Ranger]

You could always stick a nut to the mini and a screw/bolt to the base stem and use those to screw the model in place

Or just go back to using barrel clasps like the ones I use :wink:
http://www.star-ranger.com/BasingMinis.htm

 

[Gargoyle117]

Having worked in tool and die for some years, my first thought when I saw Star-Ranger's method was to just drill and tap the model itself. As soon as I got some models in my hands though, I realized that the metal was far too soft for this to work.

I've been lazy lately, but I'm working on a nice new concept for how to base units. It still uses Star Ranger's barrel clasps (I got 80 for only a few dollars). The base itself though will be metal and have a method of securing to the table. The idea will be to make ploting movement much faster and eliminate knocking units over.

I plan to post some pics when I get it all completed.

Btw, thanks for the barrel clasp idea Star-Ranger.