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I love using them, but after a few year they have become very loose and will not hold the model up well. I want to make sure to have my skimmers on the bases for a tourney tomorrow.

Any suggestions on how to make it so that the ball in the socket have a stiffer connection? Just need a bit more friction in the female so that my tank will stay upright.

Waffles

I just wrap them in tape.

I have thought about that, but I need to make sure it still looks good for the paint portion of the tourney score.

I will try it, but i am hoping for a 'cleaner' looking solution

Paint the ball or the socket that will add some thickness to tighten it up again.

Those ball and socket bases were the worst idea GW came out with.

If you go to the hardware store, you can find some real good stuff to replace them with thier. some were in the nuts and bolts aisle. there was another one in the tools aisle. you can always remove them, drill a hole in the bottom and just slip the speeders over the top. then you just put the bases away seperate after the game.

I saw a magetix set that you could use as well. put the iron ball in the model, add on the magnetic stick to the stand, and there you go.

another way is to use earth magnets.


I hate those ball... bases.

To be fair to GW they copied the idea from old Airfix kits which often had a ball and socket base so you could position the aeroplane in a flying kind of attitude. It wasn't intended for constant repositioning though.

I would try paint or clear varnish on the ball to thicken it a bit.

Dip the "ball" end in some PVA (white glue) let it dry. This will thicken the ball up and give it some bite. Drys clear also.

Just glue it.

oni wrote:Just glue it.

The danger in this is that one wrong move and you'll wind up with a model with a ball stuck in the bottom and no way of ever sitting on that flying base again without some serious surgery.

While I have yet to do so with the new flying bases, I have so many models (mostly Land Speeders) that have a tiny bit of plastic perma-glued into the hole because I kept thinking "this one won't snap off, I swear..."

Grot 6 wrote:Those ball and socket bases were the worst idea GW came out with.

No way! I love those ball & socket bases! I'm just annoyed that they don't sell them any more as I've almost ran out of them. :(