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I'm going to be ordering a 200x155mm oval base and an acrylic rod for my Tiger Shark. Very excited to get this going, but which rod should I get from Dragonforge.com? 1/2 inch or 3/4 inch diameter?

Acrylic Rods from Dragonforge

I mount my all my normal flyers on 1/2" rod (including the very solid barracudas) and it is plenty sturdy.

I have also mounted a thunderhawk on a 1" rod (yes, a single rod) and it is exceptionally sturdy.

Honestly, the 1/2" would be strong enough - the key element is the sturdiness of the base, and how the rod attaches to the base and the model.

(for my barracuda's for example, I mounted a piece of pvc pipe of 1/2" internal diameter into the hull, and on the base, of about 1" long - that gives it a good mount.

If you are not sure, go for the 3/4" However, the base is more important for stability.

(the thunderhawk base is 8lbs for example, and 10" in diameter).

Hmm ok, I think I'll go with the 1/2" rod. It comes with a square sort of attachment that goes on the underside of the flyer but I really don't want to use it because it wouldn't look good.

I've never drilled any large holes into anything either, so I'm a bit stumped when it comes to the best way I should attach the flyer to the rod.

For the base, would THIS be ok? Definitely much smaller than your 10" diameter though!

Dragonforge drills the base for you before hand. Maybe I can use the square attachment on the bottom of the base, and build some scenery/basing around it to hide it.

200 mm might be fine.

Or use a an old CD, and build it up with terrain and other things for weight.

Oh, and I understand about drilling.....mounting the thunderhawk was a big commission for me - do you have any idea how terrifying it was taking power tools to that thing? (literally, I had to open up the bottom, and put in a 4" long piece of pipe for the rod to mount into).

For the tigershark, I would get a piece of pvc (look in the sprinkler section if you can't find it in the pvc pipe section). that has an internal diamater of 1/2" inch.

This size pipe usually has an outside diameter of 5/8" inch.

Get a paddle bit of 5/8" diameter, and practice drilling into pieces of wood, until you are comfortable with it, and practice fitting the pipe into it. Then put that on the base, and see how strudy it feels....if you like it THEN drill the hole in the model, and mount the pipe for the rod to fit into.

Oh, here is a pic of the thunderhawk with the bottom cut out, and the its larger mounting pipe installed.

Thanks for the advice and also the pic, definitely helps me visualize how to go about doing this. It is a scary thought taking a power tool to such an expensive model... but as you said, practice will help ease the fear!

Do you think it's necessary to use the pvc pipe bit even though the Tiger Shark isn't hollow? The resil should hold right?

Noctem wrote:
Thanks for the advice and also the pic, definitely helps me visualize how to go about doing this. It is a scary thought taking a power tool to such an expensive model... but as you said, practice will help ease the fear!

Do you think it's necessary to use the pvc pipe bit even though the Tiger Shark isn't hollow? The resil should hold right?

It will depend on if there are any structural openings or holes etc. in the place where the center of gravity is.

For example, in my barracuda's the best place to put the hole, was not a solid area of the model - so I had to use the fitting pipe.

So, if you have a good solid piece of resin to drill into, I would say go for it. The good news is that later, if you feel its not tight enough, or want to make it bigger - you would just drill it out with a larger bit.
(always easier to make a bigger hole....).

I know one of the tigershark's has a seeker bay in the bottom, but not sure if this would obstruct what you need to do.

best of luck!

So the Tiger Shark just came! The Railgun parts fairly warped but I should be able to fix that.

It actually came with a GW standard flyer base and a little resin square with a plus cut out into it for the flyer base to slot into and get glued on the underside of the model. I think it may be too weak though... and also it's not very tall for a Tiger Shark!


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Also, I hope Forgeworld isn't charging for the gigantic resin blocks attached to each piece =P


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Is this normal? =(

Bent Part
Tragically, as a person who handles about $2000 worth of forgeworld a year....sadly, its not "normal" but its not rare either.

See if you can heat it in hot water and bend it back (immediately putting it in cold water to "set" it). If you can, then good.

If not, then send them a pic and the batch number on the bag, and they should get you a replacement.

Stand
yeah, that stand is comically short for that thing, and the resin piece is way to small, unless you were to use a ton of epoxy putty (the same parts come with the barracuda).

I would go with your first notion of using an acrylic rod, between 8" and 14" tall.

best of luck!

Awesome! Thank you so much. Really appreciate it! I'm going to go but a jeweler a saw or something right now because I can't get off some of the huge excess pieces of resin off the main body with my hobby knife/clippers.

I'll order a 12" rod I think.

Saw is always the best option for removing large resin chunks.

Clippers are more likely to crack it and shear it across the area you want to save.

How to mount it on the rod: drill a hole in the end of the acrylic rod for a brass pin (I use 2mm diameter ones), and glue it so there's about a half inch of pin sticking out of the end and about another quarter to half inch inside the rod. Then drill a matching hole for the pin at the center of gravity on the bottom of the model. If you balance it right the model just sits on top of the rod, and the pin is only there to keep it from sliding off. And this approach looks much nicer than the ugly socket bits you get with the rods.

Ok! Where do you suggest I go to find/buy a brass pin of that size at? Michaels maybe?

I used the small saw I got to saw off the large resin pieces, was more work than I thought heh and some funny angles since it was straight across the back of the fuselage.