Switch Theme:

An Engineer's Grav Tank Base  [RSS] Share on facebook Share on Twitter Submit to Reddit
»
Author Message
Advert


Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:
  • No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
  • Times and dates in your local timezone.
  • Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
  • Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
  • Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.
If you are already a member then feel free to login now.




Made in gb
Furious Fire Dragon





Midlands, UK

So, like many people I'm not happy with the standard flying stand for grav tanks. That little plastic peg is too fragile, not to mention that the tanks can flop around on top if it really easily. I know a lot of folks advise cutting the peg off and widening the hole a little bit, then slotting it down onto the stem, but I wanted to do something a bit more robust. I considered brass rod for a little while, but then I picked some up in a hardware store that was a bit more flexible than I wanted it to be, and in any case I figured I would need to get a matching brass tube inside the tank for it to slide into or something like that, and the tank would probably spin freely which I didn't want. So that was out.

Then I spotted the machine screws and an idea formed.

Ingredients:
One 60mm standard base (pretty close in diameter to the clear flying base)
One M3 Machine Screw
Assorted appropriate nuts and washers depending on how over the top and secure you want it to be



Procedure: Drill a hole in the dead centre of the base. The peg holder cylinder thing on the underside is useful for getting this right in the middle. Then slice the peg holder off, it would get in the way of the screw head. Enlarge the hole so that your screw will go through. It doesn't need to be tight, you won't be relying on that to hold it, so long as it's not bigger than the screw head. Push the screw through from the bottom. I considered using a washer on this side, but it would have made the screw head protrude too much and the base not sit flat, so I did without. Put a nut on from the top side (washer optional) to fix it in place. Get that fixed down nice and tight. I elected to liberally coat everything with superglue so that once I tightened it down it wasn't going anywhere.

My next step was to decide exactly how high off the ground I wanted the tank to sit. I superglued around the screw just below that point and screwed another nut down until it sat on the band of superglue, then superglued a washer on top of it. This makes a platform for the tank to sit on. My idea is that I will put a nut inside the tank body so that if I screw the base onto the tank I can get a tight connection between tank and platform and really stop it from spinning on its base. Really having the platform or having a nut inside the tank would do on their own, but I went with both. No kill like overkill, right?



Widen out the hole in the tank to allow the screw to pass through. Again it doesn't need to be tight. I superglued a washer on the inside of the tank body, and then superglued a nut on top of that. I then cut a couple of bits of sprue to size and glued them in to try to make sure that the nut doesn't move. I'm aware that the superglue joints may give up one day if they're abused, and since I'll probably glue the tank completely shut I don't want to end up with a rogue nut bouncing around inside and a stand system that no longer works properly. I'll probably pack out the whole area with milliput before I close the chassis up just to make absolutely sure that the internal nut is going nowhere.

Now screw that base into the tank. You're done!








The only question remaining is whether you try to decorate it and hide the screw. I might use milliput to create a pile of rocks that cover up the bottom nut. I may consider using it to cover the screw up to the platform as well, or just leave the bottom half of the screw alone and paint it black. I'm not that bothered that it's a bit more intrusive than the regular clear plastic peg because with how low to the ground the grav tanks sit you're not really going to notice it most of the time anyway. I can put up with that given the advantages - it's secure, level and in contrast to the standard bases that break if you look at them funny, the tank would break before this thing did. Mission accomplished!

   
Made in us
Automated Rubric Marine of Tzeentch





ft. Bragg

Seems very unnecessary for such a light tank. Now maybe a FW resin one.....

Let a billion souls burn in death than for one soul to bend knee to a false Emperor.....
"I am the punishment of God, had you not committed great sin, God would not have sent a punishment like me upon you" 
   
Made in gb
Furious Fire Dragon





Midlands, UK

Oh yeah, it's totally overkill. However I wanted to upgrade the base because I find the standard ones to be awful, and this one was quick and easy to build. I'll take over-engineered solidity ahead of the standard base any day!

   
Made in gb
Xeno-Hating Inquisitorial Excruciator




London

Misleading thread title

When I read "An Engineer's Grav Tank Base" I was expecting some really cool magnetic levitation gak ... not "nuts & bolts"


Still .. looks rock solid
   
Made in de
Longtime Dakkanaut





Germany

 War Drone wrote:
Misleading thread title

When I read "An Engineer's Grav Tank Base" I was expecting some really cool magnetic levitation gak ... not "nuts & bolts"


Still .. looks rock solid


I expected duct tape and a broken slide ruler as components

Waaagh an' a 'alf
1500 Pts WIP 
   
 
Forum Index » Painting & Modeling Tutorials
Go to: