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.

I'm going to have a lot of jetbikes/skimmers/flyers in my Apocalypse army, but I hate the normal flying bases.  I've used dowels before, but I'm not too keen on them.  Does anyone have any clever solutions to the flying bases GW provides?

Thanks,

jm

What don't you like about them?

What're your criteria for success? Do they have to be clear?

I find that they break too easily, mostly.  They don't have to be clear.
I've had success doweling jetbikes, but for things like Falcons, Wave Serpents, and Fire Prisms, the dowels don't seem to work too well.

I use a flat sentinal bases with two of the little clear stands drilled in. Two of them supports things pretty well, though I admit the little pegs break off at times.

now mommy dearest doesn't approve of wire hangers, but i've seen them bent in uninque ways & diguised as trees & other foliage for flying bases.

I'd suggest you get an assortment of brass rod and brass tube (or aluminum).

Fit it together howerver works. I like to put a tube into the flying base, drilling it out to fit, then put a rod into the model. Paint it all to match the bases of the rest of the army.

For the bigger models, the real issue is often with the model side of the equation. The answer is pretty simple, but you have to do it during assembly. Put a big solid block of plastic inside the hull, glue it down over the base hole, then drill it out, but not all the way through. The idea here is to put a lot of solid surface to hold the rod, and not to have it drilled all the way through you so you don't need a special stepped rod (like the flying base) to make it work.

Here is a great tutorial on making bases which would work. I've used it on a land speeder and it worked well.

http://www.star-ranger.com/BasingMinis.htm

Jake

What I've done with my GW flying bases is give them more support.

I have a mech eldar army that im working on at the moment and have made 3 bases this way. Still 3 or 4 to do.

I drill holes into the base to fit another 3 of the arms giving me an updide down pyramid shap to support the model.

This way all your using the original arm in the centre for is positioning.

\l/ This is how it roughly looks from the front.

To those posting their own methods: pictures would help!

Snip off the "teet" from the stem in the base, glue a mini earth magnet there. Then slightly enlarge the hole on the bottom of the jetbike, glue in another earth magnet there. You'll never have another broken base.

They certainly would, If I had them.

Ack! These solutions are all really complicated. For my Eldar grav tanks I use a method stolen from some Tom Schaedle models I've seen:

(1) snip off the "teet" at the top of the plastic flying base.
(2) slightly enlarge the hole in the bottom of your falcon/wave serpent/vyper/speeder with a hobby knife.

...and you're done.

You just push the base into the new, larger hole until it stops and give a little twist, and friction holds it in place without slippage or breakage. When you're done, another twist removes the base for transport.

I'll try to get some pictures up.

It doesn't work for eldar bikes because you can't make a hole deep enough to accommodate the stick part of the base. But for hollow models like tanks & speeders, it's the best I've found.

I can post or email pics of what I'm talking about in mine about the magnets...I've done it to my tyranid gargoyles and to my buddies jetbikes and grav tank. Lemme know if you need em