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I am an owner of a Hell Talon from Forgeworld, and HO BOY is it a mess. The thing doesn't have any good place to put a base, I actually had to remove a detail and two bombs from the very back of the under belly to fit a half inch hole to put a large acrylic plastic rod into. Only issue is, this model is seriously heavy, and just bows the plastic base it comes with (which is only chariot model sized, not even a 170mm for a 14 inch wing span model).

What are some good alternatives to keep this thing from falling over, damaging its own base, and not just falling off its rod? I want to avoid just attaching it to the rod, but will do it if it comes to such. My current ideas are to do the following.

1. Get a 170mm base (knight size) and try that out.
2. If that fails, try plastering the underside to add rigidity.
3. If THAT fails, go the extra mile and just make a wooden base, something far heavier and which will not bow under weight nearly as easily.

Which is probably the base course of action? Should I just skip right to the plaster or wood?

I did #2 for my thunderbolt and it did the job, for your situation try adding #1 too. I would avoid gluing together as it will make a mess, and storage problems.

Resin scenic bases. Heavier, larger, and no hollow spot underneath to bend under the model's weight. Added bonus is that it looks better than the stock base.

 Peregrine wrote:
Resin scenic bases. Heavier, larger, and no hollow spot underneath to bend under the model's weight. Added bonus is that it looks better than the stock base.

Like...The one GW sells or another retailer?

I use dragonforge dot com for scenic bases.

 Big Mac wrote:
I use dragonforge dot com for scenic bases.

The largest base size they seem to offer is the same size as a flyer/chariot base, which is not near big enough. Thanks for the tip though!

I would go with the 170mm flying base and then the hard decision of making the new "cross" flying post work or I have seen two posts used fore and aft of the model.
I do find the flying bases can warp, I add very large bolt washers sanded roughly and glued to the bottom in key locations, it may not hurt to just fill it with some epoxy to be sure, then you can drill into it as needed and have a secure base.
I would build up the top surface as well at the flying post, modeling clay would work AND add a ton of weight at the base that you need.
Rule of thumb is not to have your flying posts longer than the length of the stand.
It would not be practical here since it is such a big model but highlights the fact not to go with that small base you mentioned.

I found even a plastic model like the StormRaven seemed to be too much for the base.
<edit> Center of gravity becomes important so it hits the middle of the stand and does not try to "heel or toe" it and bend.

 Talizvar wrote:
I would go with the 170mm flying base and then the hard decision of making the new "cross" flying post work or I have seen two posts used fore and aft of the model.
I do find the flying bases can warp, I add very large bolt washers sanded roughly and glued to the bottom in key locations, it may not hurt to just fill it with some epoxy to be sure, then you can drill into it as needed and have a secure base.
I would build up the top surface as well at the flying post, modeling clay would work AND add a ton of weight at the base that you need.
Rule of thumb is not to have your flying posts longer than the length of the stand.
It would not be practical here since it is such a big model but highlights the fact not to go with that small base you mentioned.

I found even a plastic model like the StormRaven seemed to be too much for the base.
<edit> Center of gravity becomes important so it hits the middle of the stand and does not try to "heel or toe" it and bend.

The issue with the heel and toe thing is that the Hell Talon is a REALLY badly balanced miniture. THe only place you can reliably put a hole into it (or put that stupid little nub for the cross post) is in the far back, leaving it INCREDIBLY badly balanced in the front, where the huge wings extend forward. So i'd almost want to put the rod slightly back in the base, as to distribute the center of gravity better.

Stupid question, but could you put the rod in at a forward rake, so the base can sit further up and help with the COG issues, or would that stress the rod too much?

Vejut wrote:
Stupid question, but could you put the rod in at a forward rake, so the base can sit further up and help with the COG issues, or would that stress the rod too much?

Kinda my thought.
Get the sucker at some 60 degree angle and get a bigger cross-section of the model that the wire runs through.
Advanced modeling makes me think that some cradle will need to be made to hold all the weight and keep the holes in the model to a minimum.
Braze wire to a tube to hold at main body and wings?

I unfortunately only discovered this problem after I drilled into the model, so trying to drill in more would only cause the issue of having a too wide of a hole. But yes, a 60 degree angle might provide better weight distribution. However, with the half inch thick rod that I have, I would be VERY hard pressed to even make it bend, so I might just be okay with a hard 90 degree.

 vaklor4 wrote:

 Big Mac wrote:
I use dragonforge dot com for scenic bases.

The largest base size they seem to offer is the same size as a flyer/chariot base, which is not near big enough. Thanks for the tip though!

What are you talking about? They clearly offer IK size base and round ones as well, and they offer clear rod flying kits, it comes with a bit that can be attached to your plane's undersize, then you fit the rod into it.

you first pick what style of base(square, round, round with bevel-warmachine style), then what type of terrain style on the basing(loads to choose from), then there is the size you can pick from, did you even try to look at the site?
http://dragonforge.com/Painting%20service/for%20sale/base_sets/sci-fi/badlands.htm

flying stand kit, you can even ask them to cut the rod to your liking's length for free.
http://dragonforge.com/Painting%20service/for%20sale/sculpting_supplies.htm

Ahh, my apologies! I clearly didnt look at the website well enough.

vaklor4,

I built a plastic frame on my old FW Valkyries to deal with this issue as they did not have a pre-built mounting spot (in fact they did not even come with flying bases). My old FW Vulture had a similar issue, but the underside was too small to I had to do a multiple brass pin mounting. Perhaps you might use a combination of the two to keep your Hell Talon upright.

Building a plastic socket to fit the flying stands for entirely resin models (and thus heavy models).



These were made from sprue glued together with plastic cement. While they look a little rough, they would be on the underside of the aircraft.

Here they are fitted in place underneath the two Valkyries before painting. Those little white areas are where I added thin plastic card to make perfect fits with the plastic flying stand tops. They were secured to the aircraft with 5 minute epoxy for added strength and a braced against the bottom of the side door slides.






Now the Vulture did not work with the plastic bracing I built, which was really annoying as I had to adjust the plastic brace first to fit the narrower fuselage. After all that extra work the balance was not right because the older ForgeWorld Vulture was entirely resin. No plastic parts or pre-built mount. Here I had to resort to pins to get it to work.



But the result is a Vulture that can use the GF Plastic Flying Base.



The long painting and converting war continues,

CB