Basing : Helicopters/aircraft

[Vdmfighter]

Gents,
I wonder :
how do you base your Helicopters/Aircraft (Modern, and WWII) ?
Are they removable ?
Or not : GHQ aircraft stands being a very good product here.
The main problem I see are the heavier modern helos...(or WWII bombers)

Which material have been used ? Magnets ? etc.
Also, when they are permanently stuck on a base, how do you store them ?
Here, for sure, the overall height of the whole base has to be taken in account...
Let us know.

Cheers,
Vdmfighter
P.S.: I had once very heavy damages on my Modern helicos, all rotors broken : about 25...

[Luca]

I use the stands provided by GHQ. I don't glue them to the aircraft, so I can store them separately. I just stick the plane and the stand with sticky rubber in a box.

[voltigeur]

THe idea I'll be trying is to get steel foil tape and place it on the under belly fo the aircraft. Then take flex magnets and attach them to the stand.

I'm lookint at the Litko line of Aircraft stands and peg toppers. They have 2 types. Standard round (very smal) and a "Wings of War" topper that is for 1/144 scale planes. The plan is to use these toppers for the larger aircraft.

[Mk 1]

how do you base your Helicopters/Aircraft (Modern, and WWII) ?
Are they removable ? ...
Which material have been used ? Magnets ? etc.

I have created my own stands using small disposable sanding disks that I found at the auto-parts store.

I drill a hole and place a stiff wire rod into the disks. The disks are then painted and flocked. I paint the rods a dull gray (for lowest visibility).

I have made stands with different lengths of rod, to give me some flexibility in showing altitude for my planes.

I drill a small hole on the bottom of each of my aircraft at the center of balance. The planes are then simply placed onto the end of the rod. It is a very stable gaming solution, that looks pretty nice on the table.


A substantial portion of my airpower is comprised of scratch-builds I made back in the late 1970s / early 1980s, such as this Mirage III and the Gazelle 'copters. The plastic putty is not sturdy enough for drilling. In this case I have small copper tubing, from which I cut a very small length, and glue it to the underside of the aircraft to receive the end of the rod. If you look closely you can see the copper tube sticking out underneath the Gazelles.

The main problem I see are the heavier modern helos...(or WWII bombers)

This UK manufacturer's C-47 is a very heavy solid lead casting. As you can see, my stands hold reasonably large aircraft. Still it is unstable on my taller stands, and so it only flies at low altitude!


However, there ARE limits, as this Antonov transport demonstrates! It is simply too big and heavy. It won't stand up, no matter how carefully I balance it.

So I have now bought some larger sanding disks. But I have not yet assembled them into aircraft bases, as I'm not very active in modern gaming at this time, and I don't have any WW2 aircraft that are so large. I'm hoping that the larger disks will be enough, and that the stability will not be limited by the strength of the rods.

Maybe when I finish up my ANT-3 bomber I'll do my larger bases to hold it. Then we shall see what we see.

[Vdmfighter]

Hi all,
thanks for the replies.
Voltigeur :
the idea of steel foil /flex magnets system sounds good for the old stuff (late 80's), when you are not sure if making holes would not turn to desaster or at least would damage painting.
Luca,
I'll have a look to Litko stands for permanent stands at least.
Mark
very nice basing and good suggestions. I just have to find the right stuff (copper tubing for example).
BTW, you should have made your helos and jets in balsa and wood, much easier than plastic putty (nice work).
And the day you have painted your ANT-3 bomber, don't forget the Mi-26

Cheers,
Vdmfighter

[Mk 1]

Mark
very nice basing and good suggestions. I just have to find the right stuff (copper tubing for example).

I found the copper tube, and as importantly the little tool for cutting the tube, at a hobby shop that specializes in radio-controlled model cars and airplanes. Evidently the tubing is important to that class of modelling. Also note it is impossible to cut the tube without crushing it if you don't have the right tool.

But remember, for basing pewter models the tubing is not needed. Just a fine bit for your drill. I recommend a pen-type hand drill. No power needed. Just twist twist, and you're done.

BTW, you should have made your helos and jets in balsa and wood, much easier than plastic putty (nice work).

I used to make my scratch-built planes by first making a scale drawing of the fuselage and the wings, and tracing that drawing onto thin balsa (or sometimes card stock). I would then cut it to shape, and add the putty to put depth and shape to the fuselage. Then assemble wings to body, and paint it up.

I found that card stock worked better -- a little flex in the wings (and rotors) actually gave a longer life to the models.


Not great stuff, but in those days one did not find professionally sculpted aircraft models available in 6mm scale. If I wanted Lavotchkin fighters, I had to make them myself!


So also for P-39s.

I also made an I-16 and a couple of IL-2s, and a pair of MiG-21s for my moderns. I recall making a couple Me-109s, a Stuka or two, and even an He-111 for my high-school gaming opponant. He paid me for them, but the real reason I made them was that he was not going to let me bring my aircraft into our games if he didn't have any!

And the day you have painted your ANT-3 bomber, don't forget the Mi-26

Well, I already have two Mi-6s. They are about as big as that An-12. But the models are really basic, and they could surely use a lot of customization work! I suppose they could pass for Mi-26s as easily as Mi-6s, given how poor the models are to begin with.

Oh, and I also have an Mi-1, and an Mi-4, to go along with the standard sets of Mi-8s and Mi-24s. But it has been years since any of them came out of the box. I can only wonder if they still have rotor blades or landing gear.

[Vdmfighter]

Mark,
point taken about the pen-type hand drill.
I did not know /remember they were such big helicopters models available. I may have missed something : a fleet of M-26, Mi-6...
As regards scratchbuilding, here are a few models in balsa and card,
Well...nothing outstanding, but I just wanted to see if I could make some, but it is not sure I would have been paid for this kind of work !
Cheers,
Vdmfighter

[Mk 1]

Mark,
As regards scratchbuilding, here are a few models in balsa and card,

Quite a collection of kit for a French Airforce! Do I see a Potez, a Breguet, a Loire et Olivier, and a Moraine Saulnier?

Are you saying there is no putty on those models? Just balsa and card? Hmmm.

You may want to try adding some modelling putty to your technique. Putty can be put onto basic outlines done with card and / or balsa. It can be pushed into general shape when wet, and then sanded to a smooth finish in more correct shape when dry. It can then be detailed with razor fairly easily.

At the same time I may want to try modelling with just the balsa and card, as you have. Why? Because I found that I am alergic to the plastic modelling putty. Had to give up doing my scratch-built aircraft before I scratched all the skin off of my face!

I now do some scratch building with self-drying clay, and with acrylic texturing (textured paint, or just clear acrylic medium), which are good enough for terrain but for work like aircraft can really only be used to fill gaps or add a little texture. I have tried to use a little plastic putty from time to time, but it takes so much attention to wash myself after, and still usually leads to a week of skin troubles, and so I don't use it anymore.

Oh, and here is a bit more of my French Airforce:

I bought some Dewoitines made by a UK vendor. They needed a lot of gap-filling and sanding even to reach this level. Clearly a couple steps behind what GHQ would achieve if they did a D-520. But alas, they don't. On fait ce qu'on peut.

[tstockton]

Mk 1,

Very sorry to hear about your allergic reactions -- especially a pity since you've done such fine work!

Have you tried any of the modeling clays, such as Sculpy or Fimo? Maybe they could be a substitute for the putty...

Regards,
Tom Stockton

[Vdmfighter]

Mark,
Your French airforce is impressive. Nice D520; and good comment about what GHQ should do now.
[Quite a collection of kit for a French Airforce! Do I see a Potez, a Breguet, a Loire et Olivier, and a Moraine Saulnier? ]
* Right. (Oh My, I should not have showed them here !) .
No one had been issued in this scale, so far and I needed them in "emergency "(in fact a manufacturer made them two years later, I should have been more patient ...).

[Are you saying there is no putty on those models? Just balsa and card? Hmmm.]
* No putty. Other materials are a) the foil you find on wine bottles (a fantastic product...not the wine, of course ), and b) pencil lead (for engines).
Today I would use putty (but I get "red hands", very quickly, the same happens with books printed between 1870 and 1914...), or Super Sculpey, Fimo, as Tom suggested.
I still need to scratchbuild some interwar stuff for the SCW.
Also, I never tried a jet so far...hmm : a Rafale in the near future ? One manufacturer made one, but it's not really a good model.
About bizarre models which appeared on the market in the past, I have to find one , I never could be sure of what it was supposed to be, perhaps a Cauldron...In games it was decided it was a Ms406. Why not ?
Cheers,
Vdmfighter

[Cav Dog]

Isn't this the "Show us your air force thread...?"

[Mk 1]

Isn't this the "Show us your air force thread...?"

Well, if you are going to post stuff that looks THAT good, it should be!

Nice stuff.

So, um, what do you use for stands? (Minor effort to stay on topic, after gratuitous oggling of pictures...)

[Cav Dog]

Isn't this the "Show us your air force thread...?"

Well, if you are going to post stuff that looks THAT good, it should be!

Nice stuff.

So, um, what do you use for stands? (Minor effort to stay on topic, after gratuitous oggling of pictures...)

Oh yeah, that was the point wasn't it?

GHQ's aircraft stands. I'm surprised you couldn't tell by the finely sculpted wire holding each aircraft up.

The cruciform stands are painted a dirt color right now, I'm debating whether to flock them after seeing the other stands in the thread.

[BattlerBritain]

I tend to use clear plastic bases that are available from a Fantasy Gaming chain that begins with 'W'.

You can get a bag of about 50 stands for about a fiver. They need a 2mm hole drilled into the model though.

An example of one of my planes+stand is here:


I am thinking of getting some stands like these from a manufacturer that produces fantasy type aircraft for the 'W' type range and whose stands have a built in height+speed dial. The stands are a bit more expensive though at about a pound each.

I'm also thinking that using small powerful magnets is a bonus in that you don't need to drill holes in the model and if you use something like a ball-bearing on the top of the stand you can almost get a Universal Joint type of effect and allow the model to be posed in pitch and roll. And the magnets are only 6p each from a guy who does lots of decals in the UK

[Xveers]

For magnet basing I'd suggest googling "Ninja Magic LLC" and looking at their modular magnetic adaptors under product information. They're pretty cheap, and VERY flexible. I've mounted all my WW2 aircraft with em, and am steadily working throgh about 750 model spaceships as well...