Federation Commander

Okay, so my Romulan fleet is down a cruiser and a dreadnought.

The units were fine until they broke off their stands. Now they have their stand-hole-thingies stuffed with plastic and glue.

I tried gluing the D7 back in place, but it breaks off anyway and now has glue smudged all over the bottom.

What to do!

You could try drilling into the base and the plasticcy mess in the hole, then use a piece of thin brass rod (or, if you can't get that, a piece of straightened paper-clip) to hold the two together and superglue it.

Rowan's right. The first step is to drill out the hole.

I have a number of models with this issue, and I've been contemplating using a metal rod like Rowan suggests, but perhaps not actually gluing it in place. I figure if I can get a tight enough fit, and possibly make the hole a little deeper, the models could be removable from their stands -- making transportation a lot easier and future breakage far less likely.

I haven't actually tried it yet though, so no promises.

Start with a tiny drill bit and work your way up in size until you get a hole to fit your stand. I do it all the time with great success. On those big mini's, I initially snip of the tip of the stand and make the hole bigger.

That is one reason why I prefer the metal posts over the plastic posts.

I don't even use the plastic stands anymore... except maybe for painting.

I will glue an unpainted mini to a plastic stand using elmers glue... paint... then remove and attach to a metal stand.
And like Burt; anything bigger than a BC gets the tip of the metal stand removed and the hole in the mini enlarged.
It's not a perfect solution, but 99 times out a hundred, if you drop one prepped this way, the whole stand pops out and all you need is to reglue a new one.

How do you hold an already-painted model in place while you drill...?

Jeffr0 wrote:How do you hold an already-painted model in place while you drill...?

My lovely wife bought a Dremel Workstation for me for X-mas one year.
I place fold a cotton washcloth up, place it on the work station base, place the mini on the washcloth, and then drill out the stand hole.

Dont use a drill that immediately starts off at a high RPM. I can get my cordless drill to spin very slowly. I just hold the mini in my hand. The metal is soft so slow drilling is best.

Yeah... okay.

Things I've learned:

A complete set of drill bits is good. (I was missing the correct one.)

A bent drill bit will wobble and (if you are working on a D7) bend your model to hell and cause paint and primer to come off. (I put some paint straight onto it and it looks workable.)

The KR will probably fly now. The hole in the Condor is both off-center and a bit too big. It's out of commission until I can come up with something. Might be easier just to get another model.

I dunno... I don't think heavy lead ships on these particular bases is a good idea. Not that I'm a miniatures expert by any stretch....

[Note to mod: sorry this is the wrong sub-fora for this!]

For larger mini's (Condor, B-10, Dominator etc), I took a B-10 base, picked up a few 3/8" bolts, screwed it right up through the base, then added an extender to it (several lengths available), glued a nut over the stand hole on the mini ---

Using a second nut on the extender will lock it down when the nuts are together ---

For better weight on the base, can just take a heavy washer and glue it under the base ----

I don't have any personal experience with these bases, but I do see people using them on other forums:

http://corseceng.com/omni-stand

i use the coresec stuff AND LOVE IT. EASY TO USE AND PACK AWAY. but it is kinda pricey.

I'm an unhandy-man.

Does anyone have a series of photos of the 3/8" bolt basing?

I can't visualize the process just based on the words.

(Gotta do this on the cheap given how much time and money I've spent so far.)

The tough part is controlling the drill, whatever kind of drill you use. don't get in a hurry. Taking five minutes to get everything lined up and locked down is cheaper than buying a new ship.

Jeff,

If you
re willing to pay the postage, you can mail them to me.
I'll drill them out to accept a metal stand and then throw a couple of metal stands in the return package as well.