Iron Snakes: Reinforced Flying Bases

Hi folks,

This post won't be showcasing any spectacular modelling or painting work, but I think it will be useful for anyone trying to base a heavy resin flyer. Forgeworld sells some very heavy pieces now and the plastic flying base you are supplied aren't really fit for purpose. The main problem is that they are constructed from thin plastic, with the the supporting structure underneath allowing a lot of flexion (press down on it and the base collapses).

Press here: the middle goes down to the table surface with little pressure and the outer rim pops up. This is a problem...

The supporting structure is a little too thin, extending down only 1/3 of the depth of the rim. That leaves a lot of airspace...

There is a large cavity right where you would want the flying stand to go (you can see where I have drilled the pin-hole already. in the picture above. My worry was that, over time, this would warp the plastic, applying stress on the flying stand and model that would cause it to eventually fail catastrophically. I did some research and found this YouTube clip, which I found very helpful. Essentially, you want to install a decent sized pin that will go up into the flying stand and completely back-fill the void in the center square under the base.

To kick it all off, I bent a paper clip into a pin with a diamond shaped, flat, base. I poked this through the pin-hole and pressed some green stuff in place to secure it. I then trimmed the green stuff into a square shape, ready for the filling process.

Next I cut some pieces of flexible plastic from a black folder. The plan was to glue these together with two-part epoxy resin to form a laminate that fills the void underneath the base. Others use plasticard for this, or even aluminium sheeting. I realised that it doesn't have to be a particularly sturdy material, it just needs to fill the void to stop the plastic from flexing. I could cut this plastic with a pair of scissors in no time and it was very simple to work with. Two-part epoxy is a last resort adhesive for me. It is very time sensitive, after mixing small amounts of the two parts you only have about two minutes to apply it before it gets hard to manage. Once it sets though, it is very strong (the longer it takes to set, the stronger). You don't want to get it on you either; it is hard to get off.

First layer.

Third layer with resin plug for the green stuff/pin. It isn't going anywhere soon.

Fourth layer: flat and sealing the pin assembly in.

With those layers of plastic and resin, the base can't flex at all. The bottom layer, when right-way up, is just above the level of the table, so any pressure at all brings it into contact and that's as far as it goes. Mission accomplished!

With the underneath reinforced and the pin installed, the next step will be to make the top surface look like an Ithakan forest, with both large and small ferns and some spartan ruins from Scibor miniatures. Before that, though, I left it overnight for the resin to completely set, under significant pressure.

See you across the table,

Marc

P.S. SQUADUARY!!!