Advice needed on making a good base for a Forge World flier (Imperial Navy Vulture)

[chrispcarter]

Hi all,
I'm hoping for a little help from the more aeronautically inclined of the LO Community - particularly, those who own or have built a Vulture themselves, or failing that, a Valkyrie, Thunderbolt or Lightning.

I am planning on getting a Vulture Gunship in the near future, and I want to make sure I make a good job of it, and most importantly don't end up wasting the money spent on it!

Basically, I am looking for advice on how to contruct a good solid base for said Vulture.

So far, I am planning on using a circular wooden or MDF base with a clear acrylic rod as the stem. I want to order these so that I have them before the vulture, as I'll want to get it built as soon as possible once I receive it.

My initial idea was that the base would be about 6" in diameter, and 1" thick.

I was thinking the flying stem will probably be about 15mm thick, and be sunk approx 3/4 of an inch into the base, and however far I can reasonably get away with into the Vulture - at a point I'll have to judge by where the model's centre of gravity is after building i.

The main points I need clearing up is how wide the bottom of the Vulture is. This will affect the width of rod I use, as I want one wide enough to be strong, but I don't want to have to drill too big a hole in the bottom of the cockpit in case I end up splitting the model. Obviously once I have the model I can check this myself, but I'd prefer to have planned it out in advance.

The other thing I have been considering is not permanently affixing the stem into the base or the Vulture. This would mean I could use two different length rods to differentiate between flight and hover modes during games, and would have the additional bonus of making transporting the model much easier. Has anyone tried this, and what sort of success have you had?

Aside from these questions, any other general hints tips or insight from people who have built these sorts of bases before would be great and much appreciated, as it's my first go at doing something like this.

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

[danjones87]

Hey mate.

Unfortunately I cant help so much as I dont have a vulture/vakrye at hand for reference. I have made a flying base before for my HELLTALON it wasnt too hard to go about. I used a CD for a base, then built up the ground by using cork tiles like the ones you use for bathroom floor underlay. The pole was just a randon bit I had lying around.

Because of the size and weight of the gunship I wouldnt trust anything less than half the thickness of a normal ball point pen.

Dan

[chrispcarter]

That Helltalon is a very nice bit of kit mate, and you've made quite an understated use of Chevrons too!

I'd heard a few people mention CDs, I was just worried that a base like that might not be heavy enough to be entirely stable, and I'm really worried about ending up with a high centre of gravity - I'm afraid it would tip over and break off an aeriolon or two. Is the Helltalon well balanced?

As far as building up the base goes, if I used a CD I would probably do as you said and use cork or something similar, whether I use that or with MDF, once I have got the main base I'm planning to build it up a little with an urban / ash waste feel, most likely using the GW Urban Basing Kit, some of my Imperial Sector leftovers and anything else from my bitz that takes my fancy really!

The advice is really appreciated as usual though - I forgot to consider all the non-Imperial fliers out there when I wrote the beginning of my OP!

I've just spotted this Vulture on the interwebs. The "playing base" on the bottom pictures looks really good - but I'd be worried it would get scuffed after a few games though, so I think a scenic base might be better.

I've also spotted this thread on CMoN (didn't even realise they had forums!) which is again very similar to what I'm after. It looks like it's certainly possible anyway!

Just need to try and find somewhere I can pickup the wood and the rod now... The rods are available on ebay but only seem to come in metre long pieces, which means postage costs are pretty high! I only need about 20cm of it, maybe 30cm for if I go with 20cm "flying" and a 10cm "hovering" options - it's quite annoying.

Might have to try the local model shop and see what they have in stock!

[Zeewulf]

Ahh, I love the vulture.

First off, the dimensions: The best spot to put a rod is about 2" tall by 3/4" wide. Secondly, here's what I did with my Vulture: I used a Doll Stand with the wire portion of the stand bent to form a cradle, a couple of putty 'wings' on the sides to add stabilization...I didn't want to drill a hole in my Vulture for that. I'm going to do a bit more work ont he stand later to make the cradle portion stand out less. I've already cut down the white side-arms. I've also fixed the crappy putty side-cradles since this pic.
By the way, she's still not fully painted.

[chrispcarter]

Zeewulf: Thanks for the dimensions, that was exactly what I was after. I think a 20mm rod will be the maximum I can go for afterall!

I like the cradle idea, but I think I'll settle with the hole-in-the-bottom approach, I don't mind it being there if it adds stability.

It seems I might not need as big a base as I originally anticipated though, most of the pictures seem to be using quite small ones with no issues! Perhaps I can make it a bit small and thinner...

Thanks for sharing the advice and the pics :-)

[Zeewulf]

'sno problem. I figured those were the exact measurments you were lookin' for.

The cradle is nowhere near as aesthetically pleasing as the simple rod, but, I just couldn't bring myself to drill a hole in it!

[danjones87]

Be seriously careful if you drill resin. Id do it with a hand drill and be VERY gentle.

The helltalon weighs pretty much nothing. The majority of its weight is in the cockpit.

Dan

[chrispcarter]

That was definitely the plan - I'll use my pin vice I can get the bit in it.

My main previous experience with the weight has been the fuel tank on the Hellhound I bought from them - that thing seemed to weigh a ton! I suppose the vulture probably won't weigh much more though, most people seem to have supported them on fairly flimsy looking bits of acrlyic.

[Zeewulf]

The vulture body section you'll be drilling into is very, very sturdy. You can go as far as a power drill, so long as you set it low enough and drill a small pilot hole first. I know for recessing my magnets, the only thing I was willing to drill into my vulture for, I used the power drill on the wings on a low setting, and it turned out pretty well.

[chrispcarter]

Magnetising was something I wasn't considering, but I'm becoming increasingly tempted... I could do with being able to swap weapons options as I have opponent who play almost every army in 40 (no Witchhunters or Dark Eldar yet, but apart from that we have em all). I was looking at a LC / Hellstrike combo for fighting Chaos, but having 4 rocket pods would be much better against Orks for example.

How hard is it to mount the magents? Is it as simple as drlling a shallow hole then gluing the magnet in place?