Suggestions to keep that Slann floating

I just picked up a Slann model and I've got the palanquin put together but have reached an impass.

If I just stick the palanquin on the flying base he tilts badly to one side as if he's been drinking. I tried plugging the hole with green stuff and then ramming the base up into it untill it stood at an angle I like better but it feels fragile still. A friend recomended magnets and I suppose I could stick one up in the palanquin hole and one on the flying base but I still worry that the whole thing will be unstable.

Has anyone found any particularly good solutions to this?

On a side note I'm having a hard time deciding if I want to glue the slann to the palanquin before or after priming and painting. I'd like to paint leaves he's sitting on and the stone behind him but I'm under the impression if I glue to paint it will just pull the paint off.

 

Personaly I drilled out the hole deeper since it isn't a very good fit for the peg.
This helped straight it up as long as you dirll the new hole straight... not that it's easy.

 

I'm sure you've noticed that the defect is in the angle the hole was drilled at the factory. What I did was to fill in the hole completely with green stuff and then redrilled the hole into the green stuff. Feeling much as you do about it's stability I then inserted short lengths of paper clips I'd clipped off and ringed the hole to add further stability.

It's a bit time consuming. Make sure you allow the green stuff to dry completely before drilling the new hole. Naturally the new hole you make will have to be slightly larger than the flying base, otherwise after you've reinforced it with the pins your clear peg will no longer fit.

 

I drilled the hole larger, and put a bit of square brass tube in before using superglue and green stuff to rebuild around it. For the base, I'm using 3/16" acrylic rod - much, MUCH stronger than the regular plastic - with a slightly smaller square brass rod on top. End result is removable, without the potential to spin that magnets have. The acrylic is cheap, and can also give more altitude. Did similar mounting for my Terradons, who are anywhere from 6-12" above the battlefield.

 

The problem is the hole in the base is not drilled straight.

just take a drill and drill the hole slightly larger (and straight). The flying base post will fit in to the base correctly and not tilt off to the side. Mine did exactly the same thing. took about 2 min with a power drill to correct the hole in the base.

 

Inserting a metal pin/rod is my suggestion. Even if you get the plastic one straight, I find that they break really easily enyway with transport or just during the game. If you can get it straight and a fairly tight fit, that is brilliant because when not in use you can take him out of it. The other option there is magnets. You know about rare earth magnets, right? They are going to be strong enough to hold him, and the big advantage there is even if he is knocked or something, the magnets pull away from each other but nothing breaks. You just place him back on top.

 

Strew, the Earth Magnet people should start paying you for all the endorsements you give.

--DF2K

 

Humm, yea I have some rare-earth magnets already and have been quite happy with them for keeping my Saurus blocks on their movement trays. Perhaps I'll have to buy some bigger ones for this.

yea, I noticed that the hole in the base goes off to one side (which I why I re-stuffed the hole). I like the idea of green stuffing the hole and re-drilling it. What drill bit size did you use if you remember off hand?
I'll have to borrow a power drill and vice but I'm sure I can manage. Is the 3/16" acrylic rod clear or white?

These kinds of manufacturing defects are another good reason to loathe metal models. My 40k army is Orks and the casts on the old Kans (yay for new shiney plastic) were terrible. I had to use a metal file to remove the guides or the main body wouldn't fit together and the legs held excedlingly poorly.

 

unfortunately I do not remember. However the trick I used to gauge weather it was wide enough was to make a good guess (place the rod over the drill bit, the drill should be just wider on BOTH sides of the rod by about a paper clip size. It's pretty easy as long as you don't get overly anxious and jump in without a plan (like I sooo often do!).

You don't have to use the paper clip-clippings as reinforcements either. You can use pewter scraps or whatever your comfortable with. I just like using paper clips because their easy to work with and are pretty durrable in short lengths.

 

Try with lego pieces and superglue

 

An interesting...if not...cryptic response...

 

I got told the other day that the best way to do it it putting the stem of the flying base upside down, so the thick end is in the model, and thin end on the base. Apparently it works a treat...

 

I stuffed it with apoxysculpt (not fully). Then dipped the plastic peg into turpenoid to keep it slippery, and put it into the hole but straight so it left the position I wanted it to harden in.

Sanjay