Tuesday 6 March 2012

Flying bases - break no more!

Tired of flying bases snapping in your models? Bases falling off when you pick the model up? Models madly spinning around when you put them down or they get knocked?

I have found the solution!

Well, someone else did and I tried it for myself.

I'm talking about the Ninja Magic Magnetic Adapters Linky
I saw them on a blog a few weeks ago, can't remember where. The idea looked great but I was cautious about spending a load of money and converting all my flying bases to this system without trying it. I forked out the money anyway and bought enough adapters to convert my Necron army to this system.



The first models I tried were my 2 work in progress Ghost Arks and my Command Barge. After clearing off the flash from the adapters I had to work out how to make it work with GW models. It wasn't too hard. Basically for the base you just cut off the top of the flying base stalk until the adapter just fits on, i.e. it isn't loose and requires a bit of effort to push it on then I put some super glue in the adapter and stuck it on.

As for the model end, this was a bit more awkward as I didn't have any drill bits that weren't 1mm. For the Necron vehicles this wasn't a problem as they have better than normal holes for the bases, so I just put a load of super glue in the hole and it worked. For normal models however the hole isn't big enough. The adapters are from the US, as such I'm guessing they've used some weird imperial measurements for the diameter. I found a close enough equivalent though. 2.5 mm seems to be a close enough fit when you stick some glue in there. Its not a perfect fit but its good enough. I've now done 9 tomb spyders and 5 destroyers with this method and they're all fine.



Overall I think these are excellent adapters and I plan on implementing them everywhere I use flying bases. They're easy to use and do a great job. The only thing that would make them better would be if the base end of the adapter came in one part instead of 2. Also it was quite hard finding a retailer to buy the adapters, would be nice if there was a retailer in the UK. I bought them from here.

5 comments:

  1. Great idea for those darned flying bases. Thanks for posting this.

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    Replies
    1. Wow, those things look heavy duty.
      You'd be hard pressed to break one of those.
      Ron, FTW

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  2. I've always wanted to buy these, but they were too expensive to do it willy nilly. Also I'd want to standardize on one thing.

    I am surprised these hold up the Ghost Arks.. Think they would hold up a Tau Devilfish / Hammerhand?

    Thanks again for posting,
    s00nertp

    www.facebook.com/40knjny

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    Replies
    1. I've actually had a few problems with the ghost arks. The magnets keep snapping off and staying in the base. At least its fixable though, unlike the normal gw bases when they break. I should probably make some sort of custom bases for the arks with 2 flying base stalks.

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  3. Interesting, so the metal part that is attached to the base breaks off.

    I guess that just means some kind of jury rig situation... like replace the stalk with something stronger or buy a tube at a hardware store to go around & reinforce it, or something.

    I just ended up buying a bunch of the Ninja connectors & will need to figure something out with the DevilFish. We'll see how it goes. I could just buy smaller metal ones and drill a hole though. I'll see how it goes.

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