Feedback requested for my fighter stands.

wedge_hammersteel · Post by **wedge_hammersteel** » Tue Feb 21, 2012 4:31 pm

Besides trying fighters in SFB and FedCom, I have been playing Colonial Battlefleet which can be fighter intensive. I needed fighter stands and I noticed that there were not many vendors who supplied fighter stands with a die at a reasonable price.

I decided to make my own.

I would like to ask for feedback as I would like to sell these. Since I wanted to sell stands with dice, I first found a very inexpensive supplier for dice then I kitbashed a fighter stand, built around the die.

I made prototypes myself and then made a master mold for production. The pictures below are of the production stands. They are made of resin.

The main problem that I have is that I get a bubble at the top of the post. Sometimes the bubble is very small and other times not. I have a very small air hole at the bottom of the mold so that the resin will pour all the way down. I can pour 4 stands before the resin starts to solidify.

When you buy resin stands or minis, how much touching up do you expect to do before you paint?

Would the bubble at the top of the post be an acceptable fix or should I use green stuff to fill them in before the sale?

I plan to sand the bottoms smooth before the sale as well as remove the flash remnants.

It seems that if I heat the mold up in the microwave, the casts come out better.

The die holder is big enough so that if you paint the stand, the die will have a tiny bit of wiggle room so it won't get stuck.

If you have other questions, please let me know. Thanks.

djdood · Post by **djdood** » Tue Feb 21, 2012 5:47 pm

I've had terrible luck with plastic and resin pegs, so I would be "out", right there.

If you offer an alternate version, with just a hole in your nicely designed base, I would be interested in quite a few of these. I would just make my own riser peg out of "sleeved" brass tube stock.

Wolverin61 · Post by **Wolverin61** » Tue Feb 21, 2012 7:54 pm

They look good to me. I would use as is. I've been having problems breaking the plastic tip off in minis myself but something small like a drone or fighter I'd take a chance. Had to drill the one out of my LTT yesterday.

How much you gonna ask for them?

archon96 · Post by **archon96** » Tue Feb 21, 2012 8:13 pm

they look pretty good. have you looked at the ones made by litko.

Scoutdad · Post by **Scoutdad** » Tue Feb 21, 2012 8:22 pm

email inbound

wedge_hammersteel · Post by **wedge_hammersteel** » Tue Feb 21, 2012 9:19 pm

Djdood: what if I sold the basis without the post but there was no hole? You would have to drill your own?

Wolverin61: Breaking off the tip is a concern. Fighters are so light that I thought it would be OK. I did fiddle around with drilling a small hole in the post and inserting a brass rod for the tip.

archon96: The Litko stands look great and using them for large minis such as WW2 fighter planes would work well as you would not need many. But when you think about fighters. In my Colonial Battlefleet game, I have 80 fighter minis representing squads of 6. Eighty Litko stands would be quite expensive. I want to create a fighter stand that was complete with a die for a very reasonable price.

djdood · Post by **djdood** » Tue Feb 21, 2012 11:52 pm

Drilling my own hole is no problem (to me). I could even be a customer for any "miscasts" you have, where the peg on the riser didn't form, etc. As long as the baseplate is complete, that's all I'm really after.

djdood · Post by **djdood** » Thu Feb 23, 2012 5:54 am

Just figured out an alternate solution on my end, so I'll probably be doing my own stands. Just wanted to mention it now, so you don't cast up a bunch and not have a placement for them.

wedge_hammersteel · Post by **wedge_hammersteel** » Thu Feb 23, 2012 5:09 pm

Thanks. I'm looking for an inexpensive supply for mailing boxes now.

Scoutdad · Post by **Scoutdad** » Thu Feb 23, 2012 6:29 pm

Order lots of Starline 2500 squadron boxes and then re-purpose the boxes they come in!

Bolo_MK_XL · Post by **Bolo_MK_XL** » Thu Feb 23, 2012 6:42 pm

Cheaper route would be go to the local Mom & Pop Cafe that sells desserts by the piece ---
The clamshells that hold cake are great for repurposing, not hard to wash ---

Your actually getting the cases free, and you fill your sugar craving --

Edited to add:

Wasn't thinking about them before,
You can get cardboard Trading Card boxes, some will hold 50 cards others up to 1000, so you get 4 inch box or up to 8 inches ---

wedge_hammersteel · Post by **wedge_hammersteel** » Thu Feb 23, 2012 8:12 pm

Thanks.

I have my resin supplier and my box supplier. I look to be able to sell these in about a week and a half once the first shipment of resin comes in and I have about 200 made up.

Shipping should be very inexpensive in the U.S.

Light weight boxes and first class mail.

Eric Lakin · Post by **Eric Lakin** » Thu Feb 23, 2012 8:52 pm

How much are you planning on selling these for? And what size is the base?

bluebirds38 · Post by **bluebirds38** » Fri Feb 24, 2012 2:34 am

great job wedge, i would buy some. i got well over 200 fighters sfb, bsg, so would definantly buy some.

wedge_hammersteel · Post by **wedge_hammersteel** » Tue Jul 03, 2012 9:34 pm

I have my flight stands ready for sale. You can check out my blog at
www.furballflightstands.blogspot.com

The metal tips are working out great.