Sunday, June 1, 2014

X-Wing : pimp my base!

Why do we play X-Wing?
It's really an excuse to play with toy star fighters, move them around making engine noises and pew pew sounds. We want to have fun recreating the run on the Death Star trench, the Hoth evacuation, or just a simple encounter between two patrols.


The goal of this article is to show you 2 base mods that will increase your enjoyment of the game.

First : the Anti-slippage mod

The idea is to increase the amount of energy necessary to accidentally move a ship.

For this you will need flat weights that fit under a base and silicone sealant. Washers or small coins will do, just try to use non magnetic materials if you've already done or want to do  my asteroid mod. Start by gluing your weights at the center of the bottom base recess then apply a generous layer of silicone on top.

You should get something like this:


Remove the excess using a plastic card or a piece of cardboard then let harden on a piece of baking paper:


After a couple of hours, when the silicone is dry to the touch, remove the base from the baking paper and let harden bottom up for a day or two.

Second : the fun rotation mod

For this you will need small nails, with heads about 2 to 3 mm wide, and ball magnets (3mm diameter). In Europe you can get ball magnets from : Supermagnete a german company.

Cut your nail heads, you will need one per model you want to reposition:


Next drill a 3mm hole in the model you want to reposition about 2/3mm deep where the flight stand plug would be, then a smaller hole at the bottom the size of you nail head.

Nail head not yet pushed in
Glue the nail head in the hole then put a small bead of green stuff on top. Press a wet round brush handle hard on the green stuff to create a bowl shaped depression with nail head showing at the bottom. Let harden an hour.

In the meantime, cut the head of a flight stand, drill a small depression on top and glue your ball magnets in the depression. You should now have something like this:


To finish wet the magnet and press it in the green stuff bowl to improve the shape (we wait an hour to harden the surface of the green stuff and prevent it from sticking to the ball).

Wait for the green stuff to fully cure. You can now represent banks and rolls by really pivoting the model!



If you want to go one step further, you can paint the base as on this model:


Hope this helped.
Time to reload!
Ica

3 comments:

  1. Another great tutorial. Thank you very much!

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  2. Your anti slip mod seems both easy to do and very useful. I just might give it a try. I just have to steal, I mean borrow, some silicone from my pops.

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  3. Excellent advice. Busy in a repaint of my Imperial fleet so I am definitely going to try the anti-slip basing. Would like to magnetise my fleet as well but that may have to wait a while. Excellent paint jobs as well BTW. That oil wash really works a charm.

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