Flight stands

Time flies by when you have varnish issues. For some reason, for the last 3 weeks my usual routine of a coat of gloss covered with a coat of matte didn't achieve the result I wanted, it either became very satin of stayed gloss. 4 different brands of matte varnish later I've decided to skip the gloss phase from now on and just put on 2 coats of matte. So in short, 3 weeks of frustration trying to find what was wrong and hardly any painting, plus about 20 figs that are so glossy that I'm not sure they can be saved. Humpf.

In the meantine, with the 2012 Afrika project looming closer, roughly 10 months to go, I received my flightstands from Armaments in Miniature.  http://www.angelfire.com/nj4/armamentsinminiature/aircraftinmotion/checkyour6flightstands.htm They arrived in double quick time from the USA to the Netherlands, 4 days including the weekend. This was a collective purchase with fellow local gamers and we picked the thinnest base but with the maneuver stand. Dave, the owner mentioned that this stand was a bit thicker and would not fit in the base, but with a bit of trimming it would not be a problem. Some sanding and hot water later and the stands slipped in like they were meant for it.

 (yes, it is a bit off to the right)

It comes with cast in holders for 3 dice, I sanded those down and put down 5 layers of roofing lead sheet, glued those in place and put a thin layer of Milliput over them for added strength. When it was all dry, I sanded down the sides where needed and coated it an a layer of sand. Standard brown topcoat with Dheneb stone drybrush, with plenty of flock and tufts later gets me this:

So now I have 5 flightbases suitable for Europe and various other warzones, and 5 should even be enough to game in Vietnam (provided I'm not the only one with flightstands). With these I can mount all of the helicopters planned for Zwartwater.

I know my bases aren't as thin as Rutgers, who used 3 layers of lead and with a much nicer slope, but I'm scared to death one of my Loaches comes crashing down. Each base weights in at around 350 grams deadweight so I should be ok.