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Thread: Balloon Bases

  1. #1

    Default Balloon Bases

    Given the shortage of "official" balloon models and the availability of some rather nice stand ins from both Skytrex and Armaments in Miniature, I asked my local games shop to cut me a couple of perspex bases with perspex rods to the same size as the "official " WoW balloon cards \ bases. Would anyone else be interested in this sort of thing?

    I was also thinking about have a word with Dave Pengilly who runs Pendraken Miniatures to see if they can include either a winch truck or some AA guns in their 10mm WW1 range. They already do trucks so I assume a winch would be viable. Would this be popular with members here?

  2. #2

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    What interests me the most Ken is the source of the 9mm rod for the pegs. I can get Perspex for the bases but my suppliers only have 8mm or 10mm rod in stock, and to do a special order would be beyond my resources.
    However, I expect anyone who has not already set up these bases would be glad to get some. Remember though that it would be a limited sale because not many people have more than three or four unofficial balloons. I don't know if you were thinking of a big run or just a few to add on to your order?
    Rob.
    "Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."

  3. #3

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    I could do with three bases for my Skytrex balloons, but as the Wing Co said its the rods we may need to source

  4. #4

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    How critical are the rods to game play?

    I was thinking of maybe a fixed length rod with an altitude dial, which would get around the rod \ peg combo currently in use.

    Numbers are not really an issue - Alan (who runs Games of War - our local games shop) is a bit of a tinkerer by nature and a sign writer by trade, so he has a CinC cutter and is not unhappy to mess about with little side projects such as balloon bases.

  5. #5

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    Before I aquired any Official Balloons all mt Skytrex ones were on fixed height 6mm perspex rods similar to my Giant Bombers. They all have the Oberst's height dials attached and work fine for me. It is just the fact that duplicates of the fire marker have now had to be made to fit the different rods.
    I prefer totally interchangeable parts where possible. Also a lot of people like to do the physical height changes, either for aesthetic reasons, or simply to get a visual take on what is the status quo of the game.
    I always fly my Giant Bombers high, in the way that they were used whilst bombing England and only put two height pegs atop the long stands to allow for a little dive or climb to escape an attack , but again this would not suit many people.
    So you do what is best for you. It sounds as if we agree broardly on this. Horses for courses again.
    Rob.
    "Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."

  6. #6

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    I made my Skytrex balloon back on the "old days" (before the official models were released and perspex bases became de rigeur. I made a copy of one of the cards from my set of Burning Drachens and mounted the balloon on a thick wire built into the (double thickness) base.



    If I was doing it now I'd probably try to work on something perspex based, but I think I'm happy enough to leave it as is for now.

  7. #7

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    Just FYI for you guys, since working on the larger bomber bases, my balloon bases have been moved up in priority on the to do list. In their current form, they use the official balloon pegs (or the Shapeways alternatives by jbmacek.

    The last piece of the puzzle is to decide if I want to use the standard altitude dial set that I've used on all of my bases so far, or design something that is made specifically to track balloons per the official rules. Using my current dials is the simplest and allows for the most flexibility. The small climb rate dial could be used to track the turns between actual altitude changes made with the larger altitude dial. Make a new dial limits their use to just the official rules and also increases the cost as I have to make an entirely new set of dials instead of sharing the ones already made for the larger bombers.

    Thoughts?

  8. #8

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    I am using the present dials on my non official balloons quite satisfactorily Keith. Although I can't use the small dials because they won't drill out that large.
    I'm using 6mm rod. We just call eight the top height and start winding in after one round. Eight moves seems to work out well, giving a total of nine turns to get down. However, having the extra dial would be the bees' knees. So for me Bomber base dials would do just fine.
    Rob.
    "Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."

  9. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by Oberst Hajj View Post
    Just FYI for you guys, since working on the larger bomber bases, my balloon bases have been moved up in priority on the to do list. In their current form, they use the official balloon pegs (or the Shapeways alternatives by jbmacek.
    With the caveat that mine don't actually fit the holes in the official balloon bases. Yeah, I know that sounds odd, but I didn't (and don't) believe anyone would actually try combining the two anyway. They do work great with Keith's stands, which I what I was shooting for.

  10. #10

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    I certainly like the idea of the dial set as per the Burning dragons rulebook

  11. #11

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    So what is the real interest for AA balloon bases? I've got to put in an order for other items here soon and will have to finish up the design for these if we want to get them produced. Price would be about that of one of the large bomber stands.

  12. #12

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    I would be up for five Herr Oberst.
    Rob.
    "Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."



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