Question about base material...

Yes bases can be a problem.
I have used, with varying degrees of success:-
Plastic/wood picture frames
Turned wood
Craftwood bases from the local cheap shopvarying sizes and shapes from $1 to $5 that can be either stained or painted
A tea pot stand! My wife never did find where it went!
Jar tops (plastic).
I scrounge around second hand shops and some socalled antique shops for other bibs and bobs that might come in useful. eg the dome case of an old clock and a rectangular plastic fish tank.
look at things and see what you can do with them.
Dai

OK Mike....

I tried to do an online search to see about these 1:48 cases you mentioned...but as you can imagine-- a web search on Johan yielded a lot of non-modeling sites, including one as a guide to aphrodesiacs... yikes!! An Impex search was no better...

Might you by chance have the web addresses of the companies you have listed??

Thanks Butz!

That won't help me with this diorama I am doing of a winter scene with an IL-2, MiG-3, and their ground crew-- but this will definitely be great for the Mustang I am building for my Tuskegee friend.

Hey Jeeves,
I am not sure who makes it but they have plastic display cases that are for 1/48th scale a/c.
I think it might be Johan and Impex that do these cases.
Flaps up, Mike

Yeah I do bro-- AC Moore and I think there's a Michaels down south a bit....but the big problem is finding something to keep the dust off atop the model. Whenever I get to finishing that Stang, I'll want to have it under cover somehow....

Jeeves,

Do you have any craft stores near you? You can get wooden plaques of various shapes and sizes at most decent craft stores, and they're usually not all that expensive. You just have to make sure you get a straight piece of wood, some can be rather badly warped.

My favorite type of base is a nice rectangular wooden deal that I can stain, seal, paint and distress and/or antique a bit. That one I used for the 262 is a good example. Actually, that was an award I won at a show many years ago! I just gave the edges a coat of black and then distressed it a bit. I have almost as much fun with bases as I do in building the model. I've even considered doing a bunch of them up and selling them at shows. Hmmm...


Fade to Black...

OK-- thanks guys! Guess it's the MDF then...I just had a lot of it and it was a lot lighter, so I thought I'd ask :)

Jeeves,

I'm with Dwight and leopold. While it serves a purpose as a good build up or underlayment, I wouldn't reccomend it for a base. They are comparatively brittle, too light, and will eventualy lead to heartbreak as they will quickly degrade as they are moved, transported, worked on, if they should happen to get wet or accidently bumped. Plywood and mdf as well as any number of other more stable base materials and products will serve you better and provide a much more stable base. While it may seem cheap at first glance, the cost down the road may be more than you are willing to incurr. Be safe. Be confident, go with a tried and true material.

Mike

There are two types of ceiling tile commonly used. The acoustic board and the laminated gypsum board. The acoustic board is usually lighter but made of fibers that are being shed continuously. These fibers can irritate the eyes so that if you use this material as base, you should try to find a way to seal the fibers. The laminated gypsum board is a bit heavier. It is nothing more than an ordinary dry wall material with one side laminated. It is easy to cut but since gypsum is basically a powder-like materials, you need to seal the edges to keep the powder in place. Leopold is right, these materials are not water resistant. Please try to check which material you have but I recommend using plywood or MDF board.

It might be best to experiment with them first, they could warp if they get wet and then dry out.