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I'm looking for a small brass display pedestal for a 1/500-scale ship model. It needs to be between 1/2" — 3/4" (12.5mm — 2 mm) high. I've found a one on eBay, but it comes from China and might not arrive before January, if at all (I once waited for 6 months for a wax pencil from China, and when it arrived it proved to be worthless, and my wife has never received something she ordered from China for a crotchet project.) Any suggestions for a North American supplier?
Bob
On the bench: A diorama to illustrate the crash of a Beech T-34B Mentor which I survived in 1962 (I'm using Minicraft's 1/48 model of the Mentor), and a Pegasus model of the submarine Nautilus of 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas fame.
Take a look at brass finials at a lighting department, and at some brass pipe couplers in the plumbing department. Might find something that will work for you
So Bob, it's always tough to mount the model after it's built.
Next time you can either glue some nuts inside the hull or a block of wood at each pedestal, or drop a bolt down at each.
Here, I would use a wood screw from underneath, countersunk in the bottom of the wood base. The model is pretty small, so you can rely on the threads gripping the plastic. Iirc the hull is one piece, not split down the middle.
Then for pedestals you can use anything you like, including a spent .45 casing if you drill out the primer!
Bill
Modeling is an excuse to buy books.
GMorrison So Bob, it's always tough to mount the model after it's built. Next time you can either glue some nuts inside the hull or a block of wood at each pedestal, or drop a bolt down at each. .... Bill
....
Way ahead of you, Bill! In fact, I think it was you who taught me the nut & bolt trick, about a year and a half ago IIRC. A great tip! And proof that I am the world's slowest model builder!
Hi.
Go to your local Lighting Supply store. They would be a likely source. If you have already finished the ship. Then do this.You can use four as feet and Put pins in a hole drilled in the top of each leg. Then Set the ship on them enough pressure used to mark it. Drill holes in the ship. Coat the pins with Epoxy and you'll be good to go.
goldhammer88 Take a look at brass finials at a lighting department, and at some brass pipe couplers in the plumbing department. Might find something that will work for you
Don Stauffer in Minnesota
Goldhammer88 had the right idea. This morning I bought couple of copper pipe end stops at Home Depot, like this one:
They measure 1.5 cm X 1.5 cm (1.2" X 1.2"), and are lot less expensive and more suitable than the purpose-made pedestals I found, all of which are too high for such a small model, which is about 12.5 inches (31.75 cm) long. The shortest purpose-made pedestal I could find measures 2.2 cm (.87"). Using steel washers, I built mock-up pedestals 2.2 cm tall and mounted the ship on them. It looked like a hospital ship on stilts!
Thanks to everyone for their suggestions.
That's the spirit! Now you can get fancy and stack a 3/4" brass washer on top of each.
I'm nearly finished with my model of U.S.S. Repose, and ordered a display case for it from Rick Shousa of Modeller's Workshop. And I'm happy to say that the custom decal for the helipad finally arrived, and looks great.
One change from a previous "decision": the copper end caps for pipes didn't work out as pedestals. They look nice, and cost almost nothing, but just don't "fit" the model. They're a bit too tall and too "obvious". I want people to look at the model, not the pedestals! So...
A solution occurred to me: When my wife and I emigrated to Canada from the U.S. in 1969, a new friend corrupted me with an offer of South African sherry. Fifty-two years later, I'm still drinking sherry on a fairly regular basis. OK, daily. And lately, because South African sherry is not appearing on the shelves of my government liquor store, I've been drinking Gonzalez Byass Nutty Solera, which is stoppered with a plastic/cork stopper that looks very "shipyardy" and "industrial," and is not as tall as the copper caps. I cut off the cork, and when it gets warmer outside (-4 Celsius, almost record cold for Vancouver), I'll paint them black (although they're already black) and mount the model on them. When it all gets finished, I'll take some photos.
Lately I have been using acrylic (plexiglass) rods. I keep both 1/4 and 3/8 rods on hand. I'd use 1/4 inch for the smaller scales.
I cut a square about an inch by inch, quarter inch thick, and make a quarter inch hole in it, then glue to the bottom of the hull where I want the rods to go. I then set the hull down on the wood I will use for a base and match drill through the holes and into the base stock. At a certain point I glue the rods into the ship, and then into the base.
Lately, I have also been using a construction base. I make a rectangle in half or three quarter MDF, and also match drill through holes in hull into that base. I then glue rods into hull early in the build, so the ship can stand upright during the build. I clamp one of those six inch plastic bar clamps to the base when I want to work on the ship sides.
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