Omni-Stands Arrived!

Finally!  My omni-stands arrived today!  Wanna see?

I thought you might.  First, let me be the first to say that these did take a long time to arrive.  However, Mr. Bowen over at CorSec had warned me ahead of time that they were having a supply issue with the brass inserts that go in the bases so I knew it would take a little longer than normal.  Even though I was prepared for it, I was going out of my mind with anticipation.  I've heard nothing but good things about these stands and I had to get my hands on them!

Anyway, the box arrived today instead of yesterday (stupid Presidents Day) and I immediately tore into this bad boy like a kid on Christmas morning and... What.  The.  Hell???

I didn't order blue bases!!!

Why are they blue?  WHY ARE THEY BLUE?!  Oh... it's just the protective film covering them.  Shew.  I was about to flip out for a second there.  We're okay, everybody!  We're okay!  So what all was in the box?
Twenty clear bases, twenty quad dice docks, four rods of every height available, five mounting pegs, fifteen small mounts, five mine markers, and the turn template set!  Man, that's a lot of stuff now that I think about it.

Sans Blue

Let's go over assembly, shall we?  I feel like we really need to focus on this bit because it is extremely difficult to figure out and to actually accomplish.  To put together a flight stand, you have to place a quad dice dock on top of the base AND screw the rod into the base!  Holy smokes!  I hope you guys kept up with me there!  But seriously, these things go together so easily that my youngest son could do it if he wouldn't try to eat it first.  CorSec really made a great product here.

Alright, so the bases are assembled.  Now how do we mount them to the actual ships?  Why, with the handy dandy mounting pegs, of course!  While not complicated, some care should be exercised here so as not to mess up your models.  CorSec makes the standard mounting pegs which mount flush in a 3/16" diameter hole.  However, they are about a 1/4" long so you can't really mount them flush on every ship.  To counter this, I purchased some of the small mounts as well.  They are 1/4" diameter and about 3/16" tall so they're a little wider but shorter.  These pegs are really intended to just glue to the bottom of the ship.  I experimented with these a bit which I'll talk about in just a second.  Let's start with the easiest ship to mount, the good ole Dindrenzi battleship!

Nailed it.

This was almost too easy.  I took a 3/16" bit and just used my cordless drill.  I used the existing hole as a pilot and drilled it right out.  Be sure to keep the mounting peg nearby so you can do a test fit to make sure it's flush.  Didn't take much time at all and was super easy.  Turned out great.

Next, I tackled the Sorylian cruisers using the exact same method.  They were super easy.  After that, I felt like I had a good feel for the drill and the resin so I decided to hit the Sorylian battleship.  My original intent was to actually place the mounting peg behind the original hole and nearer to the rear of the ship because I was unsure as to whether or not there would be enough resin there due to it sitting on that thin spine.  However, I felt a little cocky and gave it a shot using the original spot.  I lucked up and didn't botch it so I managed to drill out the existing hole enough to insert the mounting peg.  If I were to recommend a location, though, I would not recommend doing this.  The resin was paper thin once I was done.  One false move probably would have shredded a chunk out of it.  Don't risk it if you're doing a Sorylian battleship.  Either go back about 3/4" from the original hole or use a small mount and just mount it flush.  It worked out well for me but I think it was just luck.  I do want to emphasize that this issue is through no fault of the product.  You just need to find the best place on each model to place the mounting peg.

More luck than skill

Once this was complete, I hit the six Dindrenzi frigates with the small mounts.  I just glued them right to the bottom and drove on.  I was really nervous about them being unsightly while ordering but, now that they're on there and I see them from the tabletop, I'm totally happy with them.  The Sorylian frigates took a little shaving off of some resin to give me a nice little flat spot to get a good surface to mount the pegs but it took maybe fifteen minutes to do all six.

I finished up the entire project by actually whipping out a 5/16" bit and drilling out the mounting hole in my Dindrenzi cruisers in order to recess the mounts a bit.  I'm not sure if it was worth it.  In hindsight, they probably could have just used the normal mounting pegs instead of the small pegs.  It worked out alright since they're mounted up in the ship and pretty much out of sight.  They actually almost look like they could be a part of the ship so that's cool.  It was a chore, though, and I was nervous I was going to destroy the model with such a large drill bit.

With just a few small hiccups, the project was completed in maybe an hour and a half.  I now have two starter fleets rocking out the very best flight stands available.  I consider that a win.

If you're thinking about doing this project but are unsure about what pegs to use on what ships, please shoot me an email or a comment or something.  My gaming group has almost all of the starter fleets so I can help you decide on which mounting pegs to use for your ships and where to place them.  However, it's not rocket science.  Just get a ruler and find a spot you think you can drill a hole.  Let me know how it goes if you decide to upgrade to these stands!