Ship Stand Question

[Whiterook]

Hi All!

Quick question: I have seen pictures of ship modeler's finished work in which the ship is suspended above a nice wood base on two supports...these supports look kinda like cnadlestick bases, but short/stumpy; the ones I've seen are gold-colored (like if they were gold-plated, but I'm sure they're probably plastic); and I would assume the bottom hull screws onto these. This suspends the ship nicely above, and allows the viewer to see the underbelly of the ship, screws, rudders, etc. Anyone know what these are? Where they are purchased? Or how they are made?

[McCoy]

Can you locate a picture of some kind?

[Whiterook]

Well, after searching online, here's the only one I could put my hand on real quick. The pictures I've seen have been in FSM magazine. I think this is a pretty big ship, 'cause the posts look pretty small...this is the, but the one's I saw were a lot bigger. Incidently, while searching, I noted a few that appear to use brass piping?

[lufttiger]

I have seen what your talking about, alot of kits come with them, but those are the high end ones $$$, as for buying them seperate, i just don't know where?, sorry.

[McCoy]

You can make a stand like that quite easy if you've got access to a supportlathe so you can turn the brass to a suitable form n' the footstand is easy to make out of a suitable woodbase or it can be milled in brass.

[Lemm]

I can see what you talking about but I have no idea where to get them but perhaps if you are a bit of a handyman at heart you could adapt some brass or even plastic painted drawer handles to suit. Readily available in hardware stores. Just a thought.

[Geek44]

I've seen these too and they look great. As has been said, I guess if you had access to a lathe you could turn up a set from brass. I think Lemm may be onto something too. Maybe the knobs intended for writing desk drawers might be okay. Failing that, I think plain pegs in brass or copper would look good anyway.

[Whiterook]

Thanks guys...yeah, I was thinking the same on the turning on a lathe. I haven't worked a lathe since the 80's, and actuallu had an old unit left behind when I bought the house I currently live in...but, not sure I want to get into all that again. I know a couple guys that may be able to turn out some wood versions of these. The knobs suggestion merits exploration; as well as simple brass tubing/piping. Another thing I was toying around with was sculpting "waves" columns over wood pegs...or dolphins...or something else clever.

[Whiterook]

For those interested, I was referenced to a website that has a version of what I was looking for:

PEDESTALS

They're not bad looking at all, and a good option. I may go with an improvised version instead...not sure.

[Geek44]

The sculpting idea is good Whiterook. I think it can pay to be a little different or original. There's nothing quite like seeing the same ideas re-hashed over and over.