Star Wars LEGO: Flying Bases

I'm in the process of building two, possibly four ultimately, armies of Star Wars LEGO figures that can be used to play wargames with. It goes without saying that quite a few of the models represent vehicles that have the capacity to fly and in order to use them in an aesthetically pleasing way as part of a tabletop game it's best to be able to suspend them in some way a few centimetres, if not inches, above the playing area

At first I thought I'd try using Games Workshop flying bases and small neodymium modellers magnets, a combination which works perfectly well for most of the flying vehicles one encounters as part of the Warhammer 40K universe. This method worked well but there was a problem with it in as much as in order for it to work properly you have to glue one of the magnets on to the underside of one of the bricks used to construct the vehicle, potentially 'spoiling' the brick. A 4mm diameter magnets fits perfectly into the stud receptors mind. A further 'issue' is that it is quite a fiddly process, requiring you to do a bit of trimming to the flying base before then gluing a second magnet on to the top of the supporting shaft

After trying this solution out four times I decided I wanted to try and find an alternative that firstly required no trimming, gluing or despoiling of bricks and secondly involved making use of LEGO bricks as a central feature of the design. I sat and pondered and then started to play around with some spare bricks in the spares box. Before long I'd hit upon a solution I was happy with, and that's one of the marvellous things about LEGO as a toy, the creative possibilities it affords, limited only by your imagination

I'm pleased with the outcome. See what you think

The starting point is a Games Workshop flying base

These three little bricks are all you need to turn it into a base that will support a number of the smaller LEGO vehicles

The cylinder fits perfectly over the top of the shaft and comes to a natural stop as the shaft begins to widen

The insertion of the sleeve piece facilitates the addition of a flat stud

Fit the small flat stud on the top and there you have it. This fits into the stud receptors on the underside of the vehicle

'In game' the flying base will stand directly on the tabletop

May the Force be with you!