Is it just me, or did you vary the heights of the flight stands?
You are correct, I did in fact cut the flight stands to varying heights (or lengths, depending on your perspective). I've done this for most of my flying models; I find that it makes them a little easier to handle on the board, since all the models aren't knocking into each other (these airships especially have a tendency to spin around on their flight stands like tops--something easily fixed with some superglue and magnets, but I'm just too lazy/forgetful to do it). But primarily it's for effect--makes them look a little different, and maybe just a tad more realistic.
I did the same thing for my French cruisers (the
Toulon-class, from the naval boxed set). They are surface skimmers, and yet the flight stands they come with are standard height. If they are surface skimmers, shouldn't they be just above the surface? So I trimmed those flight stands down considerably, to the point that the bottom of the cruisers' hulls is about a quarter of an inch above the top of the flight stand. I'll eventually do the same with the Chinese
Dun-class bastions and the dreadnaught, as they are all surface skimmers as well.
The new FSA
New Orleans-class large airship has the Low Level MAR, meaning that it can drop down to basically surface skimmer altitudes (it has to do this in order to effect repairs on surface vessels/armored vehicles). I'll likely trim down a large flyer flight stand (or make a custom low-level flight stand with some spare regular flight stands I have) so that it will actually BE lower on the table when using this MAR.
It's pretty simple--I cut the flight stands using a sprue clipper. It doesn't always give me an even surface on the top, but I can always sand it to level it out. Be advised, though, if you use this method, the other part of the stand will take off like a bullet once you cut through it. I supposed you could use a small saw, but that takes longer and makes dust.
