Review: Omni-Stand System by Corsec Engineering

by bdub

If you’re anything like me you have had plenty of frustrations dealing with crappy flightstands on models.  I may have found a solution!

Flightstands are fragile and often break or don’t attach to the model well.  For many of us they are an after-thought until that beautifully painted Cruiser/Jetbike/Landspeeder takes a bump and breaks its stand during play or transport.  To address these grievances, Corsec Engineering gives us the Omni-Stand System, and I’d like to tell you all about it.

Many of us think a flightstand, is a flightstand, is a flightstand. Not so (at least anymore).  To the rescue comes a wonderfully engineered, durable, adaptable product that you will have and use for years to come. The Omni-Stand in not just a flightstand, but a collection of components designed to work together interchangeably to meet you flightstand needs. It consists at is most basic of a mount, a peg, and a base. The mounts are small metal inserts, threaded internally to receive the peg.  The peg is an ingeniously simple metal shaft that is threaded on both ends, with small rubber O-rings at the base of each set of threads (more on that later). The base is a laser-cut acrylic sheet, available in a host of sizes and shapes, with a press-fit brass ferule, threaded to receive a peg.

 

An assortment of Omni-Stand components

Now that all sounds pretty simple, but the genius of the “system” is that all components go together and come apart easily.  Simple hand tightening (and it doesn’t take much) will securely assemble or disassemble stands. This allows for easy storage and transport, as the loose components take up very little room. You will also notice how securely the model keeps its orientation on the stand, but can still be unscrewed with little effort. This is all due to the use of the O-ring I mentioned earlier. The O-ring compresses as the threads are tightened. This snugs the model to the peg and the peg to the bas,e bearing the friction that holds the whole thing in place.  This saves wear and tear on the threads which by themselves would take much more effort to tighten, putting at risk the model and eventually the threads.

Now that you have a grasp of the “system”, let’s talk about its value to you.  The very first thing I noticed about this product was the incredible quality with which it is designed and made.  All of the components were consistent in dimension and feel, with no discernible variation or defects.  All of the parts swapped and interchanged beautifully with each other.  The next thing to take notice of is the shear variety and customizability within the system. The pegs come in a wide variety of heights, while the bases come in an even wider variety of shapes and sizes to accommodate virtually any and all game systems you might play. In addition to all that, there are available an assortment of add-ons, such as dice docks, flat and round magnetic peg toppers for tilting your models, and even a telescoping peg for on the fly altitude adjustments.

Example of a Reaver Jetbike on a 30mm round base w/ 1.5″peg.

What about cost? Initially when I looked into the Omni-Stand system, I thought it was a bit expensive. Almost instinctively I began adding up the cost of each component and coming up with a price/model which came out in the $2.50 to $3.00 range for most of the models I was considering.  At first I balked, which I think most of you would.  But I quickly realized I was not appreciating the real cost.  Omni-Stand after all, was a “system’ design expressly for efficient disassembly and reassembly, and made to a quality standard that lets you do it over and over again…on any of your models!  And that’s the kicker. When you buy into this “system” you are buying components to be used across ALL of the models and games you are invested in. I quickly realized that I would be buying a lot of mounting pegs, probably an assortment of rods, and an assortment of bases relevant to the systems I play and in the quantities that I typically field on the table. Consequently you will have redundancy in parts across your models.  If you felt so inclined you could buy a single stand for each and every flying model you have, but there is no need to do so – and so the cost is spread out across more than just a single model. You’re Venoms and your Landspeeders can use the same rig, just as your Dindrenzi Cruisers and your Eagle War Rotors can share theirs. And they can all share the same pegs if needed – Genius!

Example of 2 air ships on square fire arc bases w/ 2″pegs.

Another thing to consider is that most components are discounted with the purchase of larger quantities.  Typically 5-14 will get you 10% off, with 15 or more going for 20% off. Considering all of that and the quality and flexibility of the “system”, I’d say it was a hell of a value and worth every penny!

The bases are typically available in Round, Square, Hex, and WingsofWar styles.  The round come in black or clear, the rest come in clear acrylic. The round bases are available in 60mm & 30mm, as is typical of GW games systems. The square bases come in blank and etched LoS line styles. The Hexes come in a huge assortment of sizes from 1.25” all the way up to 5”.  And the WoW bases have all the relevant direction and fire arc lines etched into them.

Omni-Stand with 3x12mm dice dock add-on

The dice docks come pre-drilled to fit over the pegs in single and 3 dice varieties – they use 12mm dice.  I should mention that outside of the Omni-Stand compatible ones, Corsec Engineering has a wide variety or dice docks in general.  Of particularly interest are the Tiny Flyer docks that come in 12mm and 5mm dice varieties, and the mine shaped dice docks in 12mm.

Assortment of dice docks including the 5mm & 12mm tiny flyer docks,