The Twist Lock Rod system (initially designed for the Brave Sun starship Miniatures Kickstarter) is made for ease-of-use, portability, and convenient assembly and storage of your starship models, keeping the bases, rods, and starship models separate.
There are a variety of options out there for standing your models, but none as simple as the Twist Lock Rod system - Just 3D print, twist on, and you're ready to go! Want to put your fleet away? Just twist the other direction and pull, and you can keep your ships, rods, and bases separate, making them easy to store and carry.
No clumps of magnetic rods, or permanently gluing your ships onto their stands necessary.
All files come presupported including .STL and .LYS versions. The unsupported .STLs are also included if you prefer to create your own supports.
The system was originally intended for resin printing, but in testing we've found that it works for FDM as well as resin printing.
We recommend printing in at least .2mm layers or thinner, and to rotate models that have the "Twist Lock Rod Hole" to be at about a 45° angle when slicing, with the Twist Lock Rod Hole facing away from the build plate. This ensures proper tolerances are met so the twisting is functional but also moderately tight.
The adaptors can be used to convert your starship models into twist lock models! Simply print the twist lock male adaptor, and glue it into the hole at the bottom of your ship. Your ship doesn't even need to have a 3mm or 5mm hole, as you can use one of the flat adaptors and simply glue it to the bottom of the ship.
Keep the orientation of the adaptor in mind, we recommend placing the adaptor so that the long side of the "Twist Lock Rod Hole" aligns with the length of the ship, front-to-back. (Parallel, not perpendicular)
The Rods don't wear out as quickly as you'd expect thanks to the well-tested tolerances. But if they do wear out, all you need to do is print some new rods and you're good to go!
