Choosing a saddle-type DD stand

I recently obtained a Saber Lily DD (will post about it later) and have been experimenting around with posing it. I quickly discovered how poorly the older DDII body stands and balances, especially when Saber Lily has her entire armour set on and is holding Caliburn. Because I dislike boring, standing poses, I currently have Saber Lily posed similar to the GSC Saber Lily ~Distant Avalon~ PVC figure's pose.

 

Saber Lily DD with Aoi:

 

GSC's Saber Lily:

 

As you can see in the above GSC picture, Saber Lily's legs are spread out in a low, firmly grounded stance. In the doll world, however, this stance positioning has absolutely no stability (the DD knees just give way or the DD tips over). I am currently maintaining her position with the (crappy) Volks plastic DD stand supporting her waist, but you'll notice that the light-weight stand itself is held down with sticky tack (and is frankly no more stable than the doll itself).

 

Given this particular pose and the dolls' overall heavier weight, I'm guessing that I want the following qualities:

- saddle style stand

- stable grip that can prevent doll from leaning forward/backward

- heavy base that can counter the combined weight of Saber Lily + armour + weapon

- adjustable height, low enough to allow the above pose (knees blend and legs spread out)

 

I looked at various different popular stands and found the main choices were between Volks, CoolCats, and DollfieWorld.

 

Volks' VS Doll Stand / SD / Metal / C - Saddle hold type - Side

($55 USD + domestic shipping)

- metal base so probably heavy enough

- assume the grip should be tight

- looks like it'll be of variable adjustable but there's no sample pictures

 

Volks' VS Doll Stand / SD / Wood / C - Saddle stand type

($55 USD + domestic shipping)

- large wood base probably heavy enough

- wooden base looks more majestic (I think?)

- looks like an older model, not sure about quality?

- looks like it'll be of variable adjustable but there's no sample pictures

 

CoolCat's DD Doll Stand - U Type ( 15cm Ø Round )

($47 USD + overseas shipping)

- small acrylic base too light?

- acrylic base is transparent

- saddle part not stiff enough to prevent forward/backward leaning?

- doesn't look like it can adjust low enough for the above pose

 

Dollfie World Doll Stand

($480.00 HKD, about $65 USD + overseas shipping)

- large acrylic base should be heavy enough

- acrylic base is transparent

- tripod screw on the bottom

- looks like it has adjustable height but also no doll comparison pics

- with shipping, probably $20-30 more expensive than Volks ones

 

I've watched the these

comparison videos, but none of them really showcased the saddle-style stand. Was hoping I'd be able to find some targeted opinions and advice here. If you have any of the stands, photos of it in various heights and with a DD-sized doll beside it would be greatly helpful.

 

Thanks!

 

~Keripo

Edited October 2, 2013 by Guest

I have all of the stands listed except for the Dollfie World stand.

 

My favorite stand is the Cool Cat one. It has a fairy heavy base and good grip. The base is small so it doesn't take up much space but the height is hard to work with because it doesn't go much lower than the standing position.

 

For your purposes, I'd suggest the Wooden Volks Stand for SD(I think you listed the MSD one on accident?). The base is sturdy and heavy. It also looks very high quality. The actual metal pole part for the metal and wooden version are the same, regardless of what the photo looks like (They reused the photo from MSD stand so it is inaccurate). Both of the Volks stands have the excellent triangular shaped grip. They are also adjustable. I'm not sure if it could go as low as the pose you want but I have a feeling that it can.

 

The reason why I recommend the wooden version is because it's very likely the metal one will wobble. I've had two Volks metal stands that both wobbled when screwed in completely.

 

Hope this info helps, feel free to ask more questions if you're curious.

I've had the issue with the Volks metal stands wobbling as well when fully screwed in, but found the solution to be to simply cut a bit of the screw off with a metal saw.

I've had the issue with the Volks metal stands wobbling as well when fully screwed in, but found the solution to be to simply cut a bit of the screw off with a metal saw.

 

Ahhh waha, you're so crafty. I'm not very good at that sort of thing.

I have all of the stands listed except for the Dollfie World stand.

 

My favorite stand is the Cool Cat one. It has a fairy heavy base and good grip. The base is small so it doesn't take up much space but the height is hard to work with because it doesn't go much lower than the standing position.

 

For your purposes, I'd suggest the Wooden Volks Stand for SD(I think you listed the MSD one on accident?). The base is sturdy and heavy. It also looks very high quality. The actual metal pole part for the metal and wooden version are the same, regardless of what the photo looks like (They reused the photo from MSD stand so it is inaccurate). Both of the Volks stands have the excellent triangular shaped grip. They are also adjustable. I'm not sure if it could go as low as the pose you want but I have a feeling that it can.

 

The reason why I recommend the wooden version is because it's very likely the metal one will wobble. I've had two Volks metal stands that both wobbled when screwed in completely.

 

Hope this info helps, feel free to ask more questions if you're curious.

Yeah, I meant to link the SD one

From the sounds of it, the wooden base would be more stable anyway so that's sounding like the better candidate right now.

 

Would you by chance be able to take a pic of your various stands at min and max length, with a standard DD standing straight beside them for scale?

 

~Keripo

I guess I could also mention that when fixed, the metal base stand is amazingly sturdy. The base is super heavy so it'd support the craziest of poses.

CoolCat stands are my favorite, I have a Dollfie World stand and it's inferior. The larger base from DW would be good for Lily but the stand itself is poorly made and unstable. It could work if you can hack a fix.

 

I was going to recommend this stand from Ebay, however they've raised the price a lot since I got one. It's still around the price of CoolCat considering shipping, though. The stand is adjustable enough to work for DDS, DD2 and DDDy (unlike CoolCat) and it's pretty well made and packaged. The downside is that it won't look as good for dolls who aren't wearing a long dress

I was going to recommend this stand from Ebay, however they've raised the price a lot since I got one. It's still around the price of CoolCat considering shipping, though. The stand is adjustable enough to work for DDS, DD2 and DDDy (unlike CoolCat) and it's pretty well made and packaged. The downside is that it won't look as good for dolls who aren't wearing a long dress

I wouldn't recommend that stand to anyone, someone I know had a DD get pretty damaged due to one of those stands breaking. They're originally cheap stands off Taobao and I bought a few myself, and the quality is very varying.

I was going to recommend this stand from Ebay, however they've raised the price a lot since I got one. It's still around the price of CoolCat considering shipping, though. The stand is adjustable enough to work for DDS, DD2 and DDDy (unlike CoolCat) and it's pretty well made and packaged. The downside is that it won't look as good for dolls who aren't wearing a long dress

I wouldn't recommend that stand to anyone, someone I know had a DD get pretty damaged due to one of those stands breaking. They're originally cheap stands off Taobao and I bought a few myself, and the quality is very varying.

 

Thanks for the heads up!

Mine seems sturdier than the DW stand, but I won't put too much trust in it. Still sticking with the CoolCat stands for most of my crew

Regarding the height, for cool cat (I don't own any Volks so not sure how are they designed but might be similar) the pole is combined by 2 poles. The top pole is inserted into the bottom one - which is screwed into the base. You can shorten the top one. The top one will normally go all the way to the base but being shortened, it will be kept floated by the screws. Screws are generally strong enough to do so. Push it all the way in and basically you can go as low as 50% of the original height. My MDD and DD always share cool cat stands.

 

For the Lily pose, I'd say the 15cm cool cat might be a good bet for you. It's flat (~5mm in height), transparent (I love the wooden too, looks really expensive, but for me, stand should stay subtle. Want to see the doll, not the stand meh ^^) and big enough to keep everything stable and is among the more economical one.

A bit late, but here's some pics of Saber Lily on Volks' metal C Saddle-type stand. It worked perfectly for the Distant Avalon pose (with Aoi making a guest appearance):

 

~Keripo

I'm curious about how they actually sit on this stand. Could somebody please take a photo without clothes in the way so I can see how they rest on it?

Saddle-type stands work like this:

 

I'm curious about how they actually sit on this stand. Could somebody please take a photo without clothes in the way so I can see how they rest on it?

 

~Keripo