Magnetic Advice!

[bulley]

Right - Just as I've built my BA army, I've realised that really in my rush to get a army on the table, I really took a short cut where I should have magnetised most of my army.

 

Luckily things like my tanks I can still do a little bit (magnets for Stormbolters to swap between razors/rhino, Baal - side sponsons to give me multiple options etc..). However my biggest regret is not doing the back packs for the ASM so that I can swap seemlessly between DoA and Mech.

 

However, I do need some advice here;

 

First off - Where is the best place to get Magnets? Price really isn't an issue, just some where that is relativily fast, reliable and sells a good product.

 

Second - What sizes? This is where I came unstuck. Anyone with size knowledge experience for;

 

What size Magnets for:

 

- backbacks/jump packs

- marine arms (weapon swaps)

- dread arms (weapon swaps)

- tank side door / sponsons

- attack bike weapon (HB/MM)

- land speeder weapons (HB/Flamer/AC/MM and I will magnetise the typhoon misiles I think as well).

 

I realise probably a good few will be cross overs - so would be handy if people highlight which so I can order a lot of these. Also if anyone has any other times / situations etc.. that will be handy for.

 

Cheers in advanced.

[IronKobra]

I have used mostly 2mm x 1mm magnets. I haven't done a huge deal of them but they are small enough for weapon swaps and fit into the wrist armour of marines hands. I think they would work well enough for back packs and arms for other things too, they are VERY strong! I am not sure about tanks since I haven't tried to magnetise any yet.

 

here is where I get mine:

 

http://www.bitsandkits.co.uk/10-x-2mm-x1mm...ets-p-3981.html

 

I even got the 2mm drill bit too and really these have worked great for me without having to use greenstuff to fill unsightly gaps.

 

http://i847.photobucket.com/albums/ab36/IronKobra84/SPS8.jpg

 

http://i847.photobucket.com/albums/ab36/IronKobra84/SPS6.jpg

 

I used some of these magnets in this guy here so I can change from a power sword to chainsword. The magnet was placed in his wrist! So you can see they are great for small jobs like this as you cant really notice.

[IronKobra]

I have also used one of these in the 'handle' of a melta and a flamer and one in a marine hand so i can do a weapon swap without changing a whole arm. It takes a steady hand to keep from shredding the model but again this worked for me... No pics of that as an example unfortunately.

[Morollan]

I get mine from this place.

 

I have used 1mm magnets but found them to be too small to hold most things so I switched to 2mm and they are pretty much perfect for jump packs, weapon swaps etc.

[Tanhausen]

My DW is fully magnetized.

 

3x1 mm is a jack of all trades.

 

For dread arms, you can go up to 4mm.

 

But really...3x1 is perfect size.

[gustmic]

I use 3mm x 1mm discs.

Go them from my FLGS.

 

If you want to see how I magnetized my jump-pack army of BA check out my blog (see older articles).

[bulley]

Cheers guys.

 

I'll pick up a bunch of 3mm and maybe some 1 or 2mm just for "smaller" stuff if I do need wrist swaps (might need for a different part of the same project).

 

gust - just checking our your blog now mate, awesome stuff, loving the video of the magnets aswell - will be checking back on that one on the regs for your updates. Like the look of your army thus far.

[Brother Weasel]

I get all my magnates from here

 

http://www.kjmagnetics.com/Default.asp

 

fast and easy, lots of choices, great service.

[bulley]

Thanks again.

 

Hopefully can get them delivered by this weekend so I can work up the first squad of RAS and my honorguard (so I can run them as either CC or MG HG's) and my attack bike.

[jbarket]

I get all my magnates from here

 

http://www.kjmagnetics.com/Default.asp

 

fast and easy, lots of choices, great service.

 

I get mine here too.

 

I use 1/8" x 1/16" for backpacks. It's so close in size to the actual nub on the model it works great. I just cut it off, drill the center of it, and drop in the magnet. They fit snug in jump packs without any real working at all.

[Wildfire]

Rather than magnetizing all my arms/hands, I mount my models on washers (using putty on center hole) and glue magnets to the underside of bases. Then I paint the sides of the bases different colors to differentiate squads (I don't use squad markings on the models themselves). It gives the same effect as magnetizing arms, but is much simpler and you're less likely to lose pieces.

[TheAvengingKnee]

well thank you all for the good information, i just today bought a batch of minis and this advice was very helpful.

[AndyinUT]

check out my thead on my humble company. Lots of pictures of magnets in action and a few questions answered on what sizes and where. Keep a look out for my ultra magnetized Predator.

[Aeterni]

*cut*

 

However my biggest regret is not doing the back packs for the ASM so that I can swap seemlessly between DoA and Mech.

 

However, I do need some advice here;

 

First off - Where is the best place to get Magnets? Price really isn't an issue, just some where that is relativily fast, reliable and sells a good product.

 

Second - What sizes? This is where I came unstuck. Anyone with size knowledge experience for;

 

What size Magnets for:

 

- backbacks/jump packs

- marine arms (weapon swaps)

- dread arms (weapon swaps)

- tank side door / sponsons

- attack bike weapon (HB/MM)

- land speeder weapons (HB/Flamer/AC/MM and I will magnetise the typhoon misiles I think as well).

 

*cut*

 

Cheers in advanced.

 

-For backpacks and jump packs, I simply placed a pin through the top part above the usual semi circle. This i find actually holds the backpack quite well.

-Marine arms I did the same thing, this time however, you have to be extra careful.

-Dread arms same thing again, I used a compass to draw a circle around the usual arm mount point and then drilled out 8 holes all evenly spaced. This allowed me with 2 metal rods in each arm to put them in various positions. Precision is key here and so is greenstuff, and I cannot stress that enough.

-Tank side door I am using a circular earth magnet and glued metal to the inside of the door frame.

-Attack bike weapon i used a pin like the marine arms

-Land speeder weapons on from the gunner are pinned, whilst everything else is magnetized with the same earth magnets and metal sheets.

 

It takes a great deal of precision and work but these are your models after all :P