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Magnetizing Kataphrons


Tyriks

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So, I picked up two boxes of Kataphrons yesterday.  I'm pretty excited to use them, but first I need to put them together.  Since they cost so much and both Arc Breachers and either Destroyer are pretty potent, I was wondering if anyone has had luck magnetizing them to swap weapons.  I have not yet magnetized anything, and I know this isn't an ideal place to start, but I have nothing else to work with at the moment to practice on, and I don't want to have to drop another $40-80 to build these another way.  

 

Any tips?  I was considering going half-and-half on their armor (since breachers get a lot more plating, putting the plates on the treads but not on their torsos, or something like that) and then trying to magentize arms.  Has anyone done this?

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Haven't done this but I have experience with magnetization. 

 

My tips:

 

If you don't already have one, get yourself a Dremel Tool/Drill Tool (20€ on eBay with a whole lot of different drills). You will need pretty small magnets and some green stuff. Drill a hole into the arms and weapons that is a bit bigger than the magnet. Put in a bit of green stuff and the magnet (since the model is so small you could also leave out the green stuff). The idea is that the magnet will fill up the hole to the point where the plastic once ended. 

 

Dry fit! Don't fiddle around with the magnets once you have glued them into place. They tend to be pretty strong and will just pull each other out of their sockets as long as the glue isn't completely dry. Give it an hour or so to dry before you attatch the weapons/arms/etc. 

 

I hope you know that these are not really the ideal models to start with magnetization. I would recommend to start with an Onager or Carnifex etc. 

 

As for the assembly: I would just build them in full armour. IMHO it looks better and noone will jump down your throat if your Destroyers have said armour.

 

As for the assembly: I would just build them in full armour. IMHO it looks better and noone will jump down your throat if your Destroyers have said armour.

I might actually have an unassembled carnifex I could put together to try this on.  I'll have to check the box of old units I was given.  As for the armor, I tend to agree, though I might leave the plate sticking up in front of their gut off (not a huge fan of that).  But the chest plates definitely look better.  I don't have a dremel yet but I can borrow one for now.  

 

Are there specific kinds/brands/chemical compositions of magnets I should use?  

 

Thanks for the tips!

I magnetise quite a lot and while I have magnetised my Breaches and Destroyers I cannot really advise as I also converted them.

 

However from what I remember the  weapons should be easy as on the arm the big weapon slide on, so all you have to do is put a magnet in the weapon and one in the joint on the frame/torso.

 

I use 1mm 2mm and 5mm magnets and have drill bits that are 1mm and 2mm so the small ones often fit exactly into the whole, though do try fit before gluing. The 5mm are rather large but I have found they often fit inside the joints, turrets of walker and vehicle sized models so does I just glue in place (sometimes with a bit of cutting.

 

I strongly recommend that you play around with the kit a lot before you do any work and read the instruction booklet carefully, Know exactly what goes where and how. Use blue/white tac to hold parts together and see how it all fits together and where a good place for magnets.

On the Broachers and Destroyers you probably won’t be able to connect the ‘wires’  from the weapon to the backpack as they are thin and probably not worth magnetising.

 

For the other arm I would drill into the torso, the claw arms have a little hollow so greenstuff the magnet in. For the phosphor/flamer you probably can only make three of each as (or all of one or the other) as they connect to a ball and socket joint before connecting to the torso. I think you can magnetise the little bit with the ball on the other side and then fix the socket of the arm with glue in the pose you want.

 

If you are more adventures you can by ball magnets of the right size and put them in instead but I think that that will be a weak connection to the torso.

What glue do you use?  Super glue?  Is the green stuff to hold it in or just to make it look smooth?  

 

As far as 1mm magnets, are those strong enough?  I have a tube of Neodymium magnets that are 1.6mm - they look so small that it seems like the arms would just fall off.  You haven't had that happen?

Thanks again for the help!

Superglue to keep the magnets in place. The green stuff when needed is to give me a surface into which to put the magnet if I can’t drill at the right angle or it is hollow in some way.

Depends on the quality of the magnet, I have a Inquisitorial Terminator count as with a magnetised Psycannon (based of the Dreadknight Heavy Psycannon barral and Centurian mealy drill for the main body) that is held in place by a 2mm magnet, it can fall off if you swing the model around but for moving it on the table it is fine.

While a 1mm 1.6mm or 2mm might not to hold one of the Breacher/Destroyer main weapons reliably by itself if memory serves from when I built them the weapon slides on to the Torso/frame, in a plug socket style. That should keep the weapon in place as long as you did not put the model on its side. Add magnets and it should hold better while still being interchangeable.

On a side note, the weapon barrels for each option plug into the main body for each option, so you can magnetise there instead.

 

I would suggest you get some spare bit of plastic and practise on that so that you know how deep you can drill to fit your magnets and how big a bit of plastic they can hold reliable.

 

I would also advise making yourself a magnet holder. That is a bit of plastic with a magnet in with the orientation labelled. So I have one with two magnets, clearly marked, both has spare unused magnets attached to them. One is for in main body and one is for add on.  So I can insure that all magnets in the main body of the object are the same way round, and all in the magnetised add on (weapons, heads whatever) are in the same way as well so that all add on will hold on all main body magnets. It is really frustrating to discover after you have clued a magnet in that it is the wrong way round to the magnet in the component you are trying to attach.

 

Not sure if I am describing this well but I hope you get the idea.

 

As for your other questions, I have had it that the magnets where not strong enough, if I can I dig them out and use a larger, if not I just have to clue it in place and not have it magnetised.  Don’t get frustrated, be careful and think before each step.

I strongly recommend that you play around with the kit a lot before you do any work and read the instruction booklet carefully, Know exactly what goes where and how. Use blue/white tac to hold parts together and see how it all fits together and where a good place for magnets.

  

I'm thinking to do this, I might just build one box as grav destroyers. I doubt I would regret that. But, maybe not. When I have time to get into it, I guess we will see.

I would also advise making yourself a magnet holder. That is a bit of plastic with a magnet in with the orientation labelled. So I have one with two magnets, clearly marked, both has spare unused magnets attached to them. One is for in main body and one is for add on.  So I can insure that all magnets in the main body of the object are the same way round, and all in the magnetised add on (weapons, heads whatever) are in the same way as well so that all add on will hold on all main body magnets. It is really frustrating to discover after you have clued a magnet in that it is the wrong way round to the magnet in the component you are trying to attach.

 

Not sure if I am describing this well but I hope you get the idea.

 

As for your other questions, I have had it that the magnets where not strong enough, if I can I dig them out and use a larger, if not I just have to clue it in place and not have it magnetised.  Don’t get frustrated, be careful and think before each step.

I get what you're saying, that makes sense. Thanks!

I've built mine as Destroyers because I think I'll be fielding them as this built more than Breachers. I've built them almost completely, leaving off the left hand arm and the front of the main gun and just gluing on the back half. With a little bit of green stuff in either side I am planning on putting magnets in there to allow me to field both the Plas and the Grav when I need. With the Phosphor/ Flamer I will use a dremel tool eventually but for the moment I am just using a small bit of blue tack to hold it on.

If you want to switch between grav destroyers and arc breached. It's rather simple to just assemble the grav gun and the arc gun. You don't even need magnets as both will fit snuggly into thier sidearm socket.

 

Ideal! I will give that a go. Save me sticking my fingers together with green stuff and inevitably putting the magnets on backwards.

  • 10 months later...

I had great success magnetizing the Phosphor Blasters/Cognis Flamers on my Kataphron Destroyers, though I can't speak for folks that attempted to do so with the Heavy Grav Cannons/Plasma Calivers. I didn't really see the need since the HGCs are so good. msn-wink.gif

I just built them with grav cannons.  I was very timid then, and I couldn't afford to ruin models because I needed everything any time I played.  But now, having a decent army core, better tools and more know how (and coming off a successful Knight magnetization!) I know I will actually magnetize them next time.  It should be relatively easy since the barrels just slide into the casing, either put a bit of metal inside the casing (the bottom of a can of pringles works) with a magnet at the base of the barrel or put a magnet in both.  I'd bet the piece of metal would be easier and more than sufficient since the friction is almost enough on it's own.  That said, I don't think magnetizing them to be breachers or destroyers would be worth it.  So many armor plates to magnetize, it'd be a TON of work.  

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