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Magnetizing Tutorial; or, how I learned to stop caring and love polarizing forces


Slimnoid

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So, I've been experimenting with magnets for a couple months now, and I've found it to be an invaluable item in the miniatures hobby. First and foremost it can make some models much easier to transport, especially large or unwieldy creations like say, any big Warhammer model. They can also let you switch out weapons, hold rank and file models together on a movement tray, and generally let you play around with spinning limbs and making woop-woop-woop sounds. The possibilities are practically endless!

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"But Slimnoid, you handsome man you," You ask, "how do you go about magnetizing things?" Well that's what this quick n' dirty tutorial is going to fix! By the end of my informative and totally not last-minute lesson, you'll go from this

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to this!

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In just thirty days.

Step 1: Tools

The most important part of this is having the necessary tools of the trade. If you're reading this, it's assumed you have the basics: a hobby knife, super glue, and a pin vice with large drill bits.

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aka the things that make other things

In this instance we'll be using 3.00mm rare earth magnets; you will need smaller magnets for smaller models. You want to use rare earth magnets and not say, the ones your mom puts your school drawings on and calls them a masterpiece; those don't have the strength to hold up to anything.

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Missing: my progress report, and for good reason

Of course, we can't do anything without models, now can we?

Step 2: Victims

3.00mm is pretty big for most 28mm scale models, which is why we're using the Imperium's finest in our little experiment.

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Give'em a hand, ladies and gentlemen

Meet Bob and Steve. They're best pals but have a crippling case of No Arms. Like their arch-nemesis Abaddon, they simply don't have arms to strike their foes with, or tie their boots, or give high-fives with an explosion in the background and a rockin' guitar riff playing. You know, essential manly actions.

We're going to fix that.

Step 3: Drilling

Determine the point of contact for your magnets to meet. This is very important, as simply drilling willy-nilly will result in lopsided limbs and funny gestures from your tiny plastic men. Once you do that, grab the ol' pin vice and begin!

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BY THE EMPEROR THE PAIN!

You will need to eyeball this a bit, and drill just far enough for the magnet to be flush with the outside; you don't want the magnet to be sticking out, as that would look silly and remove the illusion of a complete model. If you're like me, you'll forget and use the wrong drill bit and have to widen it just a tad.

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Just...let me die...

He's such a good sport.

Step 4: Gluing

Once you have the hole carved out, glue that sucker in there.

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The...the pain has stopped...?

The exact polarity facing out doesn't really matter much here, but if you want to be particular that's fine. My solution to it is to simply let another magnet fly towards it like a speeding bullet and sort itself out, then mark the bottom to where I want to glue it later.

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Ow!

We're gluing a magnet on each side where we want his arms to go. While we let the glue dry, we do the same to the arms he'll be using, following the same steps as above.

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Wolverine stripes sold separately

Once the glue dries, we grab the marked magnet and glue the marked edge towards the inside of the arm; this is very important, as if you glue the wrong polarized side facing out, the arm will fling itself away in disgust and curse you for all eternity.

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Not seen: my startled cat after limb recovery

Set all parts aside to fully dry, and be sure to keep them away from each other or else they will very likely attract each other. And we don't want that, unless you like unexpected results in bio-engineering.

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What has science done?!

Step 5: Profit!

This is pretty self-explanatory. Once everything is dry, everything should fit together perfectly, or as close to it anyhow. You may need to grab a file and shave things down a bit to keep it nice and flush--you want full contact here for maximum strength. If you do it right, they should come out like this!

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We're gonna cut ya, sucka!

And that's really about it! These are the bare-bone basics of magnetizing models, using common tools just about any modeller would have on hand, and works equally well on plastic, pewter, and resin models. You can get fancy with a dremel tool, which I recommend if you happen to have one as it can speed up the process a bit and make the holes much neater and more exact, but it isn't strictly necessary.

Have fun and good luck!

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You know, this is about as good as it gets. Simple, easy to understand, and well-written. However, I've read (and watched) multiple tutorials on magnetizing minis, and I still can't get it right. Multiple minis are my current answer (such as my 4 arachnid swarms and 6 individual arachnids).

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You know, this is about as good as it gets. Simple, easy to understand, and well-written. However, I've read (and watched) multiple tutorials on magnetizing minis, and I still can't get it right. Multiple minis are my current answer (such as my 4 arachnid swarms and 6 individual arachnids).

For my Arachnid Swarms, I measured out small circles in sheet metal, ones large enough for the arachnid to sit on. From there, I punched a hole in the middle for the magnet to sit in and glued it there; then, I glued the arachnid on (after styling the metal to match the base and give his legs support).

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The middle one has a drinking problem

For the large 40mm base, I glued more of the same sheet metal down, equally spaced so they don't overlap or hang off the edge of the base. For when I split them apart or summon them, I just put a bit of metal down on the 30mm base and that was that.

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Not actually scratch n' sniff

It's really just planning ahead and trying to figure out exactly how you want to do it.

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This is a wonderful tutorial, I especially appreciate the information on the type of magnets to use. I am going to be working on a Coryphee duet shortly and have been at a loss as to how to base them. The arachnid swarm pictures are going to make the project much easier. Thanks!

I'd love to see it when it's done!

I would probably suggest http://www.rare-earth-magnets.com/ for your magnet-buying needs, since the prices are reasonable for the amount they give. The pack I showed, I purchased at my LGS (with a discount!) but even at full price, $15 for 100 magnets isn't too bad. I'm sure if you search around on Amazon or Ebay you can get them for cheaper and possibly in larger numbers, so dig around for deals.

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Yeah I love mag'in models it just is kinda fun to do. But my all time crowning shame was mag'in a space marine commander model ended up using 59-65 mags can't really remember did it to a sixer of Guinness. Now he is like a GW model with the ease of a Lego style plug and play, everything wrists, codpieces, guns backpack, shoulder pads,arms, heads you name it everything included in the kit got magnets put into it. Now it sits at my LGS as a what can you do with time and magnets. Most people are starting to mag out their armies

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Yeah I love mag'in models it just is kinda fun to do. But my all time crowning shame was mag'in a space marine commander model ended up using 59-65 mags can't really remember did it to a sixer of Guinness. Now he is like a GW model with the ease of a Lego style plug and play, everything wrists, codpieces, guns backpack, shoulder pads,arms, heads you name it everything included in the kit got magnets put into it. Now it sits at my LGS as a what can you do with time and magnets. Most people are starting to mag out their armies

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You must show me this masterpiece.

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Will have to go and pick it up. It was quite funny after the second Guinness I started putting the drill bit right through my fingers. I'll get some pics up soon

i dont think any of us want to see a pin vice in your finger.....

but a pick of the model would be good if you dont mind

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Great tutorial!

You can get fancy with a dremel tool, which I recommend if you happen to have one as it can speed up the process a bit and make the holes much neater and more exact, but it isn't strictly necessary.

A cheap off brand one works wonders. I've upgraded from my under-powered one I picked up from Michael's Crafts for half price (with coupon) a few years ago that finally met its maker (or at least needs its power cord replaced) to a decent one I found at a Big Lots close outs store. Brand name Dremel accessories are compatible, fairly inexpensive (compared to an actual Dremel rotary tool), and quite durable. I'd gone from using it once or twice, when I first bought the first one, to finding it indispensable when it broke.

Coryphees are one of the models on the waiting list for magnetizing that not having a dremel brought about. I may use something similar to the modular bases I see on the arachnid swarms for them. As for my actual arachnids, I've just drilled lil' holes in their bellies, dropped the magnets in with no care to the polarity, and used metal screws on their bases as something for them to cling onto. [Were I to do it over again, I might stop and care about their polarity so that I could have them cling onto other magnets on other models.]

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