Magnetising models

Greetings shipmates, I've spent a fair amount of time today making bits of models leap together through the black sorcery of magnetism. Along the way I worked out a few things that I hadn't before and therefore thought I'd share my methods with you all.

First of all you'll need a few things: A model that you want magnetising is a no-brainer. The magnets I use are neodymium and are flat discs. You also need a drill bit of the same diameter as the magnets, my little finessing touch is adding a cylindrical cutting bit (again the same diameter as the magnets) from my not-a-dremel. A bit of superglue and pot of brightly coloured paint is the last thing you need.

The first step of the magnetising process is to drill some pilot holes in the model - easy in big chunky resin models like the Warhound - where the magnets will be hidden from view. The problem as you can (sort of) see in the insert picture is that most drill bits leave a hemispherical indentation rather than a flat bottomed cylindrical hole that you'd like to glue the cylindrical discs into...

So enter the cylindrical cutting tool. I used it in a pin vice rather than my not-a-dremel as I feared that the high rpm's would skitter the bit out of my control and off-target. One of these days I shall acquire a not-at-all-a-dremel drill press to stop that problem, for now though? Numb fingers. Use the tool to cut down into the resin to a depth that will accomodate the magnets.

Once I glue in the magnets - superglue is all you need - paint a nice rounded blob of thick paint onto the top of the magnets, as central as you can.

Place the corresponding part carefully in place and give a gentle press to transfer the paint. Take off the part and hey presto! Aiming marks for the next set of magnets. Repeat the process with the corresponding part. Make sure you stick the magnets on the right way around, if you get the polarities wrong then the part will fly off rather than sticking together.

Get it right though and with just four pairs of magnets the heavy, heavy torso of the warhound can be held up in the air without glue. This means it is nice and secure without preventing access to the painted interior, you've done the work, you want to see it right?

And that is all folks. I'll be back soon with some interior shots of the warhound. Once they're finished that is....

Don't forget, just 24 hours remain to bid on the chaos army featured a few days ago, it's currently at a very attractive price so head on over to ebay and check it out.

TTFN