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So, I'm looking to get my fantasy armies magnatized to their bases/trays, and could use a little bit of direction. I figured that the rare earth magnets are probably the way to go since they're small and powerful, but i still have a few questions...
What size do i need exactly to fit into the underside of a models base?
For the movement trays, would it work to put a magnetic sheet (like from walmart) on the tray, or would it be better to invest in a metal tray? do the magnets even respond well enough to the sheets for ti to be an option?
A large number of the models are metal and obviously heavier, will small rare earth magnets be enough to hold them to the tray?

Thanks in advance everyone.

You can go to any hardware store and by sheets of thin metal, just get that and a pair of tin snips and cut out the shapes of the movement trays. Just stay away from aluminum as it's non magnetic.

I bought some 5mm x 5 mm square rare earth magnets on e-bay for about 10 euro for a 100.

I then visited my DIY store for steel sheet of 0.6mm thick. More then strong enough to not bend like crazy, but still thing enough to be able to cut them with a steel sheet cutter. I made custom movement trays out of that and used 3mm x 3mm balsa wood beams I got at my local train modelling shop.

HOWEVER: the steel sheet tends to bend a lot during the cutting, so I had to hit it several times with a hammer to bend it back. It's a bit fiddly, but I'm now able to easily transport my army around in my steel toolbox. I just put a few magnets on the bottom of my movement trays and stick it inside the toolbox. It doesn't move half a milimeter and is rocksolid for transport.

In fact, I find it very easy to transport my warhammer army (skaven) because the recent plastics are getting so rediculously big, that transport in foam cases is damn near impossible...

Shogun makes a wonderful range of metal movement trays. I did the DIY method of putting sheet steel into a GW plastic movement tray, but I found the Shogun trays to be better/cheaper/faster.
http://shogunminiatures.com/

Rare Earth magnets will more or less stick like glue to the sheet steel.

I use wooden bases from Litko/GF9 with magnetic tape from MSC Direct.
http://www1.mscdirect.com/eCommerce/NavigationServlet/Clamping-Workholding-Positioning/Magnets/Flexible-Magnetic-Strips-Sheets/_/N-77dfv?cm_re=Category-_-BodyLink-_-Flexible+Magnetic+Strips+%26+Sheets


The magnetic tape + steel tray is more than enough to hold metal figures.

Awesome, thanks guys.

I think i'll have to check out this Shogun site, seems like they've got a pretty good deal going on.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
@ RanTheCid - have you used shogunminiatures often, or recently? i ask mostly because their set up for placing orders is a little odd.

Our club has ordered twice in the past few months. Its just a one man shop - takes him a few days to make the trays. He's always been very responsive to email.

I used this stuff - magnetic paper.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-x-A4-Magnetic-Sheets-0-5mm-Thick-Perfect-Spellbinder-Dies-/200677603253?pt=UK_Crafts_CraftingPaper_EH&hash=item2eb95137b5

Worked really well, plastic models stay on upside down and metals will hold untill a 90* slope.

Glued the models onto the paper, cut them out and there you go.

Thanks, everybody, for the great advice/tips!
I think i'm going to go with metal trays (or inserts at least for my existing trays), and then the magnetic sheets for plastic minis, and the rare earth magnets for metal minis. The only question i have left is, just how thick of a magnet do i need to fit into the underside of a models base so it makes proper contact with the tray? 1mm/2mm? 3?