Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

So...
My Space Marines are in the soup as I type.
After literally 15 years of not being aware of anything that can strip a plastic figure without destroying it, I have discovered the Dettol, and its great!
£3 for a 750ml Bottle from Asda and my figures are coming out looking brand spanking new with a hospital clean kind of smell!
However I noticed that they also come apart much easier after a soak in the soup, which kind of helped the scrubbing side of things....
But now theyre mostly apart and need assembly again, I thinking about magnets.

Can anyone help me in what sized magnets will be good for interchangable marine arms, backpacks, and anything else I maybe want to have swapable on them?

Model count currently is;

20 marines on foot (tactical squads)
12 Bikers
3 Landspeeders
1 Dreadnought
5 Terminators
and a Commander


I will be adding some, Like a Devastator squad which I will want swappable weapons for everyone from.

So far I have found 2mm and 3mm wide disc magnets and both would fit, but is the 2mm one too weak? Have you done this already? (I know many probably have)

Thanks for any input in advance

Sorry I can't help with magnets but I have a quick question about the Dettol . Which Dettol product have you used for cleaning off the paint back to plastic?

Can you check the main site products and let me know.
http://www.dettol.co.uk/products

Reason I ask is I want to pick up some cheap poorly painted miniatures on eBay to strip and repaint.

Thanks and sorry for not being able to answer you on magnets, although it's something I'm going to start looking into also so will be keeping an eye on
this thread.

Cheers

Its the original one.. Brown antiseptic liquid states 'with Chloroxylenol' on the front of the bottle. Smells kind of like hospitals i havent tryed them, but the info i read suggested that the other kinds will not work and you need this one with the Chloroxylenol in it ( its got some other stuff in it that will strip paint too when I read the label and frankly I do not have a clue what Chloroxylenol is)

Was in the personal hygene section of their site, I think they intend it to be used to clean cut's and grazes up.
But grab a toothbrush (old one.. or go buy one for the job) and a tub/pot/container that will hold your models and some of the dettol liquid. Lid's are good cus honestly it stinks up the place pretty quick... not a bad smell.. but probably unusually strong for your home Leave them for a while... 1 hour, 1 hours.. 24 hours.. its all good.... if it doesnt all scrub off.. then back into the soup it goes and try again later!

So far I've had them in for upto 48 hours with zero damage to the detail, all that happened was some joints weakened... particularly if you painted then glued as the paint loosens from under the glue. But reports from the big wide internet said upto a month is still fine, so I havent worried.

Do wear rubber gloves, like washing up gloves.. not the ones you wash up with though! some colour will dissolve in the dettol, and when that gets onto your skin it dries out your skin leaving the pigments soaked in.. be warned.
And when scrubbing do not introduce water to the figure untill all the paint is away from it because it goes sticky and will need a re-soaking. So keep a smaller pot of fresh dettol fluid to rinse away the remains in after scrubbing in 'the soup' (aptly named as youl see if you try it)

once your satisfied with the paint removal, rinse thoroughly in water / soapy water. It will hold the smell untill you have covered over with some paint layers though. I had a pot of water that I was throwing them into as I finished each one with the toothbrush. Then refreshing the water a few times and leaving it to soak again ... Probably being over paranoid about it... but I don't imagine paint will adhere very well to a model with a thin film of dettol on it, so be thorough in your rinsing off, dont rush - you just saved money on buying brand new figures so relax a bit hehe.

As for the magnets, If no one can help me out I'l try my trial runs and report back here

Just another product I found excellent in the UK is Fairy Power Spray, available from Asda, Wilko's etc. I've used it to strip metal down to bare metal in minutes and plastic down to a thin layer of primer too. Not tested it on finecast but I would try it on a spare piece of sprue first.

I put the minis in a small tupperware tub, gave them a good spray, left them for a few hours, then rinsed them off under the tap removing the paint with an old toothbrush. Easy.

Good stuff on the dettol, I was looking for something like that. Regarding the magnets I am currently magnetising a grey knight army. I think the sizes you describe would work for most plastic stuff. maybe try larger discs for the dreadnought but I think the 3 mm would work. I even use 1 mm magnets in my army and they do the job well. I suggest to buy 3 or 4 different sizes and experiment a little.
good luck!

http://www.guysmagnets.com/
explains everything you wanna know about magnets

I use 3mm x 1.5mm magnets for my marines. I also use them for vehicle weapons. They are insanely strong so there really isn't much need for anything bigger. The bond is strong enough that they don't fall off by sheer weight but they will separate if the model is dropped preventing breaking and can be pulled apart with ease (which can be annoying sometimes). I say only magnetize stuff you plan on changing. I mean you don't need 20 magnetized standard marines. They are only going to be equipped with bolters, except for that one guy who carries the melta. Terminators I would magnetize because then you can switch between tactical and assault and different variants. Vehicles are also good to magnetize because of all the options.

Again I would save the magnets only for those things and just glue the tactical marines together, save for maybe the special weapons.

Many thanks for the tips and quick answer to which Dettol. I will grab some next time in Sainsburys.

Will continue my searching of eBay for more figures to snap up on the cheap.

Cheers

Ooohh lots of inputs most excelent.
I'l have a look at that site you linked Diknsk

I had been thinking... do I need 20 bolgun marines magnetised? ... Iv come down to a No with a but,
...but what about assault marines? if I got some jump packs

I wont be going blood angels tbh so I wont need everyguy jump pack'able, But i may get some assault marines and make them changable into footsloggers and the weapons swapable to bolter / sword and pistol.

I plan to be Dark Angels, largely because of the new starter set to be, and largely because some of my figures are the Monk looking guys, and the bikes are Ravenwing Battleforce ones with the feathers and what have you.

It's made up of 2 Ravenwing Battleforces, AoBR, and an extra speeder, plus a DA veteran box and a command Squad box..... I did have bike mounted command squad and a sammael on speeder maybe il build them the same again hehe.

Edit;
Might go for these guys

Angels of Redemption.... Does anyone know if those guys have a predefined colour scheme for the Deathwing and Ravenwing? or can I make it up without destroying predetermined fluff?

just remember if you make the bolter swapable for the close combat/boltpistol you will need an extra set of shoulder pads! unles you magnetise the shoulder pads of course

As far as the angels of redemption go I believe their deathwing terminators are painted in the same scheme as the rest of the army.

My knowledge of the fluff leads me to think that only the Dark Angels have bone colored 1st company terminators and that successor chapters 1st company is painted in the chapter colors.

As far as the Ravenwing goes I believe that the successor chapters keep with the Dark Angels in that they still call themselves the Ravenwing and wear the pre heresy black armor. Again this is my interpretation based on reading things and whatnot. The only reason I am lead to believe this is because their second companies serve the same purpose as the Dark Angels and that is to hunt the fallen. Keeping the traditional pre heresy black armor kind of fits the bill for this.

As long as you do not paint them red or something I do not think you would stray from the fluff.

Thnx mostwize
Ravenwing I'l probably keep the black as they do look kinda badass
deathwing.. i didnt know if they were black too.. the DA ones were Black and swapped to bone for some fluffy honor/respect reason when the rest changed to green... dont actually know why the ravenwing stayed black though?
Only that the Ravenwing are the seekers and the Deathwing the muscle in the hunt for the fallen, and all other concerns are secondary really. The rest of the chapter seems just for show so that they dont let the secret out to the others

The Ravenwing remain in black armor because they are keeping ties to the Dark Angels legion before the Horus Heresy.

The Deathwing also for a time wore black armor for the same reason. This however changed to the bonewhite color in honor of a group of terminators who defended a DA recruitment world from a massive genestealer infestation. These terminators painted their armor white, which is the color to used to represent death, in anticipation of not surviving the battle to come. They did however succeed in defending the homeworld and this preserved much of the DA heritage. It is because of this that the Dark Angels 1st company continue to paint their armor in the bonewhite as a tribute to the terminators who stood their ground while facing impossible odds. The Dark Angels are the only ones who do this and the "Unforgiven" or successor chapters simply paint their 1st company in the color of their chapters.

I'll throw in my two cents.
The ravenwing and Deathwing kept their armor black in reverence of their original colors, while the rest of the chapter switched to green.
The Deathwing changed their colors to bone white when a recruitment world (which was the original homeworld of Ezekial and asome of the Deathwing members) came under assault by a genestealer infestation. They set out to defend their world.
Prepared for death, they painted their armor in bone white, following their homeworld's traditions. Against expectations they survived and thus saved a bit of history of the Dark Angels.
The rest of the company painted their armor in bone white In honor of their brothers who so bravely defended their homeland.

This is the story of the bone white armor of the Deathwing. . . . or at least that is the story that is told to those not privy to the secrets of the Unfallen Angels.

Based off of that fluff, I'd say in any successor chapters, the 1st and 2nd company are both painted in the original legion colors: Black. Then the rest of the chapter painted how you want them. But you could really do whatever you want, it is a successor chapter, you make up their fluff.

Onto magnets: I started magnets by buying from miniwargaming. They have a pretty good guidline found here: http://store.miniwargaming.com/category/rare-earth-magnets/
For me, I use 3/32 x 1/16 for terminator shoulders. If the hands are being swapped, you'll need the smaller 1/16 x 1/32.
If you order from here, you can order the drill bits that match the magnet sizes exactly (well worth it if you don't already have extensive set of drill bits)
For vehicles, I cannabalised an old set of magnets, but the sizes are about 1/4 x 1/16.

I hope that helps

Much appreciated for the fluff info.
So Black Terminators, Black Bikes and Landspeeders, How about dreadnoughts? Are they also part of the Deathwing?(and hence black) or do all companies have them?(in this case green/ivory) and perhaps Landraiders? not that I have one of those right now. (Oh how I miss my old collection...Lesson learned; dont sell up all your figures thinking youl never return to he hobby, but then a decade later start up again!)

Dreadnoughts are part of regular Dark Angels companies. Venerable dreadnoughts are part of the 1st company. The 2nd company does not maintain any dreadnoughts.

Landraiders are part of the 1st company according to the company organization.

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Dark_Angels#.T-ySDbXY-So

This link right here will show you the break down of Dark Angels companies. All the "Unforgiven" chapters will follow this same organization.

I personally think that the first company of non Dark Angels chapters should be painted in the colors of the chapter as is referenced in the DA codex. If you look at the Disciples of Caliban in the book the 1st company terminator is painted in the chapters colors. If you really want them to stand out however I would then paint them in the traditional black armor that was used prior to the heroic actions of the terminators on the recruitment world. This would also mean that your venerable dreadnoughts would be painted in this fashion.

So I cna go for green/ivory dreadnoughts aswell as jet black ones then.
One idea for the 1st company was to continue the vetical halfs scheme from the Angels of Redemption (gonna say AoR for short from now on I thinks) but swapping the dark green for black whilst keeping the ivory half? I realise I can do anything I decide upon but I'm the kind of person who would enjoy keeping it fluffy - in honestly I might play the game a handful of times in a year if that...(not that I dislike it, just lack a solid gaming group.. the guys who hang out around my local hobby store are hardly enticing me to want to play with them, eg a beginner is playing and they will be asking them questions like 'why have you chosen this?! are you a fool?! its the least strategic option because of this this that and the other, and they will do this and this and this to counter you etc) which is kind of helpful in a way but theyre too full on about it! they come across as trying to control what you collect and how you play rather than actually helping you to understand whats going on before bombarding you with info :S Just a friendly game would be more my cup of tea... no need to get so competetive over such an incredibly unbalanced rule set like warhammer lol.
its more about the assembly, painting and having a finished product to look at for me.
I'm afraid I don't actually have a copy of the Dark Angels Codex book, just the 5th edition vanilla marines one. If I can dig out the old 2nd and 3rd edition books from the loft I'l flick through those for idea's and info.