Hey guys!
First, let me say that I've never done anything like this before. Making a tutorial, that is. Please bear with me; I'm going to do my absolute best. Feel free to ask me any questions afterwards! Enjoy!
It all started about four nights ago. I was dead set on magnetizing my then un-built Dreadknight. So, I did what most of us do: searched the internet to see how others had done it. I looked for
hours. I could not find what I was looking for. I saw several, difficult seeming methods involving green stuff, glue, and extra sprue. I read articles detailing how difficult it would be. This confused me. It seemed relatively straight forward to me. Perplexed, I began assembling, to see how everything came together. Long story short, I quickly had an idea for my own method, and took to it.
So, for all of those who would like the luxury of a magnetized Dreadknight, without the aforementioned hassle, this is how I did it. I hope that this helps a lot of you!
Things You'll Need:
GW DreadKnight Kit
Plastic Glue
Super Glue
Pin Vice (Any brand will work!)
Exacto Knife (Or Similar!)
Modeling Files (Nail Files work, too!)
1/8" Drill Bit
1/8" x 1/16" Magnets
1/8 x 1/32" Magnets
Process:
The process begins the way any assembly does. I built the core components of the model, leaving the assembled weapons, arms, and servo-arms unglued, as they were to be modified/magnetized.
The first thing you'll notice will be the arm weapons. You have three options here: the Gatling Psilencer, the Heavy Psycannon, or the Heavy Incinerator. The kit allows you to build two of them. I went with the latter two, as I imagine most of you will as well! Next, you'll be asked to build the close combat arms. You have three options for this as well; the hammer, the Great Sword, or a standard Doomfist. You have the option to build two of those, like the other weapons. Following suit yet again, I built the latter two.
Now, the arms. You'll notice that building the close combat weapons, they have hexagonal attachment bits on the them. Sure enough, building the arms, they have hexagon shaped openings to allow those bits to fit right in without rotating. Now, the conventional approach to magnetizing would say that you should fill those holes, and cut off the attachment bits in order to replace them with magnets. However, the arms are hollow, so that's no good. That would be a pain. Also, I liked the way that the hexagons lock the weapons in place, so that they can't
sag or rotate. So I left them, and shifted my focus to a different part of the arm socket that would hide the magnets: the outer wall.
On that outer wall, you'll notice a spot where the armor is thickest. It'll be where you glued an armor plate to the arm. That's the best place to drill into, as you have no worries of punching through the outer wall. So, using the pin vice with the 1/8" drill bit, drill a hole 1/16" of an inch deep. Eyeball it, and TEST fit your 1/8" x 1/16" magnet into it. Remember, you can always go deeper. Not so much the other way. When the magnet fits perfectly in the hole so that it is flush to the inside of the arm socket, you're in business. Glue it in. As it's your first one, polarity is irrelevant for now. Feel wild; just don't get used to it. After you do, it should look like this:
Great. Make sure that the magnet does get pushed up by the pressure underneath it. They like to sneak out of there. Set that aside. We're gonna move on to the arms now. The doomfist is probably the easiest to start with. It has a hole in the back of it already. I'm not sure what that was for, but it works for our purposes. Take your pin vice with the 1/8" drill bit and widen that hole so that it's the correct width. Set it down.
Now for the interesting part. You'll find that the pre-made hole is too deep for just the 1/8" x 1/16" magnet, by a small margin. Here is where those smaller 1/8" x 1/32" magnets come in. Take one, and adhere it to your 1/8" x 1/16" magnet to check polarity. Once they are together, take them off apart again, and slap some super glue onto the sides that will be stuck together. Make sure that the polarity of the 1/8" x 1/16" magnet is the correct side to be attracted to the one in the arm! Then go ahead and let them click back together, sealing to each other. Now take your plastic glue and lather it to the larger magnet that you just made. It should be on the side with the 1/8" x 1/32" magnet, as that is the side that's going down. Shove the magnet into the hole on the doomfist. You'll find that it fits perfectly.
Rinse and repeat that exact same process for the Nemesis Great Sword, or Hammer if you chose that! When you're done with those, they should look like these:
Great! We're pretty much there! All of the magnetization aspects are now done! As far the arm mounted ballistic weapons, there is no need to magnetize them! They adhere perfectly already, and are steady enough to stay without moving. You would never know that they aren't glued! The only thing that is interesting about them is the servo arms. Later in the build, the servo arms come down and attach to the top of the guns, hence the small holes on them. I gave my knight a wide stance, so the servo arms would have been tough to make fit anyway. Have no fear however, because there is a simple solution for this, too! By making two small cuts on each servo arm, you can easily change the mechanics of the assembly, without sacrificing the fullness and body that they give the model. The cuts and modifications are pictured below:
Make sure you file those cuts smooth with your file! The larger piece on the right will be used to mount in the shoulder are of the knight. The small stud piece will be placed in the small hole in the tops of the side guns. The middle piece is leftover. I just threw mine out. Here is what the shoulder assembly looks like on the knight himself:
Now, give him some time to dry. Especially the magnets. You don't want to stick them together too soon and pull them out of their respective sockets! After it dries, you should be all set!
Enjoy your fully customizable Dreadknight!
- Assembling first army.
Thin your paints, drill your gun barrels, remove all mold lines. The Emperor wills it.