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I play Tau and Necrons and hate skimmer bases because they tend to break off in my tanks a lot more than they should. Since I'm about to magnetize all of my drones I thought about doing the same to my skimmer bases. But then I came across what might be an issue so I'm asking the question here.

The situation is I just can't glue a magnet on top of the skimmer base's stem and expect it to last long. So I've decided to replace the stem altogether with a long cylindrical magnet. The question I have is must it match the exact height of each skimmer stem? I've measured the tallest and shortest stems I have and the they range from 15 cm for the shortest to 35 mm for the tallest. This doesn't include the narrow part that is inserted into the skimmer its self. Do I have to use exactly the same size stems (15, 30, and 35 cm) or can I use say a 20mm or 25mm stem if thats all I can find? Its taller then the shortest and shorter than the tallest. I'm not modeling for an advantage, just ease of use.

Second question, if I find that attaching these magnets to the clear plastic base isn't feasible or optimal can I use another materal of the same (or very close) size provided it doesn't take the height outside of the normal parameters?

Thank you in advance.

if that height it gives to your skimmers is between the extremes the regular stems would have given,that'd be fine with me.
This has no rules to support it, and would probably fall in the no changing of the bases thing.
Still fine BY ME .

It should be acceptable.

So long as the end result is reasonably close to the 'correct' base, you shouldn't have too many dramas.

You can pick up 3/8' acrylic rod off Ebay and 3/8" magnets. Drill out the Base to 3/8 and glue the rod and magnet on top. The rod is about 4$ for 6 feet of the stuff and the magnets about 35 Cents each.. One 3/8" magnet glued to the bottom of the vehicle and you in business. They are quite strong and you'll never break another one again.

Camarodragon wrote:
You can pick up 3/8' acrylic rod off Ebay and 3/8" magnets. Drill out the Base to 3/8 and glue the rod and magnet on top. The rod is about 4$ for 6 feet of the stuff and the magnets about 35 Cents each.. One 3/8" magnet glued to the bottom of the vehicle and you in business. They are quite strong and you'll never break another one again.

I think that's the route I'll go. I can cut them to the correct height as to not cause any issues. I have the 3/8" magnets already. Thanks Camarodragon!

Nice catch I am going to do the same to all mine.

Since I can cut to the exact height that I want (and allow for the height of magnets) I don't think this will be an issue. I think I might do the same to my flyers. Provided the rod is sturdy enough. If not I'll just get a thicker rod.

Itll be strong enough. I just tried breaking 8 in of the stuff and it wouldn't. It bends with several Lbs. of pressure but it will not break. As long as you can find a strong enough way to attach at the bottom of the base you should be good.

I think crazy glue will work. Might put a screw through the base and into the rod if glue alone isn't enough.

If attaching via a screw, use a washer on the bottom and predrill the hole in the acrylic, otherwise it will shatter.

I used brass tubing for a flyer I just put together. Brass superglues to plastic very well. I built up the base slightly to have more surface area on the bottom and glued a support piece to the top that the flyer partially rests on. Stable and easy to detach from the base for transport.

Where did you get the brass tubing? What size did you use?

Here are a few of my "alternatives" to the fragile clear bases that are good if you don't actually play the game *wink!*

Alternative 1:







Alternative 2:



it allows for more dynamic posing and less breakage



Go Go Gadget Speeders!



I guess i'm proud of these puppies, so had to post.

lol, Q-tip in the image.....

Maybe eventually GW will make something like this flight stand that Battlefront is making.

Looks a lot like something I was selling a few years ago.

THANKYOU CAMARODRAGON!!!

I just used Camarodragon's idea and did 7 Tau vehicles, 5 Tau Piranhas, and Sammeal on Corvex. It was rather easy to do and the bases are extremely sturdy. I was most impressed with how it worked on Sammeal cause he's a solid metal (now failcast) jet bike that was impossible to get to stand right on the old base. The model weighs 3-4 pounds and the whole in his base for the stem was larger than the stem so it was a recipe for disaster. He sits perfectly on the one I made.

I got 5 12" rods on off eBay for $6.50 and did 13 models with just 1 rod so it is definately worth it. I was also able to cut them to the exact size so with the magnets they stand at the same height as the shortest flying base.

The next thing I'm gonna do is my Landspeeders and all my necron vehicles. That is gonna be tough cause the barges don't have room for a 3/8" magnet and rod so I'll have to come up with something else.

For the barges, The magnets don't have to be the exact same on both sides. You could still use the 3/8" magnet and rod on the base while using a small magnet, or even just a strip of metal, on the barge.

 Davespil wrote:
THANKYOU CAMARODRAGON!!!

I just used Camarodragon's idea and did 7 Tau vehicles, 5 Tau Piranhas, and Sammeal on Corvex. It was rather easy to do and the bases are extremely sturdy. I was most impressed with how it worked on Sammeal cause he's a solid metal (now failcast) jet bike that was impossible to get to stand right on the old base. The model weighs 3-4 pounds and the whole in his base for the stem was larger than the stem so it was a recipe for disaster. He sits perfectly on the one I made.

I got 5 12" rods on off eBay for $6.50 and did 13 models with just 1 rod so it is definately worth it. I was also able to cut them to the exact size so with the magnets they stand at the same height as the shortest flying base.

The next thing I'm gonna do is my Landspeeders and all my necron vehicles. That is gonna be tough cause the barges don't have room for a 3/8" magnet and rod so I'll have to come up with something else.

Your Welcome..!! I haven't magnetized any of my necrons yet so I'm unsure how the bottom vehicle magnet would be mounted. If a 3/8" is too large a smaller one would probably work just as well as they are pretty small vehicles.

I have been using the plastic "Spacers" you get in the Pizza Boxes. They are a little Short, but they are consistant.

The problem with the CCB/Anni Barges is that there is so little room where the stem hole is. Hard to describe it but there really ins't any room for a 3/8" rod so I might have to go with a long magnet to to get in there.

I thought this was an Ork vehicle at first !

Nice conversion.

Big thanks to Camarodragon! I'm going to go run up the price of 3/8" acrylic rod now.

 Davespil wrote:
I was most impressed with how it worked on Sammeal cause he's a solid metal (now failcast) jet bike that was impossible to get to stand right on the old base. The model weighs 3-4 pounds

The metal Sammael model weighs less than a pound. It seems very heavy, and it is for a model, but it is far from 3-4 pounds.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
My solution to Sammael's jetbike was to snip off the longer stem until it was to a thicker point, and then it held him very nicely.