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I am in the process of assembling some Leman Russes and Vendettas. Can anyone recommend magnet sizes for Leman Russ weapons, including sponsons, hull mounts, and turret mounts? Also, I am planning magnetizing the wings on the Vendetta, can anyone reccoment magent sizes for that?

Another issue I am running into is that magnetizing seems to always require a magnet on each side. I am wondering if anyone has had any luck with putting a piece of metal on one side, so that you don't have to worry about lining up magnets.

Round 3mm by 1mm is what I use, new Russ sponsons don't need it as it's snuggle fit.

Well you lose a point for calling them "AM" instead of IG

But mostly I use 4mm x 1mm magnets for vehicles. But I also make extensive use of 3mm x 1mm. Have some 6mm ones as well, but I don't use them much. They're very strong, but are more annoying to mount and excessively strong for most things.

I can't advise on the wings of the Vendetta, I just glued mine on after realising magnetising would be too much of a pain. Though if you had a lot of them, transporting them might be annoying if you don't magnetise the wings.

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
Well you lose a point for calling them "AM" instead of IG

But mostly I use 4mm x 1mm magnets for vehicles. But I also make extensive use of 3mm x 1mm. Have some 6mm ones as well, but I don't use them much. They're very strong, but are more annoying to mount and excessively strong for most things.

I can't advise on the wings of the Vendetta, I just glued mine on after realising magnetising would be too much of a pain. Though if you had a lot of them, transporting them might be annoying if you don't magnetise the wings.

What do you think about using a piece of thing flat metal on one side, as opposed to magnets on both sides?

That would work fine. Magnet <> Steel gives you the same strength bond as magnet <> magnet. The reason I use magnet <> magnet is because the magnets are already the correct size and I don't have anything to easily cut steel.

As long as the magnet touches the steel. If there's a gap, then magnet <> steel is much weaker than magnet <> magnet.

EDIT: Oh, if the steel is super thin it's also weaker, but I'm not sure at what point it starts to drop off.

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
Well you lose a point for calling them "AM" instead of IG

Oh, I get it. Astra Militarum. Thought it was a typo or something...

As for magnet size, I use 5mmx1mm. The weapons themselves fit nicely into the slots, but the sponsons and turrets need a magnet.

What tool do you use to drill holes in the models? Any cheap, non-electric kind?

Virtus wrote:
What tool do you use to drill holes in the models? Any cheap, non-electric kind?

A lot of people use a pin vise. I'm currently looking for one as well, so any suggestions from the dakka community would be greatly appreciated!

You don't need to add magnets to the Vendetta wings. They will sit just fine after you have applied a layer or two of basecoat, while still being able to be removed again.

Vendetta/Valkyrie:

I used pair of 1/4" magnets on the underside of the Vendetta right where the mounting bracket was, and a some strip fridge magnets (easier to work than steel) glued to the pieces themselves. A single magnet glued to plasticard let me do something similar with the nose lascannon. This lets me swap it back to being a Valkyrie anytime.

If you want to be sure about the wings, just add a couple pins. Any magnet you could fit in there won't hold enough as it is.

I found the standard LR turret hard enough to magnetize for anything other than the LRBT/Vanquisher options (which doesn't need a magnet). I ended up buying enough bits to just build the other options.

The siege russ kit is much nicer in this regard. A couple 1/4" magnets replacing the plastic bit in the back of the weapon itself and behind the mount and it's good to go.


I don't bother magnetizing the slotted-in weapons.

As for the sponsons, the best I've been able to figure out is to fill the interior of the sponson with GS, slot a 1/4" magnet into that, and glue a 1" magnet to the interior of the plating.

With some plasticard, the dozer blades are pretty easy to magnetize.

Apologies, I had had pictures somewhere of all this, but I can't find them atm.

I have my Leman Russes mangetized on the turret only. I have a 4 or 5mm magnet on both the top and the bottom of the turret piece. So when I need to change the gun I just split the turret in half like it just came off the sprue. The magnets are strong enough to hold it together that you don't have to worry about it separating in the middle of a game and the gun coming off. If you want pictures of how I did mine send me a PM(im not at home to take a picture right now)

Sponsoon should just snug fit.

As for the vendettas I placed two magnets where the thick part of the slot for the wing is(sorry bad description but if you see it you'll know what i mean). One on each of the thick parts. These magnets were inside the body of the vendetta when I assembled it so they are not visible. When I got the model together the wings snug fit perfectly so I never finished magnetizing the wings but they are there if i ever need to.

My marine dreadnought arms ONLY have magnets IN the arms (the mounts on the dread body have steel washers around the pins and the magnets grab it quite well).

My valkyrie that I magnetised for transport (wings came off for packing) had paired magnets in the wings AND the wing/tail booms (and the wings slightly modified - the tab on the wing had to be cut back and so did the raised areas that slotted into the wing booms to accommodate the magnets).

My one leman russ demolisher/punisher/plasma killy gun thing has paired magnets only in the main gun. The sponsons use small chunks of 3mm thick steel nail cut to size (a hacksaw makes short work if them - especially a titanium blade) and embedded in the mounts. The weapons have magnets.

Oh, that's where the pics went.

Vendetta




Chimera



I've found that the magnet holding the top on is optional. You need to shave off the plastic on the hull mounts to get the plasticard and magnet strip to fit.