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.

I am new to Warhammer and just started putting together my squads. I decided to get into magnets early so I didn't have to redo effort and/or buy a bunch of extra figures later. I have been able to magnetize 2 squads fully so far, but I ran into an issue with one early on when I was putting the magnet in for my Heavy Flamer and it flipped as I inserted it and the glue dried before I could get it back out.

Does anyone have any good ways to get a magnet out of a figure? It is plus with the plastic, so there is nothing to grip with a needle-nosed pliers or tweezers. I tried cutting the glue with a razor and can't quite get in. Is it easier to cut if I freeze the piece (I am using the Army Builder Plastic Glue, so I know I can freeze it to remove limbs, but I am not sure it will help with the magnet in this case). My buddy suggested drilling from the other side and pushing the magnet out, which will work, but I want to leave that as a last resort. I am considering using a smaller drill bit to drill around the magnet in a couple of places to give myself the ability to cut or pry the magnet out.

Has anyone else had to remove a magnet before, and if so, how did you do it?

You can destroy the glue by soaking in Dettol.

Cool, that will break up the glue and not cause any damage to the plastic?

Will Simple Green work on the Army Builder glue? I bought that a while back to strip some Enamel paints and it worked pretty good; maybe I will give that a shot and see if it works.

Thanks for the tip and the quick response.

I don't have any experience with simple green, but if it's just superglue then try what you already own, then if not, Dettol.

Side note, super glue becomes very brittle and easy to snap if put in the freezer, this could also work to your advantage.

You can glue and use a tiny bit of green stuff to fix a magnet against it. I did that with a trygon. The opposite forces are still weaker than the glue for me a year on

If the soak doesn't work, I've gone the drill route in the past.... Just drill through from the other side with a 1mm drill bit until you hit the magnet, use a pin or piece of wire to push the magnet out, (if, as you say, you've used plastic glue rather than super glue, it won't have a particularly strong bond on the metal magnet) and then just fill in the drill hole with a little putty.

Actually that's an idea, if it is plastic glue, just superglue another magnet on top of it to give you something to grip.

Edit: welp, already suggested :(

If you used superglue, then Castrol Super Clean ("purple power"?) will dissolve the superglue and leave the plastic unharmed.

It's very easy to pop magnets out if you can get something under them. If you can cut or drill enough of an opening to get a scalpel blade under it, you should be good.
I don't know what the bit you're working with looks like, so I can't give any specific advice, but I've had to pop out a few magnets on my Tau and usually getting a scalpel blade under it isn't too difficult.

I've used the drilling and popping out method. Use a thinner drillbit to drill down right by the side of the magnet until to reach the bottom of it. I also drilled a shallow hole on the opposite side to give more room for the magnet to pop out (that is optional if there is little room). Then find something thin and stiff (I used the drill-bit reversed) and just lever the magnet out. A little green stuff will fill the excess holes afterwards.

You could combine with the freezing method but I've no idea if that would make the plastic brittle and you could risk damaging the model.

I've never had any luck freezing superglued in magnets. The magnets are usually in a reasonably snug hole so even if the superglue bonds are weakened the damned thing won't come out.

A couple of times I've just drilled a small hole from the other side to pop the magnet out. Once I had to cut in to a part and mend it with greenstuff.

Mostly when applying magnets I take measures to avoid putting them in the wrong way to begin with.