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Hello all.

Got a Start Collecting Tau box for Christmas and am looking at magnetising the Crisis Suits, but every tutorial I've seen online doesn't exactly show what I'm looking for.

If you don't want to magnetise, the weapons attach to the hardpoints through notches which fit into slots, meaning the weapon is fixed orientation. Every magnetisation tutorial I've seen basically says to drill out the notches/slots and replace them with magnets meaning when the weapons attach, they'll rotate about and stuff, which isn't what I'm looking for.

Is there a method which means I can still swap out the weapons but they keep the fixed orientation? The only method I can think of is using 2 magnets for each point, but that would mean using a lot magnets for one 3-man Crisis team (24 magnets for each suit if my workings are correct), which is something I'd like to avoid.

You could always use pins instead of magnets, or use a combination of 1 magnet and 1 pin per hardpoint, which will give you a strong bond, stop rotation and use up no more magnets than need be. 2 paperclips and a pair of cutters would be all you need to outfit a 3 man team

For heavier weapons I used a combination of a magnet and a brass bin.

One magnet and a hole drilled in the model torso and the weapon had a magnet and a small brass pin that matched up with the hole to keep the weapon at the desired angle.

Hope that helps,

CB

I use square 0.5mm thick magnets so i can surface mount them. If you do that you can leave a bit of the plastic nubble on each weapon to interface with the relevant hole. Like using a pin but using the existing models hopefully a bit quicker and easier

Having just magnetized a bunch of Eldar vehicles, which have smaller tabs overall, it's possible to fit a small magnet by cutting away only part of the tabs. Then countersink the magnet into the body of the gun; you have pins to keep the gun straight.

Insert the magnet in the slot so that it's flush with the surface, the pins from the gun go around the magnet in the slot.

Use half the tab and a magnet in the other half (would prevent rotation).

You'd also probably get away with smaller magnets, too (1.5mm v 3mm). Since all the bits are plastic these days, with the small tab "pin" and magnet, they'll stay in place fine.

alternatively you can leave the tabs in place and magnetize a spot right next to it, the tab will keep the guide in place if that's your pre requisite.

I have tried two methods, both using 2mm x 1mm magnets recessed in the bottom of the slots. One is to leave the tabs on the weapons and drill a couple of pieces of paper clip into the tab (one isn’t enough); provides enough metal to catch the magnetic field and the tab provides alignment. Only problem is that the tabs are sometimes a very tight fit (particularly when the model is painted), so need to be trimmed down to slot in easily.

The other method uses some steel wood working staples (I.e. thick ones), which have the same cross section as the tab. Cut the tab off and replace it with a similar sized piece of metal.

The advantages of both of these are a) only using about a third of the number of magnets (there are a lot more guns than slots) and b) not having to worry about polarity with metal to magnet contact.