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Hello,
a while ago I decided to start to magnetize all my models. The aim was; for each of my armies, to have a different coloured box full of magnetized movement trays (sticking to box), each full of miniatures (sticking to tray).

Through a bit of trial and error I ended up using:
- 3mm dia x 1.5mm thick neodymium disc magnets (purchased off ebay) for the models
- self adhesive flexible magnetic sheet (eg from hobbycraft) sticking to the underside of the trays
- approx 0.6mm(?) mild sheet sheet to top of the trays (and the base of the box).

I found reallyusefulboxes 4L and 9L are ideal and come in a great range of colours. I made the trays by cutting/folding 0.9mm acetate.

However, I need a more storage and more trays and now there's also the need for sabot style trays (eg 20mm to 25mm adaptor trays) because of Warhammer TOW. Therefore I'm reviewing my method to check there isn't a cheaper/easier way.

The mild steel sheeting is probably the biggest hassle. Getting hold of it isn't easy and it's greasy/messy, sharp edged, not easy to cut (generally have to order it pre-cut which means being v organised/psychic) and it's not cheap.
So I was wondering is there some alternative? I initally tried the self adhesive flexible magnetic sheet instead, but magnets don't stick to it as well and I found the disc magnets against the flexible sheet caused it to blister, with the magnet presumably being stronger than the self adhesive.

See pics. Hope this all makes sense. Any other thoughts/tips are welcome. If anyone's got any specific product recommendations, please bear in mind I'm based in the UK.

Thanks v much!

Sounds about right.

I use 5x2mm magnets with greenstuff on my minis. GW bases are a little deeper then 2mm, so you need to GS to gap fill and get them magnet flush to the bottom for good contact.

I tried the flexible sheets to line the bottom of the box, but they lack the grip. Sheet steel is the best.

I picked up a big sheet of metal and a pair of tin snips. Cutting is not fun. But it works. Steel flashing might be better and easier to cut. Might be work poking around the hardware store with a magnet to check out options.

The useful boxes are great sized, straight sided, pretty ideal. Not the cheepest thing on the market, but quality and fit the specs we need.

Welcome to dakka!

why are you using magnetic sheets and magnets under your mnis, isnt it cheaper to put a piece of metal underneed your minis. Or is the bonding between magnetic sheet and metal piece not strong enough?
Using magnetic sheet and metal you dont have to watch the polarity of the magnets

 skeleton wrote:
why are you using magnetic sheets and magnets under your mnis, isnt it cheaper to put a piece of metal underneed your minis. Or is the bonding between magnetic sheet and metal piece not strong enough?
Using magnetic sheet and metal you dont have to watch the polarity of the magnets

Some tutorials on how to make boxes suggest the magnetic sheets. They are easy to buy, cut, and fit into the bottom of boxes. They have some grip, but not a huge amount. If you were just storing boxes on shelves, it would be fine, but I’d not want to take them in a car.

Working with metal is much more of a pain, but gives better results. Depending on what you use for steel, might also be more expensive.

Hi Nevelon & Skeleton.

Thanks very much for your replies.

Nevelon- you look like you are doing v similar to me. When I tried the larger 5mm magnets however, they just seemed too strong and even using a fair bit of green stuff and superglue, I often found them detaching from model to stick with the metal sheet. How do you get them to stick to model?
Also- what thickness metal sheet are you using? I've just checked and I think I'm using 22 gauge (0.71mm).

Skeleton- the magnetic sheets are only to the underside of the movement trays. But are you suggesting that I put a steel washer or similar to the underside of the minis/trays and use flexible magnetic sheet in the box/top of the trays?

I think I've seen this before. Would mean id have a lot of spare magnets...!

Can anyone vouch for one method over the other? Cheers for ongoing help.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Sorry, was writing above post whilst you replied Nevelon

geekpie wrote:
Hi Nevelon & Skeleton.

Thanks very much for your replies.

Nevelon- you look like you are doing v similar to me. When I tried the larger 5mm magnets however, they just seemed too strong and even using a fair bit of green stuff and superglue, I often found them detaching from model to stick with the metal sheet. How do you get them to stick to model?
Also- what thickness metal sheet are you using? I've just checked and I think I'm using 22 gauge (0.71mm).

Skeleton- the magnetic sheets are only to the underside of the movement trays. But are you suggesting that I put a steel washer or similar to the underside of the minis/trays and use flexible magnetic sheet in the box/top of the trays?

I think I've seen this before. Would mean id have a lot of spare magnets...!

Can anyone vouch for one method over the other? Cheers for ongoing help.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Sorry, was writing above post whilst you replied Nevelon

I think it’s 28 guage, although the sticker is a bit scratched. Started life as a 2x3 foot sheet. Putting them in the bottom of the useful boxes it should cover 8, of which I’ve made 4.

I started just with the flex sheets

but they grip wasn’t even enough to firmly hold these guys on. If you wiggled the box, they would shift. Fine for static storage, but not on the go, and not for larger models. Or metal.

I roll little balls of greenstuff, put them on top of the magnet, and then squish it flat against my cutting mat. This way the magnet is as flush to the bottom as I can get it to maximize contact with the metal for transport. I have had a couple pop off; I just superglue them back on. I also try to set them close to the slotta (or other under-base detail) so they have multiple sides in contact. I probably should go back and reinforce them all with additional GS/glue, but that would be a lot of work for what is so far a minor problem. I do let the GS cure for a couple of days before sticking them in the box.

Steel angle works well. It give something to grip on to to lift squads out of the box, and has enough surface area to grip onto the flexy- magnet sheet



I was using a dremel to cut mine to length.

It is better to put magnets or magnetic sheets under the models/trays rather than washers or steel cause then you can change storage solution easily in the future and the models/trays will stick to it as long as it is steel.

If you put washers underneath your models then you will have to put magnetic sheets in any new storage solution you make/buy in the future since nothing comes with it stock while there are lots of transport solutions (be it made for miniatures, for tools or for offices) that come with metal shelves your magnets will fit to.

When I started using magnets I had some of them fall off or get a bad grip. Then I started to do it like Nevelon and put some greenstuff first and pressed in the magnets so they are flush to the surface. Got way better grip but even more magnets would come loose. Solution to that was to add a small amount of super glue where the GS connects to the base and also a bit of glue where the magnet is stuck in the GS (there will be some gaps around the GS when you press it flush, fill this with glue). With the greenstuff superglued to the base and the magnet superglued to the greenstuff I haven't had a problem with magnets getting loose for over a year. Only times it have happened is on heavier metal models but on those I have 2 or more magnets on anyway so just 1 getting loose isn't a problem and having 2 or more do it at the same time is too unlikely for me to get bothered over.

Takes a bit extra time but I usually do 50 to a 100 bases in each batch when I prep them with magnets. It is only troublesome when you first start out with using magnets and have to add it to already existing miniatures. But for any models in the future you can just do all the bases first before gluing any miniatures to them. I have 1 drawer with magnets, 1 drawer with square bases, 1 with round bases, 1 with square bases that have been magnetized and 1 drawer with round bases that have been magnetized. (small drawers in my Hobby Zone work station) Whenever I start a new project/model I look over to see if I have enough bases already done. If not I fill up the drawer with magnetized bases. Even if I only need 1 or 2 bases I still make a huge batch of 50+ bases when I am already at it to save time. Always try to fill up the drawers when they start to get low so I can do things in an as efficient manner as possible.

As of now I have maybe 6-700 MESBG models, 400-500 Empire and Tomb King models, 1-200 Blood Angels and around 60 Blood Bowl models with magnets. Most of these also have different movement trays to help with faster transport between shelves at home to the shelves at the club or to and from the gaming table. Only have 2 bags, 1 small and 1 medium sized, for transport but it is enough. Can easily fit any tournament sized army in the medium sized one and if doing a larger battle I can place a few movement trays with plastic infantry upside down on the shelf above the larger models that take up more space but aren't using all of it uniformly.

Thanks very much for the replies. I have been using superglue, greenstuff and then more superglue to glue magnets to base but the larger 5mm ones still occasionally detached. However I never filled the other gaps around the edge of the greenstuff with glue so that might be worth a shout.

Re the washer idea, I've been reviewing the new base sizes for TOW and pretty much everything has changed! I was hoping bases would be a bit more standardized but apparently not; they're almost all jumping up 5mm. Most of my figures are unpainted so I half wonder whether to rebase them all to TOW sizes. If I'm going down this route I might experiment with the washer option, just cos it would be a lot easier, cheaper and I'm not mad keen on powerful magnets lying around when I've got two toddlers in the house either.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Found list of TOW base sizes here by the way:
https://spikeybits.com/2024/01/warhammer-the-old-world-base-sizes-guide.html

While I’m probably not going to get into TOW, I have given it some thought. While I do have a handful of newer AoS minis, most of my fantasy collection is from 5-6th ed WHFB. My idea was just to make spacers for the movement trays. Same old minis, same old bases, little more elbow room on the trays.

Interestingly I have never had any issues with the magnetic sheets stuck down to the Really Useful Boxes and just magnets underneath each model (yes the Green Stuff to make them flush to the floor).
Never had a magnet come loose either.

I don’t recall them sliding about even shaking the trays but they do sit mostly on a shelf, I wouldn’t have worried about travelling with them from what I’ve seen.
They are mostly all small models though to be fair. A few larger Necromunda pieces so far..

Either way, even without magnets the Really Useful boxes are perfect for storing miniatures. Very happy with them.
Not got a 9L yet for height but they look good too.

Danny76 wrote:
Interestingly I have never had any issues with the magnetic sheets stuck down to the Really Useful Boxes and just magnets underneath each model (yes the Green Stuff to make them flush to the floor).
Never had a magnet come loose either.

I don’t recall them sliding about even shaking the trays but they do sit mostly on a shelf, I wouldn’t have worried about travelling with them from what I’ve seen.
They are mostly all small models though to be fair. A few larger Necromunda pieces so far..

Either way, even without magnets the Really Useful boxes are perfect for storing miniatures. Very happy with them.
Not got a 9L yet for height but they look good too.

If you have mostly plastic models and not the strongest or larger magnets then just greenstuff is usually enough.

If you have stronger and/or larger magnets that will have much more pull the risk of the magnets getting loose increases a lot.

For smaller plastic models you can probably get away fine with 3x2mm N35 magnets. But when you go up to 5x2 N52 or stronger magnets due to having metal cavalry/monster models and the like green stuff is unlikely to last for very long since now the pull from the magnet to the metal is stronger but also the forces acting on the model when in transport will be stronger due to the much much higher weight.

Most plastic models weigh like a few grams if not including the base or any basing material so not much pull needed or much force acting on it. Even if a plastic model were to get loose it is usually not much of a problem since it is so light in weight that it is unlikely to get damage or damage any other model in the case.

A metal model is usually in the tens of grams and for larger stuff, like monsters, in the hundreds. Way more likely to get loose due to that and if it happens it is way worse than if a plastic model gets loose. A larger metal model will most likely damage itself and other models if it gets loose in transport. Here the risk far outweigh the time and energy lost in making it as secure as possible.

I have traveled a few times with my models and last year I put my A-Case Victory bag inside my larger bag that I checked in (carry on cost extra with Ryanair) and my plastic models inside of it were unharmed on the way to and from UK. I did put my metal models inside of a very small feldherr foam bag since I wouldn't trust the magnets completely when other people handle the bag. When I have traveled back and forth from Greece and used it is as carry on it worked fine even with metal models.

have you guys ever tried a two part epoxy like jb weld for attaching the magnets?
ive tried gorilla glue and always seem to end up detaching the magnets when pulling the model from the tray.

usernamesareannoying: I was also considering the two part epoxy route with superglue having let me down on the 5mm magnets but havn't tried it yet.

Klickor: it's a good point about the different size and type (plastic/metal) of models. My skeletons with their dainty little legs would just break if they were stuck with strong 5mm magnets and i tried to lift them out. I haven't got my monsters based yet (and they're 'smaller' oldhammer monsters, not the massive AOS ones anyway) but I agree that i'll probably be needing multiple 5mm magnets for them. For cavalry I'm using 2 x 3mm magnets (one each side).

One thing I find does seem to keep the magnets snug and in place is drilling and gluing them into mdf bases (see pic).

Also, regarding 4L and 9L reallyusefulboxes, because I'm tight and want to fit as much in a box as poss, I've starting building extra removable layers into the top of the 9L boxes. Then I have the option to fit an extra layer of smaller infantry in the top (with for example, medium sized cavalry below it) rather than waste space at the top of the box. The extra layer is split into thirds so I can still remove some or all of it if I have any particularly large models that stick up (see pics).
The thicker 22 gauge (0.71mm) steel is ideal for this extra layer but for I think I need to follow Nevelon's lead and switch to much thinner 28 gauge for the trays and box base.