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A quick question to those of you who regularly use rare earth magnets (or any other type of magnet for that matter) on your models.

If you put a thin layer of green stuff over the magnets (and then a layer of paint)do the magnets still function?

 

Thanks for the help.

 

Yes. Too well. Expect them to pop through the green stuff like necrons rising from below.

Well that's no good. Any suggestions on how to stop that?

Metal or plastic? For plastic I just use sheet styrene, if I don't simply put the magnet in from the other side. On metal, if you glue them into place with cyanoacrylate before you putty over them, they should last a while. Green stuff by itself won't stand up to the forces- it will flex, and as it gets more brittle over time, it quickly crumbles.

The thinest sheet styrene works grea for the plastic models. it holds the mags without worrying about if they will erupt. But for metal, the only thing I have found to do the trick (I have tried greenstuff to horrible results) was good ol' JB Weld.

The mags cant crumble that stuff.

Always super glue the mags in first no matter how you plan on covering them up (which you should if you want them to last without having to repair them everyonce in awhile)

You do have to be careful about depth though, as the mags lose alot of coherency once they are too far apart. of course this is a good way to get the right balance of strength you may need too, so it is all about working with them and testing that out.

What fellblade & hellfurry said basically, though regardless of what they are going in, I always use either cyanoacrylate (super glue) or epoxy glue to fix the magnet into place. I've also taken to using small bits of sheet metal (usually steel) instead of two magnets.

I use epoxy resin to cement them in place. The 6mm wide circle magnets I use will allow a Tau Crisis suit missile pod to be double-stack mounted reasonably securely, but it wouldn't work for much heavier items. A missile pod is about 4-5mm thick polystyrene.

JB WELD! Why didn't I think of that?

What's JB Weld and where do I purchase it?

It's like a fix it for holes in metal pipe or things like that. I seem to remember them having an advertisement about fixing a cracked header on an engine or something. I don't know if I'd trust it that far.

It can be found at plumbing supply stores, hardware stores, or even automotive part stores.

I'm with nyarly though.  I've been using a single magnet on one side and metal on the other.  For one thing it makes your magnet purchases go alot further, but it also makes the pull a bit easier to manage.  I usually sink the magnet, use super glue (zap-a-gap, and squadron green putty to create a smooth surface.  For Russ sponsons and metal parts i use the 6 lb pull magnets.  For pintle weapons and smaller plastic parts I use the tiny ones (I think 2 lb?).

JB weld is a metal grade epoxy you can find it at any hardware store. They say you can fix engine parts with it but I wouldnt try it (I did once, it didnt work). JB weld is tough stuff but it takes hours, if not days to properly cure. Before it is cured it can go from overly gooey to super brittle. All the times I have used it I tried to work in a mainly wood environment so as not to yank the magnet out with a stray nail or somthing. I have been supergluing magnets on the inside of models lately. Takes a little more planning but the peices always seem to fit cleanly and are easier to interchange.

I would recommend Oatey Epoxy Putty, which can be found in the plumbing dept of a hardware store. It's a 2 part putty that cures rock hard in 5 minutes. It has high bond strength so you don't need to use glue and sands very easily for a smooth finish.

It happens to contain actual steel, which is both a blessing and a curse when dealing with magnets. On the plus side it's mildly magnetic which reduces the loss of field strength when it is covering the magnet. On the minus side it's mildly magnetic, meaning any sanded bits tend to stick to the magnet. I use a peice of duct tape to grab any loose bits off of the magnet.

Seems a uniter, not a divder...

Super glue is alright as long as you are doing magnet to metal, rather than magnet to magnet.

Okay magnet to metal sounds like a great solution guys.

Any suggestions on pre-cut metal bits that work well as a magnet connector?

The super small nuts that you can get in the bins from Home Depot or Lowe's. Hehe...nuts. I use those for my hull mounted weapons. Washers work great too, but they must be sufficiently small enough so that the hole doesn't offset the diameter of the magnet. In other words, the thing may be cocked oddly if the hole is too big. Hopefully that makes sense.

OK I got a photobucket account.  Let's see if I can make this work...

This was my first Russ I made with magnets for the weapon swaps.  There are 2 6lb cylinder mags sunk into the sides and one sunk into the hull mount.  The sponsons have washers and the hull weapons have nuts sunk into them (hard to see).  I've made significant improvements on this process including using the Squadron Green Putty to get rid of the noticible ridge on the sides of the Russ and I use Putty to form the shape in the sponson to hold the washer to assure a flush mount rather than shave tiny portions off of plastic sprue until it gets flush.

This is an example of where I use the tiny magnets.  The HK missile is light enough that they work.  I have some tiny steel rod that i sunk into the HK missile, but a nail could work as well.  A Dremel is needed though to cut the rod to an accurate length.

Pretty much what the CO said, though I was using some small (10mm square?) steel bases used for historicals for my uses, which were actually for magentizing some 15mm tanks for barrel swaps (I magnetized two StuGIII platoons so I could switch out the 7.5cm barrels out with 10.5cm barrels to use the same figs as StuH 42s). I might have even had to cut some of the metal bases, which I do remember being a real bear to do, so I'd suggest trying to find something that already fits the space available rather than making it to fit.

Though if you're doing something as large scale as GCCO has above, those metal bases work great. You should be able to find them at your LFGS, so long as they also stock historicals (particularly ancients). If not, the actual company (Wargame Accessories) and product name is Wargame Accessories Metal Base Stands, and I know WarWeb.com carries them and I'm sure many other online retailers do as well.

edit: Oh, and if you are going to cut steel rods, get yourself a pair of hard core wire cutters, the kind that look like a pair of mini-bolt cutters. Those have been a lifesaver and made cutting steel rod and other solid rod a breeze.

Pssh, wire cutters! If anyone can handle high velocity steel rod fragments rocketing toward him yakface can. I can still see pretty good out of the one eye after all.

That is a good idea though and probably safer. After cutting you could then grind or sand the end if you needed it flat (as I usually do).

The nail head is a great Idea Glaive. Especially those used for roofing. Nice large, flat, smooth heads for optimal coherency.

If you have a construction site anywhere nearby, I recommend snagging a piece of the steel banding used to bind shipments of lumber together, most sites are littered with the stuff. It's nice and flat and can easily be cut to shape with a pair of heavy tin snips.

Posted By Glaive Company CO on 11/09/2006 11:01 AM
Pssh, wire cutters! If anyone can handle high velocity steel rod fragments rocketing toward him yakface can. I can still see pretty good out of the one eye after all.

That is a good idea though and probably safer. After cutting you could then grind or sand the end if you needed it flat (as I usually do).

Yep. They really are like mini-bolt cutters, replete with longer handles and the strengthening bar on the cutters. Such a huge time saver and I don't have to worry about flying disks or other bits zipping out and embedding themselves in soft squishy parts. I always wear safety glasses, though. Seeing how eyes don't grow back but skin does...

Nail Heads. That's a superb idea. I'm looking for metal pieces that will be very, very small, to put on the end of Hive Tyrant/Carnifex arms, for example. Since Nails come in all shapes and sizes it sounds like a great idea to get the right sized ones and then just trim off the top.

Thanks for the advice!

Not only that, but you have some slack on the "pin" for the steel, as flat steel glued to a surface isnt very strong. the magnet might just rip it out of the adhesive, but leaving a bit of the nail on the head, you now have a very sturdy pin for the steel.