Special Weapon Swaps made Easy with Magnets

If you read my blog last month, you'll already know that I like magnets. If you haven't read about magnetizing Terminator arms, you can find the posts here:

• Terminator Weapon Swaps made Easy with Magnets, Part 1
• Terminator Weapon Swaps made Easy with Magnets, Part 2
• Terminator Weapon Swaps made Easy with Magnets, Part 3

Here's a tutorial on how you can magnetize your special weapons on ordinary Space Marines to make it easy to swap them out between battles!

Stuff you need

You need a couple of small drills, I use a 1.5mm and a 2mm. And of course, you need some magnets.

This one is from K&J Magnetics and is 1/16" x 1/32".

Let's go!

First, drill a small guide "pit", using a small drill. The reason I do this is because it is easier to hit the spot you want. I find that I often miss the spot when I go for the bigger drill right away, without the guide.

Now you expand the pit and make it deeper, using a 2mm drill. Try to fit a magnet in the hole now and then, and just keep expanding the hole until the magnet fits. You want it sunk deep enough to be level with the edge of the hand, you don't want it sticking up. When the hole is big enough, you glue a magnet in place.

NOTE! You need to watch the polarities of the magnets so they actually attract each other. For the very first magnet you glue in place, this doesn't mean a thing. But after the first, this gets VERY important.

Now we do the same thing with the chosen weapon. Drill a guide...

And expand the hole...

Now, here's a tip on how to keep the polarities correct. Use a stack of magnets as a sort of handle.

When you glue the magnet in place in the weapon, you'll know that the polarities are correct.

After the glue is dry, you just remove the excess magnets and you're done! The left hand doesn't need a magnet, the weapon will stay in place anyway.

So, you just glue the arms in place on the model as you normally would. But now, with a few more weapons and magnets, you have the option of switching special weapons between games.

Again, remember what I said about polarities, or you may end up with weapons that attach to some figures and not to others. Whenever I glue a magnet into a new arm, I use a weapon as a handle. That way, I know all my weapons will fit all my figures!

Here are a couple of Veterans from a Command Squad I'm currently working on:



As you can see, switching special weapons is a piece of cake!

I hope you found this tutorial helpful. Even if you didn't, comments are always welcome, so keep 'em coming! :)

/Stitch

Progress Report: DeffCup 2009 1000pt Army

Time for a progress report. The tournament is about six weeks away and I'm a bit nervous! I haven't gotten any painting done in quite a while, but all the models are assembled. Is six weeks going to be enough for me to paint four tanks and 14 infantry? I think so, but I really need to get cracking!

So, here's what my Goal Sheet looks like as of 29 April:

Here are some photos:

Master of the 3rd Company. Ready for primer.

Command Squad of the 3rd Company. Ready for primer.

2nd Tactical Squad of the 3rd Company. Two marines done. One primed, four ready for primer. Three almost done.

Predator, Command Razorback and two Rhinos. These have all been scavenged from one of my unfinished projects, the DIY Space Marine Chapter the Knights Repentant. They will all be re-primed in black. I have added Hunter Killer Missiles to them all. The one on the Predator is held in place with magnets and the others are pinned, but not glued, in place, so they can all be removed for easy storage without breaking them. You probably can't see it in this picture, but three of the HKM's have custom made mounts, and these will be the topic of one of next month's updates!

Six weeks.... I better get painting!

/Stitch

Terminator Weapon Swaps made Easy with Magnets, Part 3

Finally, here's the last part of my first tutorial with magnets.

If you haven't read Parts 1 & 2, you can find them here:

• Terminator Weapon Swaps made Easy with Magnets, Part 1


• Terminator Weapon Swaps made Easy with Magnets, Part 2

The Shoulder Pad

This is how I attach the should pads with magnets.

First you slice off a bit of the shoulder.



You then drill a hole as a guide, as I explained in Part 2.



Expand the hole a bit, so that a nail will fit, pretty much like we did in Part 2, except with a slightly smaller nail.



The nail I use for this step has a head that's about 2.5mm.



"Sink" the nail a bit, by carving away some material around the hole, like in Part 2, but it doesn't have to be as deep. It's ok if it sticks up a little bit. When you're happy, glue the nail in place.



Here comes the tricky part, because the shoulder pad is so thin.



Carefully drill another guide, about 3mm from the edge. Make sure you don't drill through the pad! You almost only want to make a small pit, not really a hole.



Expand the hole, again very carefully, with a 1.5mm drill. You just need enough to sink the magnet a bit.



When you're done, just glue a magnet in place. If you're careful not to glue any magnets together, it's handy to use the magnets themselves as a sort of handle to maneuver the magnet in place. After the glue sets, you can easily leave it to dry by sticking them somewhere. In this case, I just attached the stack of magnets to a can of Quick Shade.



When the glue has dried, you're done! Now all you need to do is prep some more arms and torsos and you'll have all the flexibility you want!







By being able to remove the shoulder pads seperately, you also get the added bonus of only having to paint each one once. Handy, if you freehand them like I do. :)

Thanks for reading. Keep those comments coming!

See you on 1 may, with an update on my army for Da DeffCup!

Best regards,

Stitch

Terminator Weapon Swaps made Easy with Magnets, Part 2

Finally, it's time to magnetize some termies!

If you haven't read Part 1, you can find it here:

• Terminator Weapon Swaps made Easy with Magnets, Part 1

The Arm

To let me swap the arms around, as described in Part 1, I'll put magnets in the shoulders of the arms, and put the head of a nail in the shoulder of the torso, for the magnets to stick to. Now, it's possible to save some magnets by doing it the other way around. But because the torso is hollow, I find it easier to get a nail in place instead of a magnet. You'll see why, later on.

Let's go. Here's the arm to be magnetized:



Using the model drill, I drill a hole to act as a guide. It doesn't matter that it's way too small, in fact I want it that way. That makes it easier to get it exactly where you want it, dead center.



Now, using the 3.2mm drill, I expand the hole. The magnet I'm using is 1/8", which is just a little bigger than 3mm, so a 3.2mm drill fits nicely. The plastic is soft enough to use your hands to turn the drill. Just try to make sure you stay in the center, and the drill doesn't "travel".



When you have expanded the hole a bit, try fitting the magnet in there. You want it flush against the torso of the terminator, so you don't want to drill too deep. Just keep drilling and trying until the magnet fits. When it does, glue it in place with super glue, or PVA glue. If you're operating on painted miniatures, you may want to use PVA glue, as it won't damage the paint job.

The Torso

While the glue is drying, you can get to work on the torso.



First, drill a small hole once again.



Now, using a proper cutter, cut the head off a nail. The nails I'm using have heads that are about 3mm, perfect for the job. Now, I know this is supposed to be obvious, but make sure to check that the nails are actually magnetic! :) I don't know if nails are ever made of non-magnetic metals, but it doesn't hurt to check.



As you cut, cup your other hand around the nail to catch the bits. Otherwise, they might go flying off in random directions, and you don't want that. :)



Now expand the hole a bit. I use a 1.5mm drill, about the same thickness as the nail. Then make sure the nail fits in the hole.



After you've made sure it fits, put the nail to one side. Now, using the bigger 3.2mm drill and/or a knife, cut away material around the hole to make the edges slope inwards, so the nail will go in without sticking out. (Here's where I think it's easier to "sink" a nail instead of drilling a larger hole for a magnet in the torso. Since the magnet is thicker than the head of the nail you can run into trouble when you drill deeper and wider into the torso, since it's hollow.)

When it fits, glue the nail in place.



When the glue is dry, you can attach the arm, and take it off, and attach it, and take it off again... You get the idea. :)

For a normal space marine minature, you probably have enough shoulder pads to glue one in place on each arm, so this would be the end of the tutorial. For terminators though, the shoulder pads are rarer, so you may need a way to switch these around as well. Since I'm a nut, I use magnets for this as well. :) And that's the subject of Part 3 that will be posted tonight.

/Stitch

Terminator Weapon Swaps made Easy with Magnets, Part 1

Hi all!

Sorry for skipping a month. I didn't plan it like that, but stuff and things, and stuff, got in the way. :)

For april, though, I'm back with an in-depth article about how to let you swap weapons on your Space Marine Terminators. The new plastics are awesome, and you get a lot of options in the box. Why not make sure you can use all of them? (Or most of them, anyway...)

For this project (I'll tell you more about it later), I won't need to be able to swap both arms on every Terminator. So, I'll glue some of the arms, but magnetize some. For instance, I'll have two Terminators with Storm Bolters and the option to swap between Power Fists and Chain Fists. And of course I'll have one Terminator with Power Fist, but with the option of swapping between Storm Bolter, Heavy Flamer and Assault Cannon.

Let's get to it!

The Tools

You'll need some tools to make it all happen:

Hobby drill and knife.

Drill bits; these are 1.5mm, 2mm and 3.2mm.

You need a proper wire cutter. A small cutter like you use to cut bits from sprues just won't "cut it"... :)

Notice the difference? Later on in the tutorial, we'll be cutting nails. (Not finger or toe nails!) The smaller cutter would be ruined, and you risk hurting yourself when bits of it breaks off and flies towards your face at high velocity.

The Supplies

You'll also need some nails and magnets:

Flat headed nails in a couple of different sizes.

This is a Neodymium disc magnet from K&J Magnetics. It's tiny but strong! This one is 1/8" x 1/32", and will be used for the arms.

This one is even smaller! Also from K&J Magnetics. This one is 1/16" x 1/32", and will be used to hold the shoulder pads in place.


Right, unfortunately it's now past my bed time, and I will have to continue another day. Part 2 of this tutorial, where we actually magnetize the Terminators, will be online in a couple of days. No really, I promise!

I know it sucks that I couldn't finish it in time, but I thought it better to give you half a tutorial now, and show you that I still mean business, than waiting even longer before publishing anything at all.

See you soon!

/Stitch

Here's a taste of what's to come:

Swappable arms!