Foray into 40k

Welcome to my second installment of "Foray into 40k". I've been playing a lot of games with quite a bit of list tinkering in between. Early on I just proxied lots of models, but I found that was much to confusing for someone learning how to play. Problem was, I didn't really want to commit to anything particular on my terminators. Given that I've been fielding between 20-25 in most games, the load-out can be varied to really change the feel of the game. I mentioned this early on to Big D and he suggested I magnetize all the arms/weapons. So that's what I set out to do.

The first thing was to accumulate enough weapons to actually do this with. I went through old bits I bought off a guy, bought some on ebay, and broke them off of models I had already put together. While gathering up those pieces, you also need to buy the magnets you plan to use. I decided to go with 1/8" x 1/16" rare earth round magnets as shown in the pictures. I looked around a bit at them and found several places to buy them online pretty affordably, but elected to go with ebay in the end. Once these items are gathered up, its time to set up shop. Here's the items that I used, but obviously there could be substitutes: Dremel, 7/64" bit, exacto, glue, and one more drill bit of any small size. Why the 7/64" bit when you are clearly using larger magnets you might ask? Well, a dremel doesn't drill as true as a pen drill so I down sized the bit to keep the hole tight. The one other odd item there is an extra drill bit. I used it to help pick up the small magnets and keep the correct polarity going in the hole without getting my fingers all over it. Just set the side you want exposed up and then take the wrong end of the bit down over it and it will pick itself up.

With all the tools at hand, start drilling the holes remembering to drill them a little deep because of the hole curve and leaving room for glue on the back side since the hole is going to be tight. The dremel leaves some rough edges, so just quickly clean them up with the exacto. Drop a dot of glue in the bottom of the hole and grab the drill bit with the magnet on the end and shove it down in there. Depending on how tight the whole is, you may need to put your finger nail on the magnet while you pull the drill bit off to keep it from pulling out of the hole. You can also use your finger nails to make sure the magnet is flush. That's pretty much it. Set it aside and keep on doing them, making sure to keep the polarity straight. When you switch from the arms to the body, make sure you flip those magnets over or you will be in trouble.

Check out the picture for some finished results. You can use this technique on lots of different types of models so let your imagination run wild. One unintended consequence is that you can change up the look of your models a bit from game to game. I hope this technique was helpful. Where might you want to incorporate some magnets? If you've used magnets inventively before, let me know, I'm new at this and always looking for good ideas.