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Modeling with Rare Earth Magnets |
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So back when I first started playing Confrontation I began to wonder how to actually use some of these really neat models that the Lion army had available without having to buy extra of the Alahan Guard blisters to have different weapon combinations - or how to avoid goofy looking cardboard counters to represent the Falcons I wished to unleash upon my foes.
To that end... Rare Earth Magnets.
There are more things to do with these magnets than I am mentioning here. These are things I've done and the lessons I've learned from doing them.
However, before we get stared - a few important notes about the magnets themselves.
First - they are brittle. Bashing on them, trying to cut them., throwing them at metal cabinets, cars, other rare earth magnets or metal items your friends are wearing. Not recommended. Because they are brittle they can shatter and will produce nasty sharp shards, kind of like a broken glass - and sometimes just as sharp.
Second - they have positive and negative poles - just like regular magnets. Opposites attract, so before you glue them down, make sure you know what side of what is going to attract - otherwise you might go to place a weapon arm on someone and it will skip across the table instead.
Third - Heating them is bad. First off, if you get them above 175 degree (F) they lose the magnetic properties. Honest. that is what the company says, I believe them. Secondly if they do burn yui are in for a world of hurt. Burning them creates toxic fumes. Once again, I haven't tried it, but I trust the company that says it's what happens.
Fourth - The super strong magnetic field can mess up floppy disks, mag strip ID cards and may even effect things like pacemakers and other medical devices. No trying to stick them to your grandparents hearing aids, pace makers or steel plates. Unhappiness can and will occur.
Lastly - They aren't good to eat. Not that I've tried, but this applies to siblings, children and pets. They are small and shiny so any of the above might try to pick them up and maybe even eat them. Make sure you know where they are. Rare Earth magnets are NOT Good Eats.
I know it seems oddly worrisome to waste the time and effort tossing out these warnings, but since each and every order I've gotten from the supplier, no matter how big or small comes with these (and more) warnings I feel they should be covered. Just because.
All that said - here come the useful ideas.
As noted in the warnings, each magnet has two poles, positive and negative. Opposites attract so you have to make sure that when gluing magnets into/onto a figure that the poles align the way you want. One of the easiest ways is to, with the magnets all stacked together into a single cylinder take a Sharpie or other fine tipped marker and pick one end of the stack top be the bottom. Mark this with a big X. On the other side simply put a dot on the leading magnet. Each time you pull a magnet out the the stack, dot the remaining one. This will gaurantee that the magnets will attract dot to unmarked edge.
Project one. If you love something - let it go. Falconeers of Alahan.
The first thing I did was decide that my Falcons deserved a landing spot and a flying spot - and since Falcons were not an individually purchasable commodity a little modeling had to be done.
First a three trios of small (1/16" x 1/32") disk magnets were put aside for the project and a small pinvise (and some small amount of nerve) as well as some super glue were gotten together. Then, using a wee bit of nerve the pinvise was used to drill holes in the bottom of all the falcons. Care must be taken to center the hole in a few of them as there is not a lot of wiggle room less you just drill away half of the poor birds feet.
Then a small drop was put in each hole and the magnets were glued in - all facing in the same way so any falcon would match any falconeer.
Then each falconeer was placed on it's base and the best spot where any falcon could perch was noted.
Carefully a shallow hole was drilled into each, pausing frequently to test fit the companion magnet. The idea was to sink the magnet just far enough to be securely in the figure, but not deep enough to be recessed. Using the smallest drop of superglue possible the magnets were then glued in. In order to make sure they would all work properly I took the magnet, attached to to the bottom magnet of the falcon and lowered into the hole then slid the falcon away sideways, leaving the magnet in the recess and insuring that the magnets were lined up with opposite poles and that way would attract each other.
Note that some poses - like the extended arm require the magnet to be placed on the top of the hand where the shoulder of the crouching figure require it set towards the back in order to allow the falcon to sit at a normal looking angle. You will want to check this for yourself because it all depends on where you decide you want the falcon sitting and where you feel most at ease drilling into your figure.
That done some old clear flight base posts were pulled out of the junk bin, bottom pins sheared off, the small top pin cut off and a small recess drilled into it for the third of each triad of magnets. This magnet was then glued into the top of the post using the same procedure of placing the magnet on the bottom of a falcon, pressing it into the recess and sliding the falcon away so the poles were properly aligned.
The post was glued to the top of a round base and a quick flock job done.
Violia ! If my falcons are with the falconeer they rest on him. If off on a mission they are pulled off and stuck on a flight base and placed where need be. It looks neat, avoids odd marker clutter and impresses your friends and enemies. Not to shabby for about a half hour of work.
 The falcons sitting on the magnetic bases |
 The same falcons perched on
the
falconeers
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 Showing the magnet on the hand (it's the round drpessed looking area) |
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Project
Two. Guard of Alahan. The Swiss Army Knife of Alahan
One planned experiment successful, another to go. After looking at all
the cool weapons options allowed by the Guards of Alahan I
figured there was something better to be done than just saying you were
using a certain weapon - interchangable weapons seemed like a reachable
goal.
First things first - if you thought the drilling was a mite tricky with
the birds, it is most certainly tricky when you get top the hands on
these figures.
Unlike most of the later multi-weapon optioned troops the Guard of
Alahan all have the weapons with only a hand attached. So each hand was
carefully attacked by the 1/16" drill bit so a single 1/16" x 1/32"
disk magnet could be glued into the wrist area.
Because of how thin the
wrists are you may have to live with a little of the magnet sticking
out of the wrist joint. This is not very noticeable for most models,
even more so if you make a show of putting the weapons on the figure in
full view of your impressed opponent. Watching this occur usually
deflect attention from all but the most obvious of construction
defects.
The hands are drilled out and magnets glued in (be sure to check
polarity so all the hands have the same pole sticking out) they are set
aside to dry. Subsequently the matching area on the figures arm
was carefully drilled out. After the magented hands dry simply use one
to
put the magnets in the carefully gauged holes in the arms to insure
proper poles in the arm joints.
The only problem I had with mine is the
spears. Because all the weight for a couple sculpts are concentrated at
one end, if bumped they will droop down. Can't do much about it, but
you might try to either put a scenic bit for the spear to rest against,
counterbalancing the short end with a blob of sinker or simply get
another spear with a different sculpt to get around it.
 Guard with the magnet installed |
 Same guard with sword attached |
 Pick and spear - the bare metal circles are the magnets (see the circle on the right arm ?) |
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Project three. Goblin Ashigaru - No drilling required !
Then the Japanese themed goblins came out - with multiple weapon options, of course.
Because the little goblins looked better with swords I wanted to use those, but the maces seemed better weapon choice. In order to satisfy the WYSIWYG players a quick plan was hatched. Magentizing the weapon arms seemed like a natural choice. The same idea with drilling into the hands and arms yielded a problem - the weapons were so unbalanced they would not stay upright. Plan B was then formulated and attempted with much better results.
Instead the wrist area was trimmed down and sanded flat and a 1/8" x 1/32" disk magnet glued to it. Then the last 1/32" to 1/16" of each goblin arm was trimmed off, sanded flat and a matching magnet glued to it. Becuase of how much larger the magnet is, it's surface area is much larger and it has more pull. The weapons stay on and effort is required to get them to droop. Nicely done, even if I say so myself.
The magnets were painted to make it easier to see. A little color matched paint or some green stuff to put a wee bit of texture on it and you wouldn't be able to tell where it was at all.
 Goblin mace with magnet installed |
 Goblin body with magnet on the arm |
 The mace magented to the goblin himself |
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 Happy little goblin with a mace |
 The same goblin from the side |
 Same goblin with a sword |
 From the side to show joint |
Project four - Optional Items
The other use that might be handy would be to use the rare earth magnets to attach optional items - specially painted Midnor Dolls for figure like Chagal Dog of Darkness with his MidNor doll, or for the Bakimo Ogres who might be endowed with a Kiawa Spy.
Gluing the optional piece (like the Spy) to a small or medium sized disk and concealing the matching disk on the base - even under some flock - works well. Or you could take a small bit of cork or putty, craft a small rock, shrub or whatever and place that on the base, with a magnet attached to cover the spot normally occupied by the accessory bit.
Final Thoughts :
Because of the way magnetic fields work you will want to try to avoid using different shaped magnets in pairs or disparate sizes of the same shapes. Where the same shaped and sized magnets will tend to allow for a bit of latitude in placement other combinations may not mate at all, or only in a single way - which might not be the way you want.
Hopefully this will give you some ideas on things that can be done with the smaller rare earth magnets, current figures, some elbow grease and a little bit imagination