Friday, October 4, 2013

H.O.W. TO: Magnetization


Monday's SHOWCASE featured my Trygon/Mawloc conversion with magnetized parts. I've written a small article on how I did it, so you can make the most out of your kits as well.



GW models aren't cheap, and it's great to be able to field them in both configurations so you can get your money's worth. By using a small bearing and some magnets, you can convert this Trygon/Mawloc kit to have both units available to you.

For this conversion I decided NOT to magnetize the arms. To be honest, there really isn't much difference in the size of the arms unless you compare them directly to each other, and the real visual differences that sets these creatures apart are all in the head.

The first step to magnetizing so many parts in such a small space is to make certain that the polarity of the magnets doesn't interfere with each other. The simplest way to avoid this is to use fewer magnets - instead of using one central magnet, and trying to match polarities from multiple parts to it, we're simply going to embed a steel ball bearing in the cavity of the head.


In the image above, you can see a lump of green stuff mounted inside the scull. Inside that lump of green stuff is a small 1/4 inch ball bearing. No special carving or drilling is needed, the head is already hollowed out right off the sprue. (WIN!) From there, it's only a matter of super gluing a magnet to each piece needed to complete the conversion.


Above you see the magnet super glued to the inside of the head carapace.


Here, I've snipped the ball joint off the end of the mandible, and simply super glued a magnet to the end. The socket in the model's head will completely conceal the magnet once the mandible is seated.

It's as simple as that. Add a magnet to the mouth, and convert the other pieces, and you have use of the kit as any of the three creatures it's meant to build!

Here's a parting shot of the back of the Trygon. I forgot to include one in Monday's SHOWCASE, and I'm rather proud of how the carapace design turned out!


Have you magnetized anything? Questions? Share in the comments section below.

-trip

1 comment:

  1. Very nice. I was never sure how I'd do something like that. My plan for my third big snake is to convert the Mawloc head pieces to have a closed mouth, which I think cuts the line between Trygon and Mawloc enough for it to fill either role.

    Dig the rear carapace, too!

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