Magnetize marine body/legs

[digital--elf]

Hi, I'd like to build a techmarine and been able to use it on foot and on bike. I decided so to put a small magnet in lower part of the torso and one in the upper part of the legs (one pair of legs for foot model and one for bike riding one).
I have to buy small magnets and i'd be very grateful if someone cuold help me with the size neeeded.
Thanks in advance! :)
DE

[Meph]

I'll have to double check with the little magnets i have at home but at first guess I ting you should be OK with 2-3mm width and 2mm thick.

[plawolf]

If you are in the UK, I would recommend this site.

http://e-magnetsuk.com/magnet_products/neodymium_magnets/circular_disc_magnets.aspx

The 3mm x 1mm ones should be more than powerful enough for this. There product code is EP400.

I have used those as well as the 3mm x 2mm ones (EP392) and they are both great. The EP392 is powerful enough to easily take the weight of a plastic dreadnought (use that for the grapple on my stormraven) and very good for metal figures' arms.

The 1mm ones are better for plastics, and especially for the new GK weapons, as the 2mm ones are just too thick, and you will likely destroy the hand/weapon if you tried to drill a hole that big.

Although in this case, I would remind you that the bike legs are flat topped, whereas normal legs have a concave top, so you will likely need to put a few loose magnets on top of the flat rider legs to get good connection with the torso. I would suggest the 1mm ones on this basis, as the smaller size would allow you more flexibility in now many loose magnets to put in to get the best connection, whereas with a 2mm magnet, you can easily end up with the torso sticking up or not getting a good connection and have the thing fall apart easily.

But if you are using metal bits for the techmarine torso/backpack, I would suggest you go with the 2mm ones as the 1mm ones might not be strong enough if the top part is too heavy. In which case, I would advise you test fit the parts with the magnets before gluing the magnets in place to make sure you have the proper spacing.

[elmir]

The 1mm ones are better for plastics, and especially for the new GK weapons, as the 2mm ones are just too thick, and you will likely destroy the hand/weapon if you tried to drill a hole that big.


2mm diameter and 1mm thickness is what I used for all my GKs though. Works like a charm. They should also be plenty powerfull to hold a torso in place. I think you could go for 3 mm diamter for a torso/legg connection easily. The maximum weight that a magnet can hold scales better with diameter then magnet thickness, so I'd go for a 3mm diameter.

Like plawolf already said, you may need to make a surface on the bikerlegs concave with some GS and then put the magnet in the actual GS.

[digital--elf]

Wow! Thanks everybody for the fast and very accuarate answers. I think i'll go for 2mm x 1mm magnets to begin. For the bike legs i thought of drilling a hole for the magnet and for the torso to put the magnet in green stuff and make the bottom part of the torso flat so i'll have both surfaces flat.
Thanks again I'll check some internet stores where to make a cheap buy (thank plawolf for the link).

[plawolf]

I assumed that the whole point of using magnets is so that you can change the techmarine between being on foot or on a bike.

If that is the case, you should not fill in the bottom convex cavity of the torso as then it will not fit with standard standing legs.

You can make a matching concave 'cap' for the bike torso using GS, but that is far too much effort than necessary.

I do not normally magnetize the torsos and legs of my marines, but I have done so with dreadnoughts, and I think these pictures will do to illustrate my point.

http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/494/img0191da.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/19/img0191da.jpg/)

In the above picture, you can see that I have drilled a hole and glued a magnet into the torso of the dreadnought, you can do a similar thing with the torso of your techmarine.

You might have also noticed the two 3mm x 1mm magnets I left by the dreadnought.

http://img845.imageshack.us/img845/9281/img0192q.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/845/img0192q.jpg/)


In the second picture, you can see that I have simply allowed the two spare magnets to attached themselves to the bottom of the dreadnought torso, and this has made the magnets flush with the edges of the rim of the convex cavity, and I could have attached a flat object to the bottom and the magnets would get a good solid connection.

All you need to do is now drill holes and glue magnets to the standing and biker legs you wish to swop around with and the torso should connect well with both. The only adjustment you need to make is remove the two loose magnets when you are mating the torso to standing legs, and attach them when you are using the biker legs.

No green stuff required, and since magnets come in packets of 10 minimum, you should not miss the two spare ones. If you need them some day, simply remove them and replace with a similar thickness piece of steel.

----
Edit, just to add, make sure you have the polarity of your magnets right when you glue the matching pair in place. It's so very easy to accidently flip them, especially since you will be working with the very thin 1mm ones.

[faolan]

To keep my polarity right, I paint the last few magnets on the "stick" of them. Then I work from the unpainted end down towards the painted end. You just seat the unpainted end's direction into the plastic, and you get it right every time. That way, you only have to check the last 2-4 magnets, and even then you can just repaint the very end one a different colour to make it easier.