Experimenting with a Reaver (ouch, could be costly).

I bought some more magnets last week - bigger ones 3mm x 0.5mm - with a cunning plan in mind. It occurred to me that I may want to rebase the Titans depending upon what terrain was being used, i.e. Urban, Ice field, desert, ash wastelands. etc., etc. So swapping bases and using magnets to attach the models to the bases seems like a reasonable plan - the old plastic ones and the resin Forge World ones (in my mind) are no problem as they are very light weight (in grammes that is) but a metal one like the newer Warlords and 'beetle shaped' Reavers are much heavier.

So, Omnissiah be praised, I took a pair of cutters to a Reaver and chopped off it's feet lugs! I went a bit further and chopped off the lug at it's waist too - just because I want to see if I can have it articulated properly so it can shoot "behind" it - it can but turning the 'thorax' of the model round to show this just seems much cooler! Plus it's top half can be swapped (or removed if it gets blown off! My God, I'm 45 going on 12).

The big down side of swappable base plan is that Games Workshop and Forge World no longer sell individual components (yet another problem of being Public Limited and having shareholders), so I'd have to make feet for each base type though - I'll worry about this problem later - just remember not to glue the feet on the base for now I guess.

In my post, Magnetising Titan Weapons, I go in to detail on the process of drilling, polarity, gluing and whatnot so I wont bore you by repeating all that. Instead I'll dive straight in to the results.

As I already said, the Reaver is a metal model, as a result it quite heavy. I assumed that all of the weight was downwards that a 3mm x .05mm magnet with a 0.05kg pull would do it - while the model does stay together it is very ungainly. I think with it's full compliment of weaponry and head (all metal) the model will come apart too easily in gameplay.

I think this is more to do with the diameter of the magnets I've used rather than much to do with the strength in itself. I do not think 3mm gives enough area of contact, the feet at just over 5mm in diameter and the waist point is too small a point of contact.

I cant find slim 5mm diameter magnets at the moment [Update: Friday 20th April - I did not look properly at first4magnets, there are loads in the circular magnets section :(( - I'll order some after today's order arrives], so I am going to get some stronger magnets, I will plump for 3mm dia x 2mm thick N42 Neodymium Magnet - 0.17kg Pull and see if the extra strength gives enough pull to make the model stable. I am also going to 'flatten' the bottom of the torso portion of the reaver so there will be more contact between the two parts, even though the 3mm diameter may be a bit too small here. I will have a think. The waist diameter of the model is 6mm so I could drill out a 5mm hole and bung in a 5mm diameter magnet - I can only find 5mm dia x 5mm thick Nickel Jewellery Clasp Magnets - 0.5kg Pull which are a bit 'deep' to use as a pair - I could try and find a 5mm x 0.5mm washer and use a magnet / washer combo or see if 4mm dia x 3mm thick N42 Neodymium Magnet - 0.37kg Pull will do the trick. I'll get some bought and try them out.

Assembled without glue!! The waist's area of contact is too small, needs flattening I think this has been another very useful experiment, I've not actually really risked the loss of the Reaver as I can simply super glue it all together if the weight of it is too much for the size of the magnets I can usefully use with metal models of this size. I do, however, see no problem at all with the plastic Warlords. All in all a decent learning process and first4magnets will be getting a further order soon!

On another tack, most of the other Titans (as had this Reaver) have now gone through the Dettol vats and are stripped clean of all old paint and pulled apart ready to be reassembled and repainted. The Deus Mechanicus will be pleased with progess, the legion will soon be walking again with the Omnissiah's (and Mrs. Simpkins)  grace.

Latest batch out of the Dettol, not a bad clean up job

I promise, I will put up my findings properly with the Dettol paint stripping experiments, it's brilliant if a bit risk ridden and smelly!

UPDATE: Friday 20th April - Order gone off for more magnets, I'll report back with the resulting re-engineering soon - Ringo.