Magnetising Titan Weapons

I have seen a few examples of the use of magnets on miniatures, mainly on vehicles. When Adeptus Titanicus was first released .. around 1988 (or around White Dwarf 105/6) or so I think - was too long ago to remember and I cant be bothered looking it up (but some beard rubbing fact bot can correct me if they like, all I know is, I was there) - we never glued the weapons on the Titans. This allowed for various configurations, there were only 6 [titans] in the box [I think] and it was, at the time, really expensive to buy - about £24!! A fortune in them days. Problem was, the little plastic lugs snapped after a while, so out came the glue and you were, literally, stuck with a specific weapon configuration. I wished I'd though of using magnets back then.

As I am rebuilding my Titan Legion, stripping them back to bare plastic (and white metal) I thought I'd make use of the magnet idea and break them all down in to bits and use magnets to join them back together. So, hunting about on Google I found first4magnets.com and bought 100 1mm x 1mm, 50 2mm x 1mm and 25 2mm x 2mm magnets. They arrived the next day (Friday). With postage, they cost £22.00, should prove to be a good investment as I should be able to make many various weapon configurations but not have to buy more models, which is a good thing given that the old style plastic Warlord Titans are out of production now.

My first job was to look at the weight of the weapons. This is an important consideration. A 1mm x 1mm magnet can only support 0.04kg before it would break apart and fall off. The 2mm x 2mm have a pull of 0.08kg. I assume that means if something is more than the pull weight then you need a bigger magnet. So I weighed all the titan weapons, and used the 2mm x 2mm magnets in the 'under carapace' mounts as weapons will hang off these, and the 2mm x 1 mm (pull of 0.0k4g) magnets on top carapace mounts and in the plastic weapons themselves (the white metal weapons I used the 2mm x 2mm magnets as they are heavier). I am also assuming that the magnets pull increases when they are together - I am not a physicist so just guessing.

The 1mm x 1mm are a bit fiddly to use - so I have not used these yet as I need something none magnetic to handle them with in to position - plastic tweezers or something.

Another thing that is really important is polarity. More on this later. So, I started on a carapace from an old style Warlord. I made up some Miliput and put this in the weapon mount holes, then put the first magnet in place. The magnets all stick together in a line - which makes them easy to pick up as a group. Before I put the second magnet in place I checked the polarity by moving the row of magnets to near the first on I put it. This is to check that I insert them in to the mounts with all the same polarity. I used 2 2mm x 2mm magnets and 4 2mm x 1mm magnets on the whole carapace.

Then on to the weapons. I cut off the lugs (if still present) on each weapon. Now, on old Warlords some of the weapons can be mounted under or over on the carapace. These have two mounting lugs on them. I used a pin vice to drill a 2mm diameter 1mm deep hole where the lug had been (in the metal weapons a 2mm deep hole as I used a 2mm x 2mm magnet). Before super gluing the magnets in place I checked the polarity - if the magnets in the carapace have the positive pole facing out, then the weapons need the negative pole of the magnet facing out - otherwise they wont stick together!! Once I determined which side of the magnet I needed facing out, I dabbed a spot of super glue on the opposite side and popped it in the drilled hole. Once dry, I tested the weapon on all the mounts and hey presto - it stuck to all of them. I repeated this for each weapon in the batch and as you can see, this one Titan can now be completely reconfigured for specific engagements; from a long range bombardment role, a Titan killer, close assault and siege role.

I am really impressed with the use of Magnets. The discovery of Dettol as a stripper and the new 'magnet' technology means that I can go and revisit a few old models I have and rebuild and repaint them and not worry about what weapon configurations I need. A real cost saver for things like Terminators and Dreadnoughts, swapping weapon arms means I only need to buy weapon arms not whole models!

I will think about the colour scheme further for my resurrected Titan Legion, I test painted a marine in Vallejo Pale Sand with red heraldry and used the dip on it - came out dreadful. So I wont be using the dip method on the titans. I may spay undercoat them with the Army Painter Plate Mail, dip the whole body, dull coat it then put the colour on - dunno yet, I will sacrifice another plastic Marine to test this.

All in all, a productive weekend. Back to the grind tomorrow, Mrs Simpkins goes back to school and I have loads of work to do too - so may be a bit slow this week model wise, but never say never.