[Tutorial] How to Magnetize Wargaming Miniatures

How to Magnetize Wargaming Miniatures

After receiving such positive reactions to my magnetized possessed warband I decided to write an illustrated tutorial for those who wish to learn more about the wondrous world of rare earth magnets and their practical wargaming applications.

The first thing to bear in mind is that this method is not suitable for all Citadel miniatures. Firstly, you must make sure that you actually require interchangeable parts! For a skirmish game like Mordheim this method is ideal because equipment changes and the inevitable casualties require an extensive model collection for an otherwise cheap game. This process is rather time consuming, so it would be inadvisable to perform it on more than 15 models unless you have a ton of spare time. Secondly, you want the models to be plastic and have at least twice the required arms needed, otherwise the time investment won't yield enough variety to make it worthwhile.

Lastly you must be sure that the figures have consistent arm details and color schemes. In the case of the Empire Flagellant figures I was supplied with base arms and sleeved arms; so long as I made sure to keep my jackets an skin tones identical, with as little mixing of paints as possible I would not need to worry about mis-matched colors. Some figures that might cause issues are Skaven if you choose different colors of fur, and empire militia which have shirts, vests, and riding coats which are usually all different colors. Careful palette selection is necessary and in many cases limiting, which is not always a bad thing!

Materials Needed

1: Pin vice drill
2: Very small drill bit (for pinning weapons through hands)
3: 1/16" drill bit
4: Needle file
5: X-Acto blade
6: Custom-cut "Drill Blade"
7: 1/16" disk magnets: http://www.amazingmagnets.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=236
8: 1/8" disc magnets: http://www.amazingmagnets.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=219

Making a Custom "Drill Blade"

Edit: Shortly after making this tutorial I was able to find a 1/8" drill bit that was the same size as the magnets I used for arms. This saved about 15 minutes per miniature and made the whole drill blade technique obsolete, but I will leave it in the tutorial since I don't feel like rewriting anything or taking more pictures!


So, you have your 1/16" magnets for heads and small details and 1/8" magnets for arms. The problem is that, like me, you don't have a dremel or dill bit of the appropriate 1/8" size.

The solution is to make a special X-Acto blade with a 1/8 flat tip. Use your magnet as a guide to marking the blade at is diameter and snap it with a pair of pliers. Now you just made you life much easiar in the coming hours!

Basic Construction

Now you're ready to start the fun! Here is a quick size comparison for those who don't believe how ridiculously small these magnets really are!

I assume the reader already knows how to clean and assemble a model; get all your figures prepped and leave off any limbs you wish to magnetize.

One might wonder why I didn't just say "drill a hole and glue in a magnet!" Well I learned that making consistent holes was more involved than it appears with the tools I had available, so if you can think of a better method feel free to improve upon my techniques. Also I like thorough tutorials!

Step 1:

Using a very sharp X-Acto blade, drill a hole in the center of your arm. This is just a guide to make the drilling more accurate.

Step 2:

Using your 1/16" drill bit make a hole a little deeper than your magnets thickness. This excess depth is necessary because once you expand the hole the edges will never turn out uniform to your original hole. Now if you are using 1/16" magnets for the arms, you are done with the hole making, but I suggest 1/8" magnets for more stability.

Step 3

Using your X-Acto blade, carve around the edges of your hole, spirals of plastic should fall out f you are doing this correctly. CAUTION: This is the most dangerous part of the whole process! The walls will end up being extremely thin, and the slightest pressure will send the blade through the arm and into your fingers! I can tell you from experience that it is best to keep the blade facing down and move the plastic instead of the knife.

Step 4

Clean up your hole with your needle file. Try to keep the edges intact but deep enough to accommodate the magnet.

I was lucky enough to get a file that has a very nice rounded handle and I simply flip the tool around and use that end to create a very clean perfectly round circle that is almost exactly 1/8" in diameter!

Step 5

Using the special "Drill Blade" you crafted earlier finish of the hole by twisting it around carefully. At this point your arms, especially if they are bare skin, will begin showing signs of stress by turning white around the thin edges. You will end up cutting through these edges on several occasions, or drilling all the way through some arms. Simply fix these mistakes with putty later. Test fit the magnet and perform your final trimming.

Step 6

Keeping the polarity consistent is vital! I use a guide model with magnets glued in and make all my arms to fit that figure. Stick the magnet to the test model's shoulder and apply glue to the arm. Now you must cover the lose magnet and carefully slide the arm, with it's magnet off of the torso. Sometimes if you are not paying attention the polarity of the edge of the magnet will cause your arm magnet to flip around in it's socket. Avoid this by sliding the arm onto your thumbnail.


Congratulations!

You now have an arms which can be positioned and replaced as needed!

Now use the same techniques to add magnets to all your torsos and arms until your fingers are bleeding and your head hurts from glue fumes!

Additional Thoughts
Once you start playing with rare earth magnets, the possibilities truly become endless! Some ideas I have yet to experiment with include:
-Base attachments for lucky charms, wounds, and weirdstone.
-Belt magnets for additional weapons, quivers, spell books and other accessories.
-Magnetized clips for holding models snuggly on tilted rooftops.
-Exchangeable weapons rather than full arms.
-Terrain that utilize large magnets for details and removable walls/rooftops.

One thing to bear in end is that the metal end of your ruler will occasionally get stuck to you models and it appears as if they are trying to escape the table!

Heads

If you choose to magnetize heads you can simply use the 1/16" drill bit and magnets. I used the heads supplied with he Flagellant box and some Bretonnian Bowmen heads. I found that i needed to considerably trim the Bretonnian heads to fit the Flagellant necks while the Flagellant heads just needed a little chunk taken off. I can now change heads as much as needed for casualties, helmet upgrades, new recruits etc..


Double-Handed Weapons

These are simple, depending on the model. I simply inserted a 1/16" magnet in the wrist and marked the arms alphanumerically so they would not get mixed up.


Shields

This is necessary only if you are running low on arms and want to have both unoccupied hands and the option to upgrade them with shields later. Find some arms with wrist cuffs and bands which will hide the magnet and insert 1/16" discs. Add a disk to the inside of the shield and voila! Bob the Mutant could not afford a shield when starting out, but after a few fights he has decided to buy one to protect himself from arrows!



Mutations
Bob was originally gifted with Blackblood but has now just received a slimy new tentacle from the Shadowlord. Don't panic! Simply switch his arm with a pre-made mutation and your troubles are over!



Examples
Moe and Larry have decided to trade in their duel clubs for some larger bashing weapons and also protect their heads (Larry has decided to shave his beard off as well!)



Here is just a group shot showing off more weapon combinations:


I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial as much as I have enjoyed writing it, wait scratch that! I hope you enjoyed reading it WAY more than i enjoyed writing it! Now get out there and impress people with an unnecessary level of figure customization!

And that's how it's done, ladies and gentlemen.

I vote for this to be the post of the month! Un-be-lievable.
Fantastic tutorial. Clear. Precise. Great to look at. Plenty of pictures.
11/10

Thanks a lot for sharing this. Eeeexcellent!

thanks for sharing the how to do, very usefull!

This is so awesome I might just start to cry! *sniff* Thank you so much for writing this tutorial!

Thanks and great job!

I have to try this sometime soon.

Wow! Absolutely amazing. Great idea, excellently presented!

Thanks for sharing!

Oh, btw: does it bother the magnets if you put a thin coat of paint over them?

A Brilliant tutorial - though I'm doubting wether I'll use it anytime soon (lack of magnets and multipart models...) But it works encouraging, I might consider a tutorial of my own soon!

Anyone for mushrooms?

Excellent Presentation: informative & VERY WELL WRITTEN! It seemed like when I first was learning the craft, the experienced guys were intent on taking their "secrets" to the grave. It's SO nice to see this is no longer the case. BRAVO!

@ezekiel: Like Mushrooms are my thing, Man!

Very cool. I started doing this on my characters for WH40K...then my Terminators, then my WHFB heros and lords. Not a bad idea for Morheim either.

Nice write up.

Wooh, that's REALLY cool !!

All right, started magnetising some models, and it's awesome! I just love switching weapons! hahah... I now have a bunch of items and weapons to be slapped on the backs of models, though I still find it tricky to put the magnets in the holes... (keeping the polarity fixed... - as the magnets are so tiny, I fail to see which side is plus and which minus after my greasy little gamersfingers have been tossing it around trying to get it in the right position... )

Anyone found a trick to solve this? (using a row of magnets doesn't work as they all suffer the superglue then...-my holes are a bit deeper, as I cover all the magnets with putty to restore the items and bodies to their original shapes...)

Maybe you could stick the magnet on the end of something ferrous like a nail head for inserting the magnet into the hole rather than using your finger tips. Slide the nail off when the glue is dry.

Wonderful tutorial ! I have a noob question, why doesn't it works on metal miniatures ? I mean, apart from the fact that drilling is not going to be easy ...

I think it is time i update this tutorial, glad to see more and more people are inspired to try it themselves!

I get to show off my new camera in the process!

It does work on metal models! I magnetized the following warmachine model to be used in Mordheim with either a crossbow or handgun.


Here you can see the 1/8th inch drill bit that makes most of the above
tutorial obsolete, the whole bit with the animated .gif and the
rounding out the hole is replaced by simply twisting this baby around
in my fingers (it is to wide to fit in the pin vice drill). It takes
all of 20 seconds as opposed to the 5 minutes like it used to take!


You can also see a model with the magnets already installed that i use to line up the proper polarity. I test fit the magnet and make sure the hole is the right depth, and slide the rest of the magnets away while using a fingernail to hold it in place before the glue sets. If the stack gets some glue on it i roll it around in my fingers to break the glue bond so i don't ruin them all. Hopefully this picture makes it clear...


So there you have it, any more questions, besides the obvious one, when am i going to finish this warband?

This is so cool ! It works on metal models, I am very happy, this means I can have magnetized dwarfs !

Thank you very much !

I bought some new Empire models today, together with a little drill. Unfortunatly my supplier ran out of Rare Earths, but I managed to get a few from another store. Just did two pistols on a new plastic Huntsman torso, and it works great! Just have to fill the little gap with greenstuff.

Can't wait till my local store gets their magnets again!