Fun With Magnets!

Happy New Year! I'm kicking off 2017 with a couple of projects featuring magnets. First up is Magnetic Trees for the French and Indian War. I used some "super" magnets from Home Depot to make it a little easier to use the "giant" trees in my forest terrain.

Here's how they work currently; the "trees" have holes drilled in them to accept a bolt that inserts up from beneath the cork surface. The bolt holds the tree loosely so it doesn't rock the surface if it's bumped during play. Works well enough. . .

But "threading" around 40 bolts a game is kinda laborious so I'm making some improvements. I'm adding big washers to the base of the trees (superglue, of course) to add some stability and eventually I will landscape them to add a bit more "woodsiness" to the overall look. After gluing on the washer I glue on the ring magnet - this leaves the original drilled hole clear, in case I ever want to go back to the bolts.

I embedded the small round magnets in the cork base, in the holes originally made for the bolts, secured with, yes, more superglue.

 When using two magnets per "attraction" it is important to make sure all are facing correctly, or you get repelling instead of attracting. Done right, though, the tree is held to the base snugly, but is still easily removed or "bumped" out of the way. Just needs the landscaping now! 

Next up, my 1/2500-scale adaptation of Star Trek: Attack Wing. I'm using magnets to attach the spaceship models to the bases. I'll post later about the project in more detail, but here's a shot of the actual packaged Attack Wing models next to their 1/2500 Enterprise-era counterparts.

The Andorian Kumari and Vulcan Ni'Var are Eaglemoss models and the fuselage of the Vulcan D'Kyr is part of a BadAzz resin kit yet to be built. Only a few of the Eaglemoss models are the right scale; these two are.

I'm using the Omni-Stands from Cor-Sec, that have a magnetic option. A big ROUND magnet that let's you position your model in various "flying" positions.

 Key is adding the "Small Mount" to the model, which is then attracted to the magnet on the top of the flight stand. A hole needs to be drilled in the bottom of the model, and the Small Mount glued into the hole.

Here's the primed resin model of the Enterprise NX-01 from Federation Models, with the Small Mount glued in place. 

 

Here is the Small Mount attached to the two Eaglemoss models, and to the AMT styrene model Reliant, which is actually completed, and the AMT K'vort Bird of Prey, which still needs its final painting details.

 
Wishing you a great 2017; buckle up!

Go Chiefs!