Magnetic Stands

Of course I would produce magnetic stands. This is me!

Magnetised stand

Here's a quick tutorial on magnetising stands. I saw the idea on the Spartan Forum, but couldn't find enough straws to use it on my whole fleet. I investigated at a hobby store and decided on some aluminium tube. The key was finding a tube with the same internal diameter as the peg and the magnet (3mm). I found some, but had to settle for the ultra-precision stuff because the cheaper stuff was all sold out (the styrene rods didn't have internal diameter stated or a wall thickness). I cut the tubing to the same length as the pegs (~45mm), which after the thickness of the magnet is allowed for, gave me about 2mm of acrylic sticking out the bottom to put into the base. Here is my technique:

1. Stand your stack of magnets upright on a metal surface. A ruler is great for this. Leave it here for the duration; it keeps things correctly oriented. Take a magnet and seperate it from the stack with a thin peice of plastic. Any old thing will do.

2. Put a drop of superglue onto the magnet, then slide your cut tubing over the magnet.

3. Slosh some more superglue into the tube, then insert your peg.

4. Stand the peg magnet-end-down and hammer the exposed acrylic until it is snug. You should have about 1-2mm of exposed acrylic; enough the put into your stand.

5. Viola- a magnetic stand. Still needs paint.

Obviously, you need tot get a magnet into the model. Used some Tamiya Brown Stuff (name?), but any hard-curing putty will do.