This may sound like a stupid question, but what method did you use to break the peg on the Decimator? I'm worried about just crushing it in case I damage the ship itself. Any tips would be much appreciated!

This may sound like a stupid question, but what method did you use to break the peg on the Decimator? I'm worried about just crushing it in case I damage the ship itself. Any tips would be much appreciated!

on all of my ships (large and small) I just use a pair of needle nose pliers to gradually squeeze the peg (which does start crushing it) and rock it back and forth. Most of the time for small ships this will break the peg off and leave part of it inside the ship (not a problem) but for large ships the whole peg usually comes out of the ship. really not an issue.

Thanks. I guess I just need to be brave!

Just wanted to day thank you again for the advice and tips. My magnetised Decimator turned out great and is solid as a rock in its magnet and bearing.

I found that inserting a thin craft knife under the peg all around and then gently twisting the peg ensured it came off easily and in one piece so if need be I could glue it back in (though I did later throw the piece away because I'm an idiot....).

Followed OP's and everyone's advice and finally magnetised some of my imperial ships. Right now it looks like this (the list I'm currently using)

They're ready for this friday's SC. And if something goes wrong... Take evasive actions!

Brilliant! I'm still waiting for my 5mm ball bearings to arrive for my smaller ships.

Has anyone magnetized a huge ship like the raider?

If you look back a few pages there's pictures of a magnetised Tantive

If you look back a few pages there's pictures of a magnetised Tantive

Yeah, I did my Tantive, but honestly, I wouldn't recommend it, it's really not sturdy enough to bother.

The Raider I wouldn't bother with just because the mounting points are so deep, especially in the back.

I did, however, have good success mounting the Gozanti and the Ghost with these larger magnets, linked above. They seem to work well.

I did the Gozanti. Much earlier than I was planning to... My 2 year old got used to ships being able to safely bank, so he tried to bank the Gozanti...

I'm considering doing this to my ships, as the end result looks fantastic and a lot easier for set up and disassembly.

Quick question, though. Has anyone thought of using neodymium spheres instead of steel ball bearings? The range of motion would obviously be reduced, but the magnet-to-magnet force would be more than doubled, making it a much sturdier and stable.

http://www.kjmagnetics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=S3

As for sure-fire, correctly-oriented installation, my thoughts are to just toss a ring magnet onto the sphere so that the sphere's north pole attaches to the south pole of the ring magnet, and then glue the sphere onto the peg with the ring facing straight up.

Thoughts?

My thoughts, as the owner of many, many buckyballs, is that it's very much not easy to ensure that the ball does not get flipped around when glued to the peg. The force might actually be too strong for some of the smaller ships, now that I think of it.

A second thought is that I don't want my pegs to suddenly repel each other or stick together. I made sure to magnetize all my ships with the same polarity (2 FOs betrayed me). It makes it much easier for transport, especially for tiny ships like the interceptor and TIE advanced which I stick two per yellow box, magnets facing each other.

It's certainly worth a try, worst case, you screwed up a peg. But you've got hundreds of those anyways

Disregard. Some brushing up on Physics II concepts using K&J's force calculator straightened me out. Metals are such good conductors that they recreate the same polarity and alignment as a magnet they're attached to, so a magnet-to-magnet bond would be no more strong than a metal-to-magnet bond when in direct contact. Magnet-to-magnet interactions are only stronger at a distance, as the magnetic field would be affecting the steel ball to a radically smaller extent at farther distances.

Looked through the thread and didn't see anyone asking this:

How exactly do you get the small steel ball to stay on the end of a small ship peg? I snapped off the male end of a peg and filed down the top, but the steel ball just doesn't want to stay stuck on there no matter how much glue I use. I'm using "Loctite Super Glue" - maybe that's not good enough? Or could it be a surface area problem?

Looked through the thread and didn't see anyone asking this:

How exactly do you get the small steel ball to stay on the end of a small ship peg? I snapped off the male end of a peg and filed down the top, but the steel ball just doesn't want to stay stuck on there no matter how much glue I use. I'm using "Loctite Super Glue" - maybe that's not good enough? Or could it be a surface area problem?

I have found that it helps to put a drop of glue on the peg and let it sit for a minute or two to let it gum up some. That should help grab the steel ball. It will still require a steady hand though.

I use a file to put a slight groove in it, so the ball will sit better and there is more surface area for the glue between the ball and peg. Then after the glue has dried, I add glue around all the gaps. I use gap-filling model glue because it dries thicker. Also, if you aren't, glue it with the peg stuck into a base. Then the weight of the ball is pressing straight down and gravity is working with you, rather than against you. With a little groove for it to sit in, you should be able to get it to just sit on the top.

I don't have any WIPs for it though.

You can see them here though.

Looked through the thread and didn't see anyone asking this:

How exactly do you get the small steel ball to stay on the end of a small ship peg? I snapped off the male end of a peg and filed down the top, but the steel ball just doesn't want to stay stuck on there no matter how much glue I use. I'm using "Loctite Super Glue" - maybe that's not good enough? Or could it be a surface area problem?

You could try sanding the bearings to add micro crevices for the glue to hold. Sanding the bearings also doubles practicality up by adding friction when the magnet contacts the bearing's surface so your models won't be as wobbly when moving them during a game.

Yeah sanding the bearings and trying to make a small groove in the top of the peg worked a beaut for me.

Sand them a bit and use some 5 minute epoxy rather than super glue, it will give a stronger long-term connection.

But the other thing to note is that there's almost no stress on the joint if you're doing it right, so even a relatively weak glue bond you could snap off with your fingers will hold a ship up just fine.

I use a file to put a slight groove in it, so the ball will sit better and there is more surface area for the glue between the ball and peg.

That's how I did it too. I used a triangular hobby file and put a little groove at the top of the peg.

Seems to be more important for the large pegs, where I actually cross-file the post into an X.

Thanks for all the tips. What grit of sandpaper do y'all use for scuffing up the balls?

I heat up the ball and use it to melt a cup in the top of the peg.

What I can't find is a good way to paint the magnets. I don't like the chrome next to a painted ship and a painted peg.

Also..don't worry about crushing the peg part when you take them off a ship...its easy to repair by making a new one from the bottom of a spare leg segment.

I've got flat magnets that I'm gluing on now. The balls are cool, but I already have flat ones from other games. I'll be using them on 3 ships to get them back on pegs. I just need to ensure I glue the right polarization on right!

I've got flat magnets that I'm gluing on now. The balls are cool, but I already have flat ones from other games. I'll be using them on 3 ships to get them back on pegs. I just need to ensure I glue the right polarization on right!

Mark the same pole on each magnet with a sharpie or similar.