Has anyone purchased magnets to do these mods in the UK? If so where from as id love to give it a go.

KJ Magnetics are still the best supplier I've found, there aren't any UK ones that will do the tiny countersunk rings.

(I just used brass rod for my StarViper wing hinges personally)

Just added a few bits to cart and when I got to the shipping there was only one option for postage to the uk. UPS $118 dollars! A little steap for what will fit in a small envelope lol

Turns out it was the ball bearings that caused the shipping issues. Shipping ball bearings can only be done via UPS. When I removed those I got the cheaper USPS options.

That has worked, thank you! Just need to be patient for the exchange rate to get a little better, the pound is weak at the moment and I am tight haha

I'm not a fan of the thicker magnets but do you need the N50 strength to make it work or does the N35 cover it?

Bump, can anyone help me out?

Has anyone done this with spherical magnets, not steel balls? I want to pick up enough magnets to magnetize my X-wing stuff, but also my Warhammer 40k Dark Eldar. The plastic is still pretty light, but I don't want a bunch of stuff accidentally tipping constantly.

*EDIT* Read back a few pages (what, there's valuable insight between Page 1 and Page 8, who'd've thunk it). I like the flat magnet+sphere magnet+PVC adapter ring method. I've already got tons of flat magnets.

Oh, also, for those trying to magnetize and save cost, sheet metal and metal shears can cut your magnet usage by half. This is ideal for joins with really light pieces like weapon or arm swaps because the magnetic bond is half strength too. So it's probably not ideal for X-wing conversions, but when you need something magnetized without looking obvious, a sunken magnet and thin sheet metal can make it seamless.

About the only application I've used in X-Wing, was in magnetizing the base stem-to-base for my Ghost.

I've done it with spherical magnets. One of the local guys bought a magnet sculpture set of magnet spheres and I traded him some extra AA cards for some. All I did was glue the sphere to a peg (usually one that didn't fit good in any ship I tried) and turned a nut onto the ship peg. Works great on small bases, including the K-wing. If a peg ever breaks (hasn't happened) I can just turn the nut off the ship and use a standard peg.

Not as pretty though as other methods, but perfectly functional.

PS: Yay, I'm subscribed to the thread now!

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 was having the same problem. What I di was snip off about 1/2 of the little tip, then I found some small grommets that would fit over the left over tip and set right on top of the peg. Glued it on then glued the ball to the grommet. The grommet has a nice recess top that the ball sets right down in, and gives a very secure setting. It is also very well centered. I will take a picture later and post it.

OK...I just skimmed through all the pages and I didn't see an answer to my next question here. Is it necessary to get magnetic balls? Or can you just use regular ball bearings? I'm thinking it might be cheaper to just use regular ball bearings on the pegs and rare earth stuff for the ships. Is that a bad idea? Has anyone tried it?

If anyone is having problems with glue, I can recommend E6000. I think it's technically called plumber's glue. It's a see through gel and I've been using it for years for all sorts of minis. It holds rare earth magnets pretty well, as long as you put enough on. It's see through, as well, which is good. You can buy it at Walmart, which is even better. It's not that expensive.

OK...I just skimmed through all the pages and I didn't see an answer to my next question here. Is it necessary to get magnetic balls? Or can you just use regular ball bearings? I'm thinking it might be cheaper to just use regular ball bearings on the pegs and rare earth stuff for the ships. Is that a bad idea? Has anyone tried it?

If anyone is having problems with glue, I can recommend E6000. I think it's technically called plumber's glue. It's a see through gel and I've been using it for years for all sorts of minis. It holds rare earth magnets pretty well, as long as you put enough on. It's see through, as well, which is good. You can buy it at Walmart, which is even better. It's not that expensive.

The ball bearings I use are not magnetized. They are the same ones from the first post on this topic https://www.kjmagnetics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=NSB3 . Those are for the small base pegs.

Oh, I missed the point where they weren't magnetized! Thanks for clarifying.

Some people said the ball bearings were expensive to ship. Is it possible to perhaps get them at a local hardware store and save the shipping from getting ugly?

I just checked Home Depot and they are .54 cents compared to .10 at K&J. So, unless the shipping really is a lot, it might be better to order through them. I guess it depends on how many I want and how much the shipping is.

OK...I did a little bit more digging. I found a place on eBay that sells 100 ball bearings of the same type for only $4.25. That means each one is only 4 cents and shipping is free. That's cheaper than the magnet place.

Oh, I missed the point where they weren't magnetized! Thanks for clarifying.

Some people said the ball bearings were expensive to ship. Is it possible to perhaps get them at a local hardware store and save the shipping from getting ugly?

I just checked Home Depot and they are .54 cents compared to .10 at K&J. So, unless the shipping really is a lot, it might be better to order through them. I guess it depends on how many I want and how much the shipping is.

OK...I did a little bit more digging. I found a place on eBay that sells 100 ball bearings of the same type for only $4.25. That means each one is only 4 cents and shipping is free. That's cheaper than the magnet place.

The issue is that K&J won't use the USPS to ship bearings to Canada (or internationally, I guess) and using FedEx/UPS makes the shipping go north of $100 as opposed to the usual $15 or so.

Ball bearings are a very common thing though, so finding a local seller isn't that hard. I used https://www.bearingscanada.com/ . Shipping was $10 for $10 of bearings, but that was 100 small and 100 large ones, so comparatively much, much cheaper. I resold many at cost to the local group, though I should have resold less, I'm running out!

I'm magnetizing Wave 9 tonight! I'll probably jump straight to the big cupped magnets for the ARC, it looks unwieldy. And I should probably switch the K-wings to them too, while I'm at it.

And here's the Wave 9 ships, better late than never!

ARC-170

I actually used my forstner bit to inset the magnet, it looks a bit gnarly before you glue the magnet in there:

But then it all but disappears. I'll still paint it so it fully disappears.

TIE/sf

I thought this would be the easiest one to do. I was so far off the mark!

I ended up needing to use a grinding wheel on my dremel to create a flat surface without removing the cute little turret that's on there. This means the magnets is far more forward than it usually is on a TIE. I'll have to see what it does to balance, but I can say it doesn't blend in at all!

Fang

By far the easiest. I decided to inset the magnet. Then, I proved that having boys running around isn't conducive to detail work. At least the gash is on the underside!

Shadowcaster

The peg is not where you want your magnet to be. Just put it down and you'll see it tilts back easily. I'm afraid I over corrected a bit though. I'll do some test, but you may want to split the difference in half from this picture.

Second warning, the ship is hollow, plan your drilling carefully!

And here's the Wave 9 ships, better late than never!

ARC-170

I actually used my forstner bit to inset the magnet, it looks a bit gnarly before you glue the magnet in there:

But then it all but disappears. I'll still paint it so it fully disappears.

TIE/sf

I thought this would be the easiest one to do. I was so far off the mark!

I ended up needing to use a grinding wheel on my dremel to create a flat surface without removing the cute little turret that's on there. This means the magnets is far more forward than it usually is on a TIE. I'll have to see what it does to balance, but I can say it doesn't blend in at all!

Fang

By far the easiest. I decided to inset the magnet. Then, I proved that having boys running around isn't conducive to detail work. At least the gash is on the underside!

Shadowcaster

The peg is not where you want your magnet to be. Just put it down and you'll see it tilts back easily. I'm afraid I over corrected a bit though. I'll do some test, but you may want to split the difference in half from this picture.

Second warning, the ship is hollow, plan your drilling carefully!

Very awesome work, and inspiring ideas. Eventually, my ships will get this mod, but I really need to know the exact placements for each ship - so posts like yours mean a lot!

Generally, the peg is a good starting point. Sometimes it's not! And sometimes, trial and error means you may miss on your first one, especially if you're insetting the magnets. It's always safe to glue them on top first since you can dissolve superglue with nail polish remover (it kills the paint too, so don't put too much on, I've got a FO that was my lesson on that topic!).

I just started magnetizing my ships today, and I'm in love. I'll post some pics when I have more. So far, regarding balance, I've found that trying to balance the ship on a pair of scissors or pliers or whatever can help you find the center of gravity of any particular ship. Especially if the peg connector touches the ground on the model; that'll generally tell you how far forward/back you need to offset the magnet from where the peg normally goes.

On smaller lighter ships, like A-Wings, Scyks, Fangs, etc, the placement doesn't matter so much.

A few different ones.

I've recently rebuilt my Star Viper and used pairs of 2mmx1mm discs to allow the guns to pivot, mainly because I had to remove the guns to get the wings to fold anyway

I also used magnets in my B-Wings for the Cockpit

I used a modified stand for my B-Wing

the 5mm magnet is enough to hold the B-Wing in any orientation.

I also put a pair of magnets to allow me to turn the cockpit

I also used magnets in my B-Wings for the Cockpit

I used a modified stand for my B-Wing

the 5mm magnet is enough to hold the B-Wing in any orientation.

I also put a pair of magnets to allow me to turn the cockpit

Hawt...

This is how I magnetized my X-Wing minis. (Link is in German, so please be warned...)

http://x-wing-selbsthilfegruppe.de/2016/09/23/bastelworkshop-x-wing-miniaturen-magnetisieren/

This is how I magnetized my X-Wing minis. (Link is in German, so please be warned...)

http://x-wing-selbsthilfegruppe.de/2016/09/23/bastelworkshop-x-wing-miniaturen-magnetisieren/

They look great!

Edit, found the stuff on Ebay! If you could ever translate your guide into English I would really appreciate it.

Dan

Here you go:

X-Wing Magnets Tutorial

I even have a bonus section on how to magnetize the cockpit of the B-Wing.

Perfect thank you :-)

What's the best online shop for magnets in Europe, and which ones should I get?

Has anyone magnetized the pegs with the base? I'm thinking to do it on the big bases, as it's annoying as hell when it gets dismounted when moving the ship.

Should I go with two magnets (one in the base, one in the peg)? Or one magnet and something like a nut would be enough?

On 27/11/2016 at 6:38 PM, Kharnete said:

Has anyone magnetized the pegs with the base? I'm thinking to do it on the big bases, as it's annoying as hell when it gets dismounted when moving the ship.

Should I go with two magnets (one in the base, one in the peg)? Or one magnet and something like a nut would be enough?

After a quick test, I decided to go with double magnets using some spares I had around. And it works effing great.

(EDIT: changed the host as Gfycat didn't show part of it where I mess with the peg)

RIP big pegs getting free at random times. I won't miss you.

I like it! Most of mine stay on tightly (if you find the correct peg/base pair...), but the Ghost is still a pain. I'll look for cheaper disk magnets rather than using my donut ones and try it on the big ship!

I hadn't realized but K&J actually have a page on their website devoted to magnetizing X-Wing mini's.

Edit: there is also a very succinct video on the subject.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UGm7HiYUKc

Edit #2: Anyone know how to embed YouTube videos in a post? I know I've seen others do it...

That article is awesome, thanks!