A few bags of magnets finally turned up from the US! Revisiting this topic before I get gluing and the one question I have to ask is did you make that awesome 3D background yourself?!

I did, thanks.

It's all made out of 1/8" fiberboard. Time consuming, but pretty simple, really.

I made a post about it a hundred years ago here: My Tiny Death Star

One of these days I'm going to go back and make a trench... honest...

I don't know if I ever actually thanked you for making this thread - I've gone through over 100 small magnets and maybe 25 or so large ones since I found it. Really love the effect it gives, makes dealing with bumps much easier and it's just a lot of fun!

I am getting a little tired of gorilla glue though - it tends to foam up a bit and look a bit ugly, otherwise if you use less then it lacks the ability to keep the ball bearing on the peg. That and magnetizing the Firespray is such a hassle I don't think I'll bother again. I don't know if you used a pin vice or what but I actually managed to break a model into piece using a similar drill bit - that said, I am pretty mechanically unsound!

I don't know if I ever actually thanked you for making this thread - I've gone through over 100 small magnets and maybe 25 or so large ones since I found it. Really love the effect it gives, makes dealing with bumps much easier and it's just a lot of fun!

I am getting a little tired of gorilla glue though - it tends to foam up a bit and look a bit ugly, otherwise if you use less then it lacks the ability to keep the ball bearing on the peg. That and magnetizing the Firespray is such a hassle I don't think I'll bother again. I don't know if you used a pin vice or what but I actually managed to break a model into piece using a similar drill bit - that said, I am pretty mechanically unsound!

Hey, thanks, I really appreciate it. I need to buy a few more magnets, myself!

I like the effect on the table of the banking fighters because, lets be honest, the pictures look cool. What I REALLY like, though, is not having to worry about one of those tiny little peg bits breaking off in my ships!

I've been using the Gorilla Glue brand of crazy glue - It holds crazy strong, but it's thinner and doesn't foam like Gorilla Glue proper. (Regular Krazy Glue might work just as well, for all I know.)

Sorry to hear about your Firespray! I didn't use anything funny, I just held it tight and started slowly and (maybe) lucked out!

On an unrelated note, they said I was MAD back at the University, but...

This isn't finished - I don't have any more bearings to glue onto the epic posts, so I'm just using the short large-ship posts for the photo.

I'm also using just the large ship magnets (R662CS-N for everyone following along at home).

I dig it. I don't know if I'll bother with all the epics (the Raider seems like it will be a pain in the butt due to the recessed back peg) but I think the Rebel Transports will work well enough with just a little fuss.

For the '90, I just pulled off the mounting pegs and glued large ship magnets where they used to be, just like any other large ship with the caveat that since the two posts of the stand are a fixed distance apart, the magnets have to go (pretty much) exactly where the posts were.

All things considered, it was easy-squeezie, but I DO recommend that anyone who tries it drinks enough beer, first, to make sure they can pull it off safely!

On an unrelated note, they said I was MAD back at the University, but...

This isn't finished - I don't have any more bearings to glue onto the epic posts, so I'm just using the short large-ship posts for the photo.

I'm also using just the large ship magnets (R662CS-N for everyone following along at home).

I dig it. I don't know if I'll bother with all the epics (the Raider seems like it will be a pain in the butt due to the recessed back peg) but I think the Rebel Transports will work well enough with just a little fuss.

For the '90, I just pulled off the mounting pegs and glued large ship magnets where they used to be, just like any other large ship with the caveat that since the two posts of the stand are a fixed distance apart, the magnets have to go (pretty much) exactly where the posts were.

All things considered, it was easy-squeezie, but I DO recommend that anyone who tries it drinks enough beer, first, to make sure they can pull it off safely!

have to try that myself - and of course blame you if it goes wrong (which it will, because of me doing crafty stuff )

also massive bonus points for the beer-advice

Safety-beer is important!

It won't really bank any further than what you see in the picture (30-ish degrees?) before it starts to floop over, but it's not really a dog-fighter, so it works out, I think.

I'm kind of excited about varying the peg heights for the derelict obstacle ship effect, though...

Woah what the heck! I did the same thing with my CR90 and the thing just flops over if you give it the slightest touch! Thats with roughing up the ball bearings with sandpaper - using presumably the exact same magnets and so on since I got them all from this thread! I was about ready to give up and replace the peg ball bearings with more magnets - it'd lose the ability to bank like that then of course, which is the whole point!

That sucks! Same steel bearings, too? Is the distance just right?

When I was gluing the magnets on, I accidentally globbed a little bit of glue onto the curved surface of the magnet and it's a little textured. Maybe that's giving it the extra friction it needs?

I was planning on doing this to my fleet at some point. Then my oldest set off a chain of event, completely random and not his fault, that broke the peg off a TIE/FO and the wife dropped a T-70 on the table while trying to peg it on it's stand which shattered the peg (that one is strange).

Off I went to buy magnets and bearings. For some strange reason, KJM would require almost $100 in shipping to get the bearings to Canada, but magnets are just ~$10. I got them from bearingscanada.com, which shipped really quick, and came to ~$10 (plus the same in shipping) for 100 of each size of bearings.

My small fleet is all magnetized now!

Proper pics will be coming, but taking advice from this thread, I figured out the center point of the Decimator before gluing the magnet on, so that it doesn't sag backwards and I figured I should share the required "edits" to the ship:

Using a dremel engraving tip, or equivalent, flatten the two areas next to the peg, to ensure a larger gluing surface, then notch the bump in front of the turret. The same tip is very useful to make sure the top of your peg is concave, ensuring your bearings stick very, very well in place.

The Decimator can now bank each way a shade over 30 degree without sagging, anything more will likely require sanding of the bearing.

I also unexpectedly tested the whole reason I was doing this when a Z95 fell 3 feet on my desk. It landed on it's wing and popped off the peg, with no visible sign of damage!

They work like this:

I have started using button (cylinder) magnets and I hide them in the hull of the ship. I think it makes for a better look and there is nothing to break off the miniature:

Just tried this and I'm surprised as how well they turn out! I probably won't do this to every ship but it does give them some dynamic that makes it look like the ships are in the heat of battle.

Another small update (and tip), use the large magnet and bearing for the TIE Punisher, it is not quite stable with the small ones, it's a very heavy ship. I also moved the magnet closer to the wing pods, it's a bit too far back if you put it at the peg and will keep face planting.

First I am not interested in the "Cool banking look" of a gimbal mount. (for the most part) what i am looking for is a solid and secure connection for the wobbly big base ships. I was thinking of using flat disk or cylindrical magnets. with one on the pole and one in/on the ship. Want a solid connection for practical game play meaning no fussing with a moving or swinging ship when you pick it off the board by the ship its self. DONT want to have to pick it up by the peg as that is just awkward. however that said I wouldn't mind a gimbal mount if it was secure enough and ONLY moved/rotated when I wanted it to. as that would come in handy when big ships over lap. So I was wondering if I just went with more powerful N52 magnets if that would stop the auto rotation of gimbal mounts? Any body try this with the more powerful N52 stuff? i mean if the ship is banked on the gimbal mount and i pick it up and it STAYS solidly banked thats fine and cool. I also noticed they had rubber coated magnets and that might be the best of both worlds as the added friction my help in keeping a fixed position and less stress when joining pegs/bases. just my rambling 3 cents... Also anybody have any problems with polarity matching after you glue the round magnets to a peg? might be easier to use metal bearings?? or would that reduce the overall holding power to much?? ( hey just found that KJ has a cool force calculator on its site!! )

Where do people buy such epicly small button magnets?
The smallest I've seen are 7-10mm rings..

Where do people buy such epicly small button magnets?

The smallest I've seen are 7-10mm rings..

Here

https://www.kjmagnetics.com/

so i purchased the recommended magnets for my deci and tried using the ring magnet and ball-bearing method. i even shifted it back slightly to be inline with the center of gravity. but as predicted it swiveled all over the place and was a complete PITA for actual game play. so i ditched the bearing and put a self threading nut on the peg and that worked great. It made a solid connection and no awkward movement of the ship when i picked it up by the ship to move it during game play. However i recently went to my local "REAL" hardware store and picked up a couple of hole-plugs. They are exactly as they sound little metal discs that are meant to plug holes, they have litle spring like feet on one side that once i spread them open attached to the Deci's peg perfectly and with a little dab of glue makes a nice solid connection. So now with it and the ring magnet on the ship i have a solid connection. One bonus i can rotate the ship if i need to for clearance issues during game play.but it only rotates in one plane no funky banks and wobbling around when you try ti pick it up or place it. As i mentioned early i wouldn't have minded the funky banks etc if they would STAY that way until you WANTED to move them. but usually it flopped all over the place and just made game play a total pita... the plugs look like this... http://www.marshallshardware.com/products/product.aspx?pid=2-520-525-11180&lid=1 also yes i roughed up my bearing first but it (the ship) would still flop around when moving the ship during game play. Also my ships base is weighted. but now it doesn't flop around and will only rotate it if physically twist it on purpose.

Sanding, with coarse paper, worked for me on the Decimator. You really need to shake it to get it to move. I just love tilting it back to get some clearance, wave surfing Decimator!

I inset the magnet on my YV-666, but given it's shape, it's not ideal yet and wobbles easily. I'll try more sanding of the bearing to see if it helps.

I did a lot of work with magnets on my fairly popular blog with 40K miniatures. Kinda surprised it didn't strike me right away that there was this kind of potential with X-Wing. I'd been looking for some conversion opportunities. Very useful primer on it. The ball magnets really do add some cool opportunities.

So... Most of the important pictures don't load anymore. Anyone can fill in some detailed shots if the mechanics behind this?

Less beauty shots and more ' this is how its done' type stuff.

Thanks!

for info purposes I found some "set screws" that fit on small base ship pegs perfectly and they have a conical top. no more bearing popping of the post!!! just go to a real hardware store with small base peg and find the setscrews.. might try them on my big base ships next.. also try "acorn" nuts instead of bearings as well... they may work better then the bearing on a pole as well.. but they are a little bulkier.

So... Most of the important pictures don't load anymore. Anyone can fill in some detailed shots if the mechanics behind this?

Less beauty shots and more ' this is how its done' type stuff.

Thanks!

I'll see what I can do, though I've only got a Bowling left to magnetize. I do plan to inset the magnets on my small ships now.

So... Most of the important pictures don't load anymore. Anyone can fill in some detailed shots if the mechanics behind this?

Less beauty shots and more ' this is how its done' type stuff.

Thanks!

Sorry about that, I let the domain slip because I wasn't really using it anymore.

As soon as it was too late, I realized just how much I'd been using it for personal space.

I'll try and get them back up on photobucket, or someplace, in the next couple days. Aside from the specifics of drilling into the Firespray, though, it's really pretty straight forward - the real trick is to find the ACTUAL center of balance and glue the magnet there - the peg is a good guide, for the most part, but it's a little bit off on a couple models. Decimator and HWK, for sure... I feel like there might have been another I'm forgetting...

So... Most of the important pictures don't load anymore. Anyone can fill in some detailed shots if the mechanics behind this?

Less beauty shots and more ' this is how its done' type stuff.

Thanks!

Sorry about that, I let the domain slip because I wasn't really using it anymore.

As soon as it was too late, I realized just how much I'd been using it for personal space.

I'll try and get them back up on photobucket, or someplace, in the next couple days. Aside from the specifics of drilling into the Firespray, though, it's really pretty straight forward - the real trick is to find the ACTUAL center of balance and glue the magnet there - the peg is a good guide, for the most part, but it's a little bit off on a couple models. Decimator and HWK, for sure... I feel like there might have been another I'm forgetting...

YV!

So... Most of the important pictures don't load anymore. Anyone can fill in some detailed shots if the mechanics behind this?

Less beauty shots and more ' this is how its done' type stuff.

Thanks!

Sorry about that, I let the domain slip because I wasn't really using it anymore.

As soon as it was too late, I realized just how much I'd been using it for personal space.

I'll try and get them back up on photobucket, or someplace, in the next couple days. Aside from the specifics of drilling into the Firespray, though, it's really pretty straight forward - the real trick is to find the ACTUAL center of balance and glue the magnet there - the peg is a good guide, for the most part, but it's a little bit off on a couple models. Decimator and HWK, for sure... I feel like there might have been another I'm forgetting...

If it's just hosting you need, I can put the original pics on my server, let me know and I could grab the ones you have on BGG and send you back the links.

As to the "quirky" ships, in my experience (noting that I've since inset all my big ships' magnets, and the center point is slightly different):

• Decimator: It needs to be moved back, some of the material needs to be removed to make a flat surface. I have pics in this thread of where I put mine.
• HWK: move it back a bit.
• YV-666: the mount it comes with is ever so slightly not in the right place.
• Slave 1: I just glued the magnet on the peg. The digging expedition to get it inset sounds risky to me at this point. I may change my mind later.
• Shuttle: it worked well glued outside, but I changed it slightly once inset, to be better positioned.
• TIE Advanced: has to be moved forward, halfway into the cockpit. It has the bonus effect of almost entirely hiding the magnet without insetting it.
• TIE Punisher: use a large ship magnet and put a large bearing on a small peg. It wobbles everywhere otherwise. The K-wing is slightly wobbly, but works with a small magnet and bearing.
• B-wing: my remaining bugaboo. I remove the back peg for my first one and put the magnet slightly inset between the engines, but it droops slightly on a small bearing. It works on the Punisher's peg, but it looks ridiculous with that large bearing. Using two flat magnets instead of a bearing might be worth it for that one. You lose some range of motion, but it should look better. I'm not sure.

I haven't inset on most small ships, and for the narrow-bodied ones, I'm not sure it would be a great idea. I'm curious to see if the Ghost will be a good candidate at all for magnets, it looks ridiculously big.

I'll try to snap pics this afternoon, but I've got an evening tournament and may not get to upload them tonight.