Hey,

I want to magnetize the minis and to do so I need to cut away the pegs from the trays. The thing is that with a side cutting plier the cut is far from being flush and I need to remove the remaining plastic butt with a file, which is a pain and very long. I can't imagine myself doing this for a complete army. Do you have any better method or tool to do this? Would an end-cutting plier make a better job?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

I used the citadel cutters and get a pretty good flush trim.

Yeah, I used a small end cutter and then a dremel, works well.

43 minutes ago, Jormi_Boced2 said:

I used the citadel cutters and get a pretty good flush trim.

Ok, I might buy those (although they are very expensive...). Thanks for the info.

37 minutes ago, Dosiere said:

Yeah, I used a small end cutter and then a dremel, works well.

Thanks for the dremel tip.

If you have access to a convex (curves outward rather than inward) or flat pair of nail clippers you should be able to get a clean clip. Probalby just a couple bucks at your local beauty shop.

I've been using my regular flush cutter and following up with a chisel blade hobby knife, but it's a bit messier than having something that can compactly cut flush.

1 hour ago, eilif said:

If you have access to a convex (curves outward rather than inward) or flat pair of nail clippers you should be able to get a clean clip. Probalby just a couple bucks at your local beauty shop.

I've been using my regular flush cutter and following up with a chisel blade hobby knife, but it's a bit messier than having something that can compactly cut flush.

Awesome, you just made me realize I have an old but sharp and fine chisel for wood carving, I tried it on the pegs and it worked like a charm!

I plan to just use flat metal discs to fill the bottoms of each tray (allowing me to use a metal sheet in my storage case to hold figures upright too!) and a small magnet in the center of each figure. Several others have detailed their system on the forum if you look, and had some great visuals! If you want to go out an buy a tool, they make blades for your hobby knife that are square faced, with a horizontal blade for scraping ( like this blade in this set on the far left ) which is great for flattening out any nubs or molding lines on flat surfaces. However, I can also recommend getting some fine and superfine sandpaper to fix larger areas on PVC and light plastic minis where you have roughness or have used putty to fill cracks and want to blend them out (I'm going to spend quite some time puttying the crap out of all infantry before I prime I know).

PVC plastics are pretty easy to sand and dremel, but be careful of heat on the abrasive surface. If you get the bit too hot, it will turn plastic liquid and then it can flash cool as solid ball of plastic around your bit. To remove, just grab a piece of wood or some abrasive surface and sand it off the outside, when it heats up it should spin right back off.

A small hand-drill is my recommendation if you plan to insert metal pins or small magnets into each figure's base. Make sure to 'tap' the whole first with an exacto knife or pin or something to guide the center of your drill bit. Then, if you have a sharp bit, it should create a clear hole in one go. For harder plastics or larger magnets, I recommend doing a small bit to drill to the right depth, and then a larger bit to clear the space.

Last but not least, on any visible surface or surface you intend to glue or paint, remember to use a tacky cloth or other debris cleaning tool (an airbrush is great too) to clean off any residue or debris from the surface before you prime and paint it.

6 hours ago, drkpnthr said:

I plan to just use flat metal discs to fill the bottoms of each tray (allowing me to use a metal sheet in my storage case to hold figures upright too!) and a small magnet in the center of each figure. Several others have detailed their system on the forum if you look, and had some great visuals! If you want to go out an buy a tool, they make blades for your hobby knife that are square faced, with a horizontal blade for scraping ( like this blade in this set on the far left ) which is great for flattening out any nubs or molding lines on flat surfaces. However, I can also recommend getting some fine and superfine sandpaper to fix larger areas on PVC and light plastic minis where you have roughness or have used putty to fill cracks and want to blend them out (I'm going to spend quite some time puttying the crap out of all infantry before I prime I know).

PVC plastics are pretty easy to sand and dremel, but be careful of heat on the abrasive surface. If you get the bit too hot, it will turn plastic liquid and then it can flash cool as solid ball of plastic around your bit. To remove, just grab a piece of wood or some abrasive surface and sand it off the outside, when it heats up it should spin right back off.

A small hand-drill is my recommendation if you plan to insert metal pins or small magnets into each figure's base. Make sure to 'tap' the whole first with an exacto knife or pin or something to guide the center of your drill bit. Then, if you have a sharp bit, it should create a clear hole in one go. For harder plastics or larger magnets, I recommend doing a small bit to drill to the right depth, and then a larger bit to clear the space.

Last but not least, on any visible surface or surface you intend to glue or paint, remember to use a tacky cloth or other debris cleaning tool (an airbrush is great too) to clean off any residue or debris from the surface before you prime and paint it.

That's a lot of useful info. Thank you drkpnthr for such an extensive answer.

6 hours ago, drkpnthr said:

I plan to just use flat metal discs to fill the bottoms of each tray (allowing me to use a metal sheet in my storage case to hold figures upright too!) and a small magnet in the center of each figure. Several others have detailed their system on the forum if you look, and had some great visuals! If you want to go out an buy a tool, they make blades for your hobby knife that are square faced, with a horizontal blade for scraping ( like this blade in this set on the far left ) which is great for flattening out any nubs or molding lines on flat surfaces. However, I can also recommend getting some fine and superfine sandpaper to fix larger areas on PVC and light plastic minis where you have roughness or have used putty to fill cracks and want to blend them out (I'm going to spend quite some time puttying the crap out of all infantry before I prime I know).

This sounds interesting, but doesn't that raise the top of the bases higher than the level of the trays?

Ive not removed my pegs but if i will i think a pair of nail clippers should work well.

i have one that is not curved inward but outward so it would get a cut angle flush against the base.

My video shows the nail clippers in action.

Use a drill.
Slightly larger than the peg and then drill from the rearside. Will remove the peg and leave a holde for a magnet.

On 4/21/2017 at 11:31 AM, Xargonaut said:

Ok, I might buy those (although they are very expensive...). Thanks for the info.

NP, they are a bit spendy, but they are actually pretty nice.