Smaug Assembly WIP 2

Here's some more pictures of Smaug showing his size... this model is huge.  I'm still working on getting the wings to fit on perfectly and add magnets so I can paint it easily.  Once I'm done them then I can add the last spikes and start painting.

In other news, I ordered a set of Badger Minitaire Paints and they arrived today.  I hope to get them out shortly and do a review of them as I'm painting Smaug.

Ork Meganobz/Big Mek Magnetization details

Here's some details about how I magnetized the Meganobz box.  I think I covered every option, including magnetizing the head on the Big Mek so that he can be a Meganob.  The kit makes it easy to swap the hands without magents.  There is a peg on the arm that push fits into the fist, and you can make all the Killsaws, power klaws and combi-weapons without duplicating parts.  This is great since GW has a bad habit of using the same part in two options (to save space on the sprue).

For the Kombi-shootas I used 1/16" magnets on each side as pictured below.  Its really important to get this aligned as closely as possible since 1/16" is so small.  Otherwise they are pretty simple.

For the Big Mek I use a 1/8" magnet in the head and shoulders since i had the room to go bigger.  A corresponding 1/8" magnet went into the Teloporta and Kustom Force Field, but the boss pole (for Meganob option) only has a 1/16" magnet.  

Pics below, and I'm happy to answer questions in the comments below.

Meganobz Assembly Video

Here's the full assembly video for the Meganobz.  I wasn't sure if I was going to magnetize things when I started out, but by the end I basically magnetized every option.  All of the hand weapons can be exchanged without magnets, but things like the Kombi options and Mek gear needed magnets.  I'll post some more detailed pics of magnet placement shortly.

More pics and video after the break.

Ork Mek Unboxing, Assembly and Magnetization

Here's the new plastic Ork Mek boy, and I magnetized his one arm so that I could swap the kill saw and wrench depending on my list.  Its pretty simple to do, just a 1/8" magnet in the body and a 1/16" magnet in each arm.  I show how to set them in the video, nothing magic there.

Anyway, a cool model, and will be helpful to have to give a little variety besides the Mek in the lootas box.

Imperial Knight Assembly Video

Wow... that took much longer than I expected.  I embarked on an assembly and magnetization tutorial, and ended up with a video almost an hour long.  It turns out there isn't much magnetization needed on this.  There are some shared parts for the gun, and you can do a sort of hybrid version that lets you swap out the main bits.  I had intended to make a short and concise video showing how to swap them out, but in the end I'll have to do a blog post with some screen shots.

Anyway, this is an impressive kit when assembled.  Its 6" tall, and as you can see below, not as tall as a stompa, but still quite large.  I've also compared it to a land raider and mega-dread below.

The assembly video goes through the whole process, start to finish, showing which parts I left off for better access during painting. There are some tips along the way, so if this is the sort of thing that interests you, you can watch it while you assemble yours (pausing between steps to catch up).

I hope to have it painted soon, but this thing is large, so I'm not sure how long that will take...

Stormtalon unboxing, assembly, magnetization

Here's the assembly video of each step of the stormtalon.  I also magnetize the weapons to allow different options there. It's a neat kit that doeast look bad in person.  I'm not sure what chapter I'm going to make this as I haven't started a vanilla marine army yet.

Jungle bases

To go along with the table I'm building I've made some jungle bases. I saw some plastic shrubs in the dollar store, and I had some of the GW Jungle Trees (two packs worth), so I figured I'd make two bases worth. I initially thought I'd split the trees and shrubs half and half, but once I was wrapping up the project I decided to put the shrubs on one stand and the trees on another.

The jungle trees have magnets on them so I can take them off.

Magnetizng the Warsphinx/Necrosphinx (video)

Here's the completed video of the new Tomb Kings beast. I've magntized it for all three options and will be painting them up soon.

Tomb Kings Warsphinx/Necrosphinx kit

Here's a few pics of the new Tomb Kings monster kit. I'm assembling and magnetizing it for a video that I'll be putting out soon. Luckly the kit uses almost no parts twice for the different builds, so magnetizing is relatively straight forward. There are a couple tricks that I'll explain in the video.

Magnetizing the Storm Raven

Here's a couple pictures of how I've magnetized the guns on the turret of the storm raven. I also modified the hurricane bolters to go on the doors, but I'll show that later.

Army display board

Here's my work in progress for a quick and dirty display that I plan on using for Astronomi-con this weekend. Just some foam hills on a piece of wood. My army basically covers the whole area, so I don't really have any room to add emblishments, which is ok because I don't have time to make or paint them ether. I should note though that it is semi-magnetized. There is magnetic paint under the sand, and each of my orks (and 3 of the 4 battle wagons) have magnets on their bases. This makes things a little more sturdy, and I carry most of the army around in an old metal tool case.

I used the foam cutter in miniwargaming.com's terrain building room. A video about how fireman Tim built it can be found here. It was surprisingly easy, and I'm beginning to think of ideas for a table I'd like to build for the club.

Movement trays (again)

Ok, I've written about making movement trays before, but I think I've finally figured out a design that is simple, durable and inexpensive. I used plasticard sheets (0.060" thick) and 3.2mm 1/4 round rods (it'd be a circle with 6.4" diameter cut in 4 equal sections). A little magnetic paint and some rare earth magnets on my bases and I'm good to go. Now I can make tons of different movement trays for much less than the GW modular tray set. Well, if I count the magnets into the price its still probably about half the cost and I'm further ahead of the game. I wrote an article for the members section of www.miniwargaming.com, so I can't write all the instructions here, but I will post a couple pics.

Battle wagon video

Here's a video I did for www.miniwargaming.com back in the summer. They post exclusive videos to the members area for 3 months then release them to youtube. Here's that video.

Deff Rolla 3

In preparation for Saturday's Planet Strike game I painted up my 3rd deff rolla. Dan and I will be playing Orks, and part of our plan is to maximize the number of battle wagons. I have two of the GW deff rollas and one scratch built one. All are magnetized, and interchangeable.

Magnetized bases and movement trays

Here we go, finally have a good result with this project. I've already covered how to add magnets to bases and using magnetic sheets for your trays but I think this is a better (an cheaper) method. The secret ingredient is magnetic paint.


I picked mine up at Michael's craft store (about $10 with a coupon), and its more than enough for all of my needs. 2 or 3 coats is required to get the magnets to stick well. I also used proper green stuff this time, and it works better than the other 2 part putty I was using. A small amount of ribben did 43 night goblins and 10 spider riders. Super glue of course between layers.

The magnets you see there are the 1/8" x 1/16" from store.miniwargaming.com. $15 gets you 100, so its not too expensive to do whole units.

And of course, everything hold really nicely.

Ork Bastion "upgrade"

Here's a project I did yesterday... An ork bastion "upgrade". My FLGS is doing a planet strike campaign so I didn't want my orks to have to use a plain old human bastion. Everything is magnetized, so the bastion can be "downgraded" back to the original setup. The magnetized pieces are able to stick on nicely with just a magnet on either side of the bastion walls, so even the inside magnets didn't need to be glued. Obviously I could have gone further, but I stopped there because I felt it made for a decent bastion upgrade, and I had limited time.

I made this for an article for miniwargaming.com. A free login is required to see the full article (with lots of pics and explanation).

DIY Magnetized movement trays

Here's a follow up to the previous diy movement tray article. What I've done here is cut out a fridge magnet to size and added rare earth magnets to the bases. The sheet magnet is from the dollar store (it had a sleeve for a 4x6 photo), and cuts easily with scissors or a knife. The other magnets are the rare earth type available at store.miniwargaming.com. The ones used here are larger ones, but I'll have to use small ones for the smaller bases of the night goblins. A green stuff (or putty) and super glue is used to attach the magnets to the bases. I've done the same thing with all my 40k Orks so that I can transport them in cookie tins. The magnetic sheet is ok, but the magnets would actually stick better to a sheet of metal. I'm still trying to source out an inexpensive and easy way to do it that way. I also have magnetic paint, so I'll be giving that a try in the future as well.

20% off Sale on now

As previously mentioned, miniwargaming.com has their sale on now. Save 20% on all GW and Warmachine products, 10% on flames of war and 30% on hobby supplies. Magnets are at a great deal now, normal prices are $15 per set, they are currently at $10. I picked up a bunch of 1/8 x 1/16 magnets for my fantasy army last night. It works out to $0.10 each, so I'll soon have magnetized movement trays. I also bought some more reaper paints to add to my collection.

The sale includes the new space wolves boxes and codex.

How to: Space Hulk Terminator base magnetization

Here's how I went about magnetizing my Space Hulk Terminators so that the can be put on 40mm bases for 40k, but also used without the bases for Space Hulk. I'm sure there are other ways to do this, but here's one way to skin the cat. This article was orginally written for miniwargaming.com.

What you will need:
Space Hulk
1/16" x 1/32" Magnets (2 per terminator)
1/8" x 1/16" Magnets(2 per terminator)
1/4" x 1/16" Magnets (Optional, 1 per terminator)
Green Stuff (only a tiny bit is needed)
40mm bases (1 per Terminator)
Hobby Drill (with 1/16" bit)
1/8" drill bit
Sand paper or file
Hobby Knife

Step 1:
Remove terminator from sprue and file the base flat.



Step 2:
Drill 1/16" holes in base right under feet. You don't need to go too deep, only about half way through the foot, not as deep as I went in the second picture (I'll have to fix that with green stuff).



Step 3:
Drill a shallow hole in the same spot with the 1/8" drill bit (do this by hand). You only need it about 1 or 2mm deep, just enough to make a pocket for the top of a magnet to catch. Notice that the 1/16" hole is still visible and goes a bit deeper.


Step 4:
Drill 1/16" holes in the 40mm round base in line with the holes in the terminator's feet. Enlarge these to 1/8" holes. If they are slightly out of line you can enlarge them with your hobby knife. Green stuff will be used, so it's ok if they are a bit big.


Step 5:
Make up a small bit of green stuff. A pea sized ball will be enough.


Step 6:
Get aside your magnets, and make sure they are inline. This is how they will end up:


Step 7:
Put a small amount of glue on the top 1/16" magnet and put it in the hole. The 1/8" magnet will help you position this, and it should stick out below the bottom of the terminator's base. Be careful how much glue you use, as you don't want the 1/8" magnet to stick to the Terminator.


Step 8:
Put the 40mm base on, and add a bit of Superglue.


Step 9:
Squish two small balls of green stuff over these magnets. Make sure you don't push the magnets through. You can flip it over and push the terminator down to make sure it is flat on the round base.


Step 10 (Optional):
This step is added so that I can use cookie tins to transport my guys. Check the other article in my channel for a tutorial on this.

Add some super glue and the rest of the green stuff and squish the 1/4" by 1/16" magnet to the base. Let it stick down a bit and squash it in place by pressing the base on a flat surface.



All done!