Evenin' all.

Right, I have a question for all you converters, Forgeworld fans, and generally knowledgable folk. Is it possible, or just hard, to drill holes in the resin that FW uses? I'm thinking of getting some XV89s, and I don't want to have to stick to one weapon combination; hence, I'm deciding to go with magnets.

Thanks in advance!

Possible and easy. I'd rank it as easier than metal, and as easy, or easier, than plastic. Dust is a bit nasty, though, so don't eat it, or lick it, or breath it, or brush it into your child's cereal bowl, or anything crazy like that.

Child? do you know something I don't? (I'm 17 )

Thanks for the reasonably fast response mearly, I appreciate it. Only reason I asked is because I have some resin figures that aren't by FW, and are harder than Nails. If I'm going to get some really nice models, I might as well make the most of them, eh?

What a coincidence, I just got some forge world models the other day. I found that drilling holes for the magnets was very easy in the resin models. I remember putting magnets on my Games Workshop crisis suits and it was a pain to do. The resin is easy to drill into, I also used an exacto knife to scrape some edges for the magnet to be placed in. If I can get a camera, I can show you if you want.

Thanks Mech, some pictures would be great

One more question: Do any of you UK based lot know of a supplier of those Rare Earth Magnets, who is based within the UK? The only ones I can find are US based, and require me to pay a lot in shipping costs.

Ebay is good; it's where I got mine from. Link!

Hope it helps, and good luck with the suits.

Thanks a lot Mal'Caor, I am now the Proud owner of 50 1/8" by 1/16" Magnets (or at least I will be when Royal Mail gets their finger out...)

Thanks for the luck, I'll need it with my drilling record, and FW's delivery reputation

Hello Fraggle,

I recently built a new Tau Crisis Battlesuit with four (4) rare-earth magnets 1/8" dia. x 1/16" thick into on all the hard-points.

Here are some photos of the magnets installed...






Also, go to the following link: http://s39.photobucket.com/albums/e183/sidvektor/Magnetic%20Tau%20Crisis%20Battlesuit%20by%20SidVektor/ where you can see several photos of how I installed the magnets. Also, in this group of photos I have a Missile Pod weapon attached so you can see how it attaches to a hardpoint. I have found that the plastic weapons have no problem staying in place. However, the metal AFP and CIB that come with the Commander Crisis Battlesuit are problematic so I usually mount them to the shoulder hardpoint.

Just take it slow when drilling the holes, especially on a resin model where the material tends to be more brittle / fragile. It would probably a good idea to drill a pilot hole first (use the GW Pin-Vise with the little drill bits), then follow with a 1/8" diameter hole a little over 1/16" deep for the magnet (use a "variable speed" electric drill/dremel tool).

Sid'Vektor

Thanks Sidvektor, but the slideshow doesn't work

Sorry about that... fixed now using photobucket

Google for it and return pages from UK only. There are several UK based shops.

I got mine from http://www.shop4tools.co.uk but there is also http://e-magnetsuk.com. You'll have to compare prices with ebay, but when I did it (was a while ago) ebay was quite expensive. You just need to watch the postage cost of the online companies as they tend to do a flat fee postage even though you're purchase is a very small package.

I got around over 300 magnets in one purchase and it was still a small package.

One tip about mounting weapons on the arm as shown above... if you're mounting a heavier weapon such as the metal experimental commander weapons, they stay on, but tend to pivot so the weapon faces downward. Front heavy.

To stop this, why not put two magnets in the arms? This would "stop the drop" as it were. Or use a bar magnet.

Ok, I was able to take a few shots of my Shas'o , to show you where the magnets are. Bear with me, he's a WIP in progress still, very messy.







I hope these help!

Mech, You have no idea how helpful these are, thank you! That's also a pretty good colour scheme too

No problem, glad to be of service, and thanks, I really like bright colors, so thats why I added them, I just wish my camera was better so I could get better shots, oh well

I don't think it's your camera, due to the slight blurryness in the shots. Try either resting the camera on something, or even using a tripod if you have one; I find this helps a lot with gainging steadier shots. Also, try using a delayed shutter function, like a countdown timer, as pressing the shutter button moves the camera slightly.

Anyhoo, my magnets arrived, and I've started practicing on some standard XV8s. Initial thought: Don't drill using an undersized bit, then widen the hole with a knife. It takes AGES.

hehe. You can always use the drill bit to widen the hole instead of a knife. Although I have the right drill bit size for the magnets that I purchased.

MechDreams - Very nice Mech colour. Now I wish I had a forge world model. Although are those two piece originaly two seperate pieces or did you cut them into two?

fezthedruid - don't have any bar magnets, but I presume this would be the same. The solution is to use two circle magnets, but that would mean trying to pry out the original and its a tight fit for two magnets on the arm. It would also increase the amount of magnets required. They're not cheap

For the metal Commander parts, you could possibly brace them somehow, like the FW suits have encased weapons.

Just a thought

In any case, due to my financial situatuin at the minute, I won't be getting the XV89s I so very, very want for at least a month; I'll just have to make do with staring at them in my Forgeworld catalogue until I've saved up enough EMA.

I thought you weren't going for the FW ones.

Hmm, what pieces are you talking about? The missile pod and arm, or do you mean the arms and the shas'os body. I took xv89 arms and used them on Shas'o R'Myr's body. The missle pod came cut like that, I can post some pics of the other weapons, and how they look later, a bit busy right now