What's on My Desk: Magnetized Land Raider & Havocs

This is a scenario that I believe many, if not all of us, can empathize with:

A wave of excitement washes over you just thinking about the next project in your 40k army.  It's going to be the biggest, baddest, most killy addition to your force, paving the way to your enemies' inevitable destruction.  With dreams of glory dancing in your head you race down to your local hobby store, a cool $74.25 (plus tax) burning a hole in your pocket.  In a matter of mere hours your brand new Land Raider is assembled and painted, ready for that first triumphant dice roll.

It might be only within minutes of your pride and joy gracing the battlefield that you realize... I should have assembled it with hurricane bolters and a twin-linked assault cannon.  But it's too late, your LR is fully painted, spray-sealed even, and only serious trauma will be enough to change its weapons kit-out.  Your heart breaks as your adversary guffaws at your tragic lack of insight.

Then, in a flash, you realize that you magnetized each of your Land Raider's twin-lascannons and its twin-heavy bolters.  Hallelujah!  Switching between weapon systems is an easy snap, and you no longer have to feel the sting of hobby regret (or the absence of another $74.25 in your pocket).

The first part of that story is exactly the situation that David D. isn't going to have to worry about, now that his new Land Raider is fully magnetized.  That's what I've been working on this week, so let's take a look at how the work on his project is going!

For the weapon magnetization I used 3/16" x 1/16" rare earth magnets by Primal Horizon I picked up at my local hobby store. To get the lascannons and heavy bolters to fit I removed the weapon mounting posts and placed magnets into ~1mm recesses on the guns and leaving ~1mm exposure on the mounts.

The weapon covers were split down the middle to allow each gun to be removed individually.  It would take thinner magnets to keep the covers intact, so that recessing the magnets wouldn't be necessary.

Now when David wants to put the latest and greatest weapons onto his Land Raider, he'll be able to with a quick snap!

David didn't want to stop there, his latest squad of havocs is going to pull double duty being able to swap heresy era autocannons for heavy bolters.  The plan is to glue a pair of hands to each gun and a pair of arms to each marine with the magnets joining at the wrists.  If all goes well, David should be able to swap the two gun types freely between each model!

That's it for this week, if you have any questions or would like to add your experiences with magnetizing minis to the conversation, let me know by posting in the comments!

Come back next time for a look at a crew of badass Malifaux chicks called the Viktorias and their band of hired swords!

Until then, happy hobbying and good gaming!