Best Magnets For Gw Bases

Neodymium Magnets 06/18/2020

best magnets for gw bases

Choosing the right magnets for your bases

best magnets for gw bases

Magnetizing Bases -- Magnet Thickness

I've been looking into magnetizing my army recently, but I have some concerns. I'm putting neodymium magnets under 40k bases (25mm, ...40k Base sizes and magnets Tau & Marines Just measured a base and got a depth of 3/32" (~2.4mm).

Generally, it seems a magnet's pull strength is affected more by its grade and diameter than its thickness and thicker magnets are more expensive, so I tend to buy thin and add (usual styrene) shims, if necessary, to get it sitting flush.

3x1mm N35 disks are dirt cheap and strong enough to hold standard troop-sized 28mm models strongly enough to steel movement/transport trays that you can turn them upside down and shake without dislodging them.

Anything wider or of the higher grade should be plenty, even if very thin.

Easier than trying to shim with styrene or find an odd thickness is seating your magnets in a little blob of epoxy putty.

Greenstuff works wonderfully, as it's quite sticky and you want maximum adhesion.

Just stick a little ball on the underside of the base, gently poke in your magnet, then flip everything right side up and press the base down on a lubricated surface.

This forces the magnet and surrounding putty perfectly flush with the bottom of the base, forms a sort of bezel around the magnet that aids adhesion, and takes very little effort

Neodymium magnets are a different story. Anything up to 2mm high will fit under a games workshop base. At 2mm high, they fit so nicely under a GW base that no green stuff is needed to fix them (just a strong glue will do). If you pick a slimmer magnet, you'll need to fasten them with green stuff and good glue.

Magnetizing bases of our rank and file troops has become a popular method to help our troops stick together in battle.

Some players may even use it to facilitate transport from the battlefield to the battlefield.

And some players go as far as using magnets to make their mini’s modular.

Imagine changing the weapons of your dreadnaught or tank on the fly! Or to piece together your dragon, but remain able to take down the wings, tails, and heads for transport.

The popularity of these methods has spawned a fair share of “how-tos” and guides, but few of these actually cover different approaches.

Many reviewers (like me) tend to buy only one brand..

so how does one choose the right magnet?

Types of magnets

Before digging deeper, let me list the main types of magnets you may find on the market and may find in tutorials:

Ferromagnets are the classic, black, whiteboard magnets.

They come cheap but tend to be too large or too weak for our modeling needs unless it’s to magnetize large boards or terrain pieces.

Magnetic strips are fairly weak but easily cover the whole base.

At that size, they easily get the job done.

Neodymium magnets, also known as “rare earth magnets” are 18 times as strong as Ferromagnets of a similar shape.

In small shapes and big numbers, they stay cheap and do exactly what we need.

For the remainder of this post, I’ll stick to neodymium magnets and magnetic strips.

The movement tray

Magnetizing the bases is one step of the process.

The other step is making a base on which the magnets will stick.

Depending on the material you’ll use for the movement tray, your magnets will work more or less effectively.

Popular methods seem to be:

A metal plate for movement tray which is either 1mm or a bit thicker.

It offers a fantastic grip for the magnets.

I’m guessing easily 80% of their strength.

The material is very strong and serves directly as the movement tray but… It can be very challenging to cut to the right size and shape.

The difficulty of handling the material makes it an unpopular choice (unless among people who have the equipment to handle it).

Washers can be glued on the movement tray where the models should stand.

This is cheap and effective.

The washers offer a good grip, but.

You need to align them perfectly with the magnets and the models in the unit.

This may hamper the reusability of a movement tray.

Another magnet can be glued on the movement tray instead of a washer.

This helps if the model is particularly heavy and you want to “double-up” the power of the magnet.

But generally… you won’t need that.

A tin-plate is a more accessible material (any old vintage cookie box will do) and more manipulable as the metal plate.

It still offers a very good grip.

I have no exact measure on the strength, but I’d say 50%-60%.

While it’s easier to get and manipulate, it’s still difficult to get the material right.

You’ll also have to glue it on a movement tray as the tin-plate can’t bear the weight of the models.

Ferro paint is very easy to use solution.

Just paint the movement tray with this ferro or magnetic paint and you’re set.

You may have to apply several coats for it to work, however, and even so you can’t depend on the full strength of the magnet.

Magnetic rubber is offered by some shops.

It’s easy to manipulate, cut in shape, and glue as needed.

The rubber actually helps in the grip of the models so it reduces the required strength a bit.

The only downside is that it tends to be a pricy solution.

An important note regarding the movement tray: I’ve read that some people will stick the metal, tin, or magnetic sheet underneath the movement tray so it’s “less visible”.

This can work just fine, but the magnetic strength is reduced significantly when distancing the metal from the magnet by 1mm.

Double the strength of the magnet if you want to do that.

Required strength

There is no clear definition of how much strength is really needed.

The plethora of movement tray materials used makes it difficult to work it out.

We can, however, make an educated guess… or give ballpark figures that may push you in the right direction.

The strength of a magnet is often measured in how much weight it can carry.

This is the strength the magnet would offer when holding the model upside down.

But we also want it to have a good grip when held vertically or slanted.

According to supermagnete.de, a neodymium magnet can carry only 15% of its weight strength, and a magnetic strip can carry only 25% when held vertically ( link ).

This means, when sliding the movement tray or tilting it, your models could still end up sliding.

To make a model carry 100% of the model’s weight when sliding the movement tray, or tilting it, we need a magnetic power 7 times the weight of the model for neodymium magnets and 4 times the weight for magnetic strips.

If you’re a miniature gamer just getting into the hobby, one of the things you’ll soon learn is that magnets are freaking awesome. There are very few things in the hobby toolbox that offer the kind of practical utility that magnets can, but because their utility isn’t obvious and most magnet kits are sold by third-party hobby supply companies, rather than game publishing companies themselves, it means that if you’re perusing the paint racks of the largest miniature paint and supply companies (such as Game’s Workshop’s Citadel line, or Privateer Press’ Formula P3 line) it’s easy to never find out or know about magnetizing your miniatures, let alone best practices for it.

The tips below are my tips for success with magnets, many of which I learned the hard way.

Use Rare Earth Magnets

There are kinds of magnets in this world the same way there are kinds of apples. Some apples are better for eating, some for baking, and some are best left to fall on the ground to rot.

The same goes for magnets, though obviously not for eating.

If you’ve never done any specialized hobbying, you may not be familiar with rare earth (a.k.a.neodymium iron boron) magnets.

They are different than the magnets most commonly found behind the plastic letters on your fridge (which are typically ceramic or ferrite magnets).

The difference between rare earth magnets and other magnets available to consumers is simply strength.

Because rare-earth magnets are so strong, they can also be very very small, which makes them perfect for use with miniatures.

Most hobby stores stock or can order in rare earth magnets (if they sell miniature painting supplies, they often have distributors who stock brands like Primal Horizons, that offers these magnets as small as 1/16″ by 1/32″), but they’re also available online and through other specialty retailers.

One word of warning: these things are so strong they can damage electronics and cause serious harm to living creatures if ingested, so keep them away from your phones, bank cards, pets, and tiny humans.

Bases Pre-Magnetized

Pre-magnetized bases allow you to customize your models the way you want with a base you customize. These acrylic bases come in 25mm, 32mm, 40mm, 50mm, and 75mm oval bases for bikes.

These bases can be a lifesaver for hobby transportation and storage as you can stick these onto any magnetic type hobby box to keep your models safe and clean as you travel between tabletops.

Ferrous Movement Trays $5.49

Their biggest product may very well be their ferrous movement trays that make moving your models around the table super easy.

These movement trays come in all shapes and sizes, ranging from 25mm all the way up to 40mm.

These movement trays do not have an extra lip which could add to movement distance, so these magnetized movement trays are a no-brainer if you have a lot of models to push around the table.

Posable Magnetic Flight Stands $13.99

These magnetized flight stands are a great way to keep your models in a dynamic flight pose. Plus they allow you to break them down for easy storage and transport too.

Each base comes with an acrylic stand and a recessed socket magnet that can be glued into your model.

The ball bearing will then allows you to position them how you want on the tabletop.

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