Magnetizing Bases

I am thinking of buying small magnets to add to the bottom of my bases for transporting my army and giving them some "stick" to movement trays.  I thought of 2 ways of doing this.

The first is to buy rare earth magnets in combination with green stuff to make the magnet "flush" against a surface.  Then buy a regular steel toolbox for transport and buy steel sheets I can make into movement trays.

-or-

I can buy plastic magnet sheeting like you would get from a hobby store for making refrigerator magnets for photos and cut and glue that to fit inside of a toolbox and movement trays and then add metal washers to the bottom of the minatures.

Has anyone tried either of these methods?

the first method works very well. thing is, i use it for my 12+ jack khador army. the light bulls wont need something that strong. but it would work. just do whatever is the cheapest.

I use magnetinc sheets under my bases and thin steel plates as movment trays, works very well. Oh and I don't use GWs bases at all, I use their "new" modular movment trays to cut bases out of, Does not get as high as the normal bases and it makes it easier to build a themed base for the whole unit. Sorry to say I am out of a camera atm, but ill see if I can't get a hold of one for a few minutes.

I was thinking of magnetizing my ogres as well, but I already have a plastic toolbox.

I want to cut and put magnet sheets under the models and stick a metal sheet in the bottom of my toolbox.

At what kind of shop can I find thin metal sheets that would work?
I tried hardware shops but they only sell construction size sheets (like 12meterx8meter) and that's a bit expensive

Any ideas where to look?

I'm in the process of cutting up the sides of old computer cases to use as movement trays. Tin snips are not working very well for me though, as they make the metal curl.

I went the other direction. Check with your local hobby store to see if they have pre-cut ferus squares/rectangles. I got enough 40mmx40mm squares to do my whole 2250 army.

The will also likely have magnetic laminant. It's a vinyl backed flexible magnetic sheet, similar to fridge magnets. Go for the 30-40mil stuff. If you have lots of heavy metal models, the 40 mil stuff will hold much better, but for the plastic models, the 30 mil stuff is fine.

After that, you just need some compressed polystyrene (plasticard), also available at most hoby stores. I can't recall the thicknesses off the top of my head, but you want something firm enough to hold up your models with out flexing significantly (I think mine is like 1/16th" for movement trays).

From there, it's pretty easy. Cut a rectangle out of the plasticard, 40mmx120mm (use bases to measure). Glue the rectangle to the vinyl side of the magnetic sheet with standard LockTight (or your own prefered plastic/vinyl glue). Put the magnet side facing down onto a cutting surface and use a hobby knife to trim along the edges of the plasticard. Then glue the metal bases to your model's bases (just glue along the edge, no need to try to fill the middle). Let it all outgas for a while, then Viola! perfectly sized movement trays.

Hah, found the tutorial. My budy Major Tusk wrote this up years ago: http://www.majortusk.com/   Although I've given up on tray borders.

-Rick

Awesome thanks for the info, that seems like it maybe a great way to go, then you can just line the bottom of a toolbox or other carrier with the magnetic sheet for transport.

Also for tips in making "boarders" of a movement tray check out the link found in this thread: http://www.ogrestronghold.com/forum/index.php?topic=15521.0

Awesome thanks for the info, that seems like it maybe a great way to go, then you can just line the bottom of a toolbox or other carrier with the magnetic sheet for transport.

That is exactly what I did. I have a rather sturdy shoe box that I threw a magnetized sheet into. I can pack up the whole army, throw it in the back of the car, and have no worries about anything flopping around.

-Rick