Magnetising a Heavy Gear Naga Strider… Part 1

Thank you ! I find using paperclips as tools quite unnecessary for magnetizing… More hassle than anything, truth be told. You can use toothpicks or other non-metallic objects if you really need it. If you want to put bits of metal instead of one of the magnets, you may use paperclip bits, or some wire from a hardware store or model store… However, I find that the bond is stronger with two magnets, especially on smaller joints, and that you can then use the magnets on the spare parts to store them efficiently on a metallic surface (the lid of… Read more »

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maxwelledison

Sorry I meant paperclips or other magnetic material instead of a second magnet (should have explained what I meant really) for when the piece in question may be too thin or small for even the smallest magnet

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Edited the comment above when I realised what you meant. Sorry for misunderstanding, it was obvious… I must be tired !

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maxwelledison

I know the feeling, soon be the weekend though 🙂 and time for some more purple necron painting.

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acrizer

This video has inspired me to give magnets a try. I’m thinking I might also add a pin near the magnet (like a snipped paperclip) to maintain orientation so the magnetized weapons don’t twirl about.

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I endeavor to please…

You’re welcome to use bits to impede turning, but you don’t need to : When you use two magnets of sufficient strength, the bond is strong enough that the weapons do not move around unless you manually turn them.

Moreover, you can position them any way you like, and make them turn towards the enemy and shout “pew pew” ! Great fun.

BoW Romain

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I really like Heavy gear, but As I got a few FoW minis due to friends insistence I’m postponing getting any (That, and the fact no one I know around here plays it), but I’m interesteed in general magnetizing techniques. Sometimes I even cut the magnet itself (Keeping the original polar regions). Found out I had to do it on some modeels. The paperclip option is what I used when I had to magnetize the armblades on my Manticore Omnimyrmidon, drill a hole, put a suitably sized paperclip piece inside, and magnet covered on the sides with green stuff. I… Read more »

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The reason why Heavy Gear often has miniatures that have tutorials for magnetizing is the fact that there are so many weapons that can be attached to them. For the larger units, such as the Naga, there are three or four different weapons configurations that can be used on one unit alone. For those whose wallets are in need of a break, magnets are an excellent way to go. While you may know that no one around your area may play it, you ought to check out the Dream Pod 9 forums and see the living player database… someone might… Read more »

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You obviously seem very well informed.
I’m sure fans of this game will thank you !

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Me? I’m just a resident forumite over on Dream Pod 9. Go by the handle Kris_Din, but I always sign my name at the bottom. And I’m nowhere near an expert, that’s left to some of the other forumites who have been able to the play the game much more than I have. What I have gleaned, however, is all given over by the Pod. They like to keep their fans on the up and up about things, and very hush-hush on others. Usually, the hush-hush stuff is the new models and books and what’s in them (which of course… Read more »

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There will be more magnetizing tutorials on other miniatures from other systems, but, as @brandonkf777 said, a heavy gear model and its interchangeable weaponry was a great opportunity… I strongly advise against cutting magnets… Many rare earth magnets will be cut irregularly, possibly crumble into more than one fragment. A magnet that is shocked, hit too hard, heated or otherwised damaged is at risk of losing power, reversing polarity or demagnetizing altogether in some cases. I don’t know the physics of this, and I’m not a physicist, I’m just repeating the warnings from most magnets, as well as most products… Read more »

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Well, it worked very well when I did it (Twice, for magnetizing my Wave Serpent Shields and my Manticore arm blades), but I´ll keep that in mind. Actually what you said would be reasonable on a country where hobby stores and other shops dealing with related stuff existed. I´m brazilian, and I have to say that unfortunately we have no hobby stores, at least not in the same model as you find on the US, UK or the rest of Europe. I buy my magnets online, and unfortunately they only ship considerable quantities, and then it doesn´t become cheap. Due… Read more »

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I understand your predicament…
I would have done the same.

Shipping to Brazil might be problematic for many of the regular online hobby retailers. As for me, I use a french/german website, but prices are of course quite high for shipping oustide of the E.U….

I’m sorry I can’t really help out 🙁

At least, you have some spare magnets !

BoW Romain

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I can understand the want for smaller games. Dream Pod 9’s International Shipping costs run around 20 Canadian dollars, which might be steep, however they are very good in their stores about helping folks with large purchases… anything that goes over 100 Canadian dollars is free, or so I think… I will have to double-check. Heavy Gear Arena! is great for all the customization options, of course, and the NuCoal Field Guide introduced the ability to use your Duelists in the Blitz! board games as well. On top of that, the earlier War for Terra Nova 2 book included further… Read more »

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Oh, and talking about Heavy Gear and magnets, it reminds me of my favorite weapon on the first Heavy Gear PC game, that magnectic cannon that fired a high speed metal ball that would just tear apart any body part of a Gear it hits. Don´t know if they have that weapon on the wargame, but I loved to just snipe out my opponents legs and then speed up close for a kill with a type of small, short ranged Gear hand cannon like weapon they had. Or just a headshot on enemy gears if I wasn´t looking for a… Read more »

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This sounds awesome !
I wouldn’t know about that in the wargame, but you can ask Andy…

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Oh, and finally got to see the video at home (Busy week, and I was commenting from the cell phone). I think the tips on marking the poles and using bigger drills (The small to big drilling) are pretty nice hints for someone new to magnetizing (I had trouble keeping the poles at mind when working on my Myrmidon… quitee a simple solution, actually). I’ll try to measure the magnets I have here, from the smaller ones to the bigger ones, and see if I need to buy a batch of smaller or flatter ones (I think the smallest I… Read more »

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Well, picking the place of your shot isn’t possible in the wargame, but yes, the light railgun and heavy railgun are still around. As is the handcannon… probably a frag cannon or snub cannon is what you’re talking about there. All the weapons from the original computer games are in Blitz!.

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After reading about it it was, if I recall, the medium railgun and the snub cannon. I saw in the faction videos that one of the best factions to have good weapon availability is Peace River. Usually, in the games, I went with the South due to the rounder design of the gears (In contrast with the angular design of Northern Gears). If I’m not mistaken the heavy railgun could only be taken by walkeers and heavier gears, and even so it really limited the rest of thee arsenal… it was one of the most powerful weapons in the game,… Read more »

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Magnetizing is not always an option with metal, as parts to be magnetized are heavier and sometimes need stronger bonds… And it is much more difficult to drill. However, it is possible for many of the weapons on the smaller gears, which are quite light. Magnetizing hand weapons isn’t too much of a problem, as gear hands are large enough to drill into to fit small magnets (1mm or thereabouts). However, magnets this size may not be strong enough to hold the biggest guns… I haven’t had this problem, but I haven’t worked with every gear in the catalog. Hopefully,… Read more »

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