[OT] Magnetic sheet question

> On Tue, Jun 18, 2002 at 01:09:56PM -0400, Tomb wrote:

IME it will help; fine for carrying them around, but trusting that bond
to hold through mailing or air-freight would be a bad idea.

For those of you who have used sheet magnet material:

If I cut a round penny-sized chunk of this stuff and affixed it to the
bottom of my figures, would it provide enough strength to carry my figures
using a case with some iron or steel strips along the bottom? Or would the
bond not be strong enough to hold them upright?

I'm more interested in this for tree basing than anything, as my 6" high trees
are a pain in the netherspaces to pack, but I would be interested to know how
it works for 25mm figures too.

Any information/experiences appreciated!

On Tue, 18 Jun 2002 13:09:56 -0400, "Tomb" <tomb@dreammechanics.com>
wrote:

> If I cut a round penny-sized chunk of this stuff and affixed it to the

Depends on the amount of jostling.

I use magnetic sheets a lot. I have these two great end tables from Pier One.
They each have four shallow "map drawers". These drawers are deep enough that
FT ships can stand upright (though my bogey markers, ping pong balls on
plastic ship stands, are too tall). I have sheets in the drawers. I put my
figures on these sheets.

The sheets are enough that the occasional jostling of the tables, and the
opening of the drawers, holds them in place perfectly. This is a great way of
storing the figures (no dust, easy to access, etc.; wish I could have got hold
of one of the coffee tables). I have ACW figures mounted on sheet metal
rectangles and other figures mounted on fender washers.

However, I tried something similar using magnetic strips in plastic tool
boxes. I put 15mm SG2 (old Traveller figures mounted on fender washers) on
these. I also put my ACW figures in them. They mostly held, but some of the
figures got jostled around quite a bit. It depends on the kind of bumping you
expect. Some of my Traveller figures were in a box that accidentally got
dropped (short drop), and now have to be repainted!

The problem is that they will work, particularly for low centre of gravity
figures, for most movement. If you plan to put them in a car, drive to a
convention, pull them out, they will usually work fine. However, you have one
mistake (like accidentally dropping the figures, or if they slip off the car
seat and land upside down) and they will pop off the magnets. Since you
probably didn't bother padding the box or slip padding between the figures,
you will have some problems.

Some sort of foam padded case is still best for moving figures around. If you
just want to store them in a box some place for pulling out for your own
games, then the sheets will probably work. It's those times when "disaster"
strikes that you'll find you wished you'd done something different.

> I'm more interested in this for tree basing than anything, as my 6"
high
> trees are a pain in the netherspaces to pack, but I would be interested

Trees _might_ work. If they are weighted on fender washers, they will
probably be fine... provided that you don't drop the tool box. This is
actually a good idea, as I was wondering myself how to ship trees. I put them
in
rubbermaid/sterlite containers packed in enough so that they don't move
around. This has caused some of them to lose some flocking. Putting down
magnetic sheets might work.

> If I cut a round penny-sized chunk of this stuff and affixed it to the

I based my 25mm figs on a 1" fender washer, then used a couple of strips of
magnetic sheet on the bottom of the tray. They do not budge in normal travel.

> On Tue, 2002-06-18 at 13:09, Tomb wrote:
Or
> would the bond not be strong enough to hold them upright?

I do it differently; I put washers on my bases and cover the bottom of
a three-drawered toolbox with the magnetic sheeting.  But I think my
experiences are still applicable.

For "man" sized 25mm figures or any 6mm figures it works great. It's also
adequate for most "monster" 25mm models that are cast in plastic. Its the
bigger metal miniatures that "break free" during transport (a slight tap as
you round a corner, setting it down too hard, etc...). Once a large mini has
broke free and starts to careen around the case it knocks other minis off
their bases too... so all your minis are a jumbled mess by the time you get to
the place you're going to play.

Okay, so "careen" is too strong a word... but it will shift around as you
drive due to vibration and inertia. Same effect, just less energy behind it.
The point is that one heavy model "breaking free" will ruin the ability of any
of your models to be secure.

I've done it, and I'll be going to foam as soon as a build the box and
cut the foam for storage/transport.  (I'm going to build "ammo crates"
and use foam rubber sheets to make my own "custom" boxes.)

> I'm more interested in this for tree basing than anything, as my 6"
high
> trees are a pain in the netherspaces to pack, but I would be

I use Woodland Scenics trees. In the past, I've mounted them by supergluing
them in holes that were drilled into MDF. The MDF base was the limits of the
"forest" as a "template" of trees". As you mentioned, they were a pain to
pack. I have since sold those tree bases.

Having learned from the pain of storing and repairing those trees (which
looked great, I was told) I am going to make them the same way, except I
will put tubes about 3/4" tall in the MDF and then set the trees in
those tubes during play, that way I can put them up for use but store the
boards flat and put the trees in a box.

If you're looking at having individually based trees, here's something I
considered, but decided I like the "tree templates" better:

Each tree is based on a standard size circle of whatever material you want to
base them on. I would use MDF. The circle must extend beyond the width of the
tree, and must be selected to block a certain size of tubing you can get ahold
of. Cut a section of tubing that will
completely cover the each tree (if you standardize on a tube-lenght,
life will be easier).

Then you select a size of tubing (PVC pipe or cardboard tubing) that is just a
bit larger than the tubing your using the cover the trees. Being able to cap
this tubing in some way is good. You can then stack the cylinders of the trees
on top of each other to fill the tube. Build yourself a bundle of tubes and
all your trees can be stored in that. The dimensions of that is kind of a
personal preference...

Did that make any sense?

I put a picture up to help describe it... I hope it's apparent what I mean:

http://www.geocities.com/flakmagnet72/pics/treestorage.jpg

> Any information/experiences appreciated!