Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 10:47 pm Post subject: Ball-and-socket magnetic joints
I was pondering how to magnetise some Tau battlesuits and tanks I've acquired recently - I'll need to nab some magnets off Impact for the task - and it hit me that there was more you could do with magnets than simply attach two surfaces together, if you used a ball-and-socket arrangement.
I figured it wouldn't work if the ball and socket were both magnets, as the socket would always align itself in one way only, in line with the poles of the ball magnet. However, if the ball was simply iron, it would work.
Then I started to think about how these could be used in other miniatures, such as Fantasy Football. e.g. It would be possible to have a swapable ball-carrying arm for some players (if you like that sort of detail), and players could have poseable arms and heads.
To fit such a joint to such a small figure would require some tricky drilling, and for both ball and socket to have pegs attached, which would then be glued into the holes. It's entirely possible that a range of figures could be designed multipart with pre-cast holes in which to fit the joints.
I'm guessing that provided the weight the magnetic joint must support is small, the miniatures won't come apart too easily.
It's maybe not of best application in the FF genre, but Impact got me onto the magnet idea in the first place, so I thought I'd post this here first.
I was browsing eBay and found spherical rare earth magnets. At 1/4" they're too big for most FF miniatures, but would work for larger models - big guys, contraptions, vehicles, suits.
If I was to use either iron or another magnet to attach, say, a limb to a socket, the limb should hold it's position provided there's enough friction to avoid it spinning.
The only problem I would foresee is that the ball joint wouldn't be painted (or if it was it would get scratched up)
But that's really not that bad of a thing. _________________ Dominate, subjugate & infuriate.
Catechize, criticize & proselytize.
Repudiate, abrogate & annihilate.
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