HOBBY: Warmachine: Magnetizing Reciprocators
- 20 small neodymium magnets per unit. I used 1/8″ dia x 1/16″ for the body and 3/32″ dia x 1/16″ for the arms because that’s what I had. You can use 3/32″ for both, just don’t go much bigger than that for the arms.
- Pin vise
- Drill bit to match the diameter of the magnets
- Superglue
- Hobby knife
- Patience and common sense
Start the assembly from the ground up – hips and legs, then waist, then chest. I’ve assembled the head here as well, but you can delay the head until the end if you’re concerned about posing. Check the arm related pieces so you understand how they fit together, but do not glue any of them, not even weapons to wrists.
Once you’ve gotten the main body assembled, use the pin vise to drill the hole for the shoulder socket. Go slowly and check the depth – you only need as deep as the magnet’s length.
Drill a corresponding hole in the mounting point for the arm.
In order to make sure you get the polarity right when gluing the remaining magnets, use a stack of magnets between the already-magnetized piece and the piece you’re about to glue. Put a small drop of glue on the tip of the magnet stack, and use it to guide the magnet into the hole. Then use your fingernail or the back edge of a hobby knife to separate the stack from the glued-in magnet.
Once you’ve gotten both shoulders and both arms magnetized and the glue has dried, make sure the arms go on correctly. Notice that this is the left foot forward body? That’s the one that works with the “C” arms shown, which in turn work with the long spear.
Pose the arms and wrists against the spear to make sure things line up correctly, then glue only the wrist that is closer to the spear head.
Because you didn’t glue the other wrist, you should be able to easily remove and reattach that arm, leaving the spear connected only to the other arm. You can go ahead and glue on the shield at this point (or, I suppose, magnetize it too if you want to go that far – it’s not necessary).
Now you’ve got a compact main body, a tiny right arm, and a large but much more manageable left arm / spear / shield combo.
This is a Battlefoam half-size Privateer medium troop tray. A small amount of trimming on the lower right partition for the spear shaft lets all of the arms fit in neatly. There’s enough room for another unit worth of 5 bodies, plus arms. That means you should be able to fit 4 units of Convergence medium base infantry in a single layer of 2″ high foam. Given that they’re FA2, you’re probably not going to be running more than 2 of any one kind. Assuming Reciprocator, Eradicator, and Perforator bodies are interchangeable (I don’t have the other kits yet, but I’d be shocked if they aren’t), that means you can easily carry arms for full FA of all 3 kinds, as long as you don’t run more than 4 units of bodies at once.
