Re: [OT] Magnetic sheet question

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
>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?

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
>to know how it works for 25mm figures too. 

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.

Allan Goodall		       agoodall@hyperbear.com
http://www.hyperbear.com

"At long last, the earthy soil of the typical, 
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