UMS "Agram" : Selfmade magnetic grip for painting miniatures < Articles < Hobby

Selfmade magnetic grip for painting miniatures

Borna Pleše, 16th September 2022

For all those who do not like to have more paint on their fingers than on miniatures, holders are a wonderful invention. Whether you're using an expensive model from Games Workshop or an old cork to hold your miniatures while you paint them, you're probably not taking advantage of nature's most fun force: magnetism.

I personally use an improvised holder with a total price of less than 10 kuna (even with skyrocketing inflation), which I responsibly claim offers better ergonomics and safety of use than those for which you will pay many times more in the store.

It is produced from only two ingredients: a wooden figure and a neodymium magnet. No more fastening the base or gluing the figure with patafix, duct tape and similar impractical means. Magnets are extremely practical and if you already use them on the bases of your miniatures, you won't need to change anything in your painting process.

The manufacturing procedures are as follows:

Get a wooden figure (or several) that fits comfortably in your hand. These "man don't get angry" variants are about 10 cm tall and fit in the palm of your hand, have a slot for the thumb and can stand on the table by themselves. They can be obtained from hobby and craft supply stores.

The top of the holder must be flat, so we will "chop off" half the head of this figure to leave a flat surface on the upper side.

Every good executor uses protective equipment. Smart in the head, protective gloves on the hands.

The operation is successful and we have a flat surface. After cutting, you will probably have chips and remnants of wood left on the edges, so just go over the surface and the edges you cut with coarse sandpaper/sandpaper so that they don't get hurt on it.

Take a wood drill bit and drill a shallow hole in the top. An ordinary drill will do if you don't really have a wood drill bit (you'll recognize it by the "spike" on the top).

Try to make a hole that is just as deep as the height of the neodymium magnet (it can be bought in various hobby and electrical stores for less than half a kuna per piece), and the diameter of the hole should be 1-2 mm larger than the magnet. If you drill a millimeter too far, don't worry. The magnet is strong enough even if it is not completely flush with the wood. We made a hole with a depth of 2mm x 12mm because we will put a 2x10 magnet.

Pour wood glue into the groove (karbofix can be found at any hardware store and you probably already have it for other hobby purposes). Place enough to fill the slot completely.

Insert the neodymium magnet and press it so that it sits in the bottom of the slot and wipe off the excess adhesive that will squeeze out, but do not remove too much. You want the glue to hold the magnet on every side except the top, so we made a slightly wider hole. Let the glue dry overnight.

And that's it! You have a holder to which you can quickly and safely attach and detach the miniature without gluing, fastening or other complications. Just keep in mind that the miniature on the bottom of the base must have a piece of metal or magnet facing the right way to attract with the one on the holder. No more colors on your fingers or cramps in your tendons from clumsy and expensive braces. Happy painting!

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March to Hren28 week 4

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	Our team is preparing to perform at the Turnip28 tournament called H.R.E.N.28 in Slovenia in July. Ana, Mario, Domagoj, Seb and Antoni assemble their armies and paint, and we follow them on their way!

	  

	MARIO: „My next step was working on Proboscis, I wanted to add some texture to it so I sculpted his fur from brown stuff, along with a textured mass of mud on his back. I wanted to achieve the effect of overgrown plants and mushrooms on the skin. I also finished the existing trunks and added another pair.“

	  

	SEB: „Over the past week I have continued work on the conversion of the cannon Snail Knight.

	  

	I added Liquid Green Stuff (from GSW) to the metal parts (the paperclip) and then sponged it on to get a rust plus algae effect so that the overall impression was: they just came out of the water.

	  

	Today I added textures to the base.

	  

	And to end this part of the army building, before my trip to England/Scotland, here's a close-up of the snails pulling the cart. The rest will follow at the end of May, as far as I'm concerned!

	  
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	MARIO: „Moj sljedeći korak je bio rad na Proboscisu, želio sam mu dodati teksture pa sam mu kipario krzno od brown stuffa, zajedno sa teksturnom masom blata na leđima. Želim postići efekt obraslog bilja i gljiva na koži. Ujedno sam doradio postojeće surle i dodao još jedan par.

	  

	SEB: „U proteklom tjednu nastavio sam rad na konverziji topovskog Snail Knighta.

	  

	Na metalne dijelove (spajalicu) sam dodao Liquid Green Stuff (od GSW-a) i onda ga stipplao spužvicom da dobijem efekt hrđe plus algi kako bi cjelokupni dojam bio: upravo su izašli iz vode.

	  

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Mario Grgurev, 18th April 2025

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	ANA: "Continuation of last week's Fodder unit. I basecoated the shoes and hats in black and some details in red and washed them with a brown wash.

	  

	After that, I started adding additional shading and the first highlights on the uniform.“

	  

	  

	ANTONI: "I named the army (cult) for Turnip28 Feast of Charybdis. The entire army is based on crabs. And it will consist of 1 Toff, 2 Toadies, a cannon and a unit on "horses" of three pieces and 12 Napoleonic British soldiers who will form the gunlines.

	  

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	MARIO: "My army/cult is based on elephants/birds and it's called March of the Proboscis. The story behind the cult is that the main elephant eats everything it comes across and the rest of the army follows and camps behind it and vultures on the remains of its victims. I started with elephant conversions.

	  

	... and then I continued to convert the other figures. In fact, the army will be made up of an elephant (Probiscis) with a figure lying in a deckchair stretched between two trees on the elephant's back. Next to him there will be 6 x brutes (men-at-arms), then 3 x Bastards (knights on horses) and 12 x Fodder (Austrian Napoleonics) whose heads and torsos I will change..."

	  

	SEB: "My cult, called Knights of Shellwood, as you can probably gather, will be based on shells, but also snails. There will be a lot of conversions, more or less swapping heads on Napoleonic warriors, with shells instead of heads.

	  

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	ANA: „Nastavak na unitu Foddera od prošlog tjedna. Basecoatala sam cipele i šešire u crno i neke detalje u crveno te ih powashala smeđim washem.

	  

	Nakon toga sam se bacila na dodatan shading i prve highlighte na uniformi.“

	  

	  

	ANTONI: „Vojsku (kult) za Turnip28 sam nazvao Feast of Charybdis. Cijela vojska je bazirana na rakovima. I sastojat će se od 1 Toffa, 2 Toadiesa, topa i jedinice na „konjima“ od tri komada te 12 napoleonskih britanskih vojnika koji će tvoriti gunline.

	  

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	MARIO: „Moja vojska/kult je bazirana na slonovima/pticama i zove se March of the Proboscis. Priča iza kulta je da glavni slon ždere sve na što naleti, a ostatak vojske ga prati i kampira iza njega te se lešinari na ostacima njegovih žrtava. Krenuo sam s konverzijama slona.

	  

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	Vojska će se sastojati od Toffa (vođa), 2 snail knighta, 4 cheffa i 1 jedinice Brutesa od 6 komada. Danas sam počeo rad na drugom snail knightu koji će zapravo biti top.“

	  

	 
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Marko Paunović, 17th April 2025

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	In this series of articles, we will follow my work on a new diorama, another in the 1986 series. This time, we take you behind the Iron Curtain to Czechoslovakia. 

	  

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	In the box with the bits I also found a barrel in good scale so I assembled that too.

	  

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	Then I added hinges to the door and gate. I made them out of paper clips.

	  

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	Na redu su završni detalji, koji nisu nužno povezani jedni sa drugima, niti su odrađeni u vremenskom slijedu kako izlaze ovi članci. Jednostavno, nisu bili povezani sa ostatkom priče po člancima pa su svi skupa zaslužili svoj miš-maš članak. Prvo, priprema trafostanice za bojanje na način da je unutrašnjost posprejana u crno. Tako da kroz otvore na vratima i prozorima unutra bude mrak. Jednom kad se fiksira trafostanica na bazu, to će biti nemoguće napraviti.

	  

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	Onda sam dodao i šarke na vrata i kapiju. Njih sam napravio od spajalice.

	  

	Dodao sam i lampu iznad ulaza u trafostanicu. S obzirom na tanku šipku o kojoj visi, izbušio sam rupu u zidu trafostanice te na taj način pinirao lampu.

	  

	Time završava rad na ovoj diorami. Sad je na redu bojanje i vegetacija.

	  
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Marko Paunović, 10th April 2025

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