Thursday, May 21, 2015

Magnetic attraction

Top Clips

Chalk this one up as something I've always wanted to try. The idea of using rare-earth magnets to hold down a model boat superstructure won't be new, but I've not done it before.

The Bantam deck is flat, with limited freeboard to keep water away. Thus, the superstructure needs to be held down well. My first thoughts were to do the whole job with magnets but then a little lateral thought, partly inspired by Iain Rice's ideas about attaching model loco chassis to body's, made me realise that if the front clipped in, only the back needed fixing.

A simple clip was made from plastic sheet - the U-shape fits around the deck. Don't test this when the solvent is still wet though!

At the back, a strip of tinplate is glued under the cabin. A rare-earth magnet (bought as a set of different sized ones on eBay) attached to the plastic shelf grabs this at the back.

Result - the superstructure is fitted and doesn't move. You can't pick the boat up by it, but you can turn it upside down. That seems like about the right strength to me.

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