Attaching a figurine to a boat, non-permanently.

[Kmot]

I decided to try a different method of attaching a figure to a boat. Instead of gluing it down permanently, or using pins in the bottom of the figure and drilling holes in the deck, I decided to try Super Magnets.

I read up on them, and they claim that a 1/4" wide by 1/32" thick Neodymium magnet has a pull of 1 lb. So I ordered some 1/4" and some 3/32" magnets.

I was hoping the magnets 'pull' would reach through a layer of 1/8" wood. It doesn't. So my idea of placing a metal strip under the deck and having magnets in the shoes of the figure to hold it didn't work. Even placing the Neodymium magnets from a hard drive was not strong enough to hold the figure if I tilted the deck sideways. Interestingly though, if you let the two magnets from a hard drive come in contact with each other, it is almost impossible to pull them straight apart. But a small seperation of 1/8" of wood nearly defeats them.

So what I ended up doing was installing equal size magnets in the deck surface as well as the bottom of the shoes of the figurine. It still won't hold if I tilt the deck sideways, but for all other practical purposes it seems to be good enough.

[frankg]

:) KMOT- You might want to try two different ideas for the setup. One is the use of VELCRO cut to shape of the sole of the shoe, the other is this stuff I call snot, but it is the gooey stuff they use to attach stuff to walls but you can remove it by rubbing it with you figure and it rolls up on its self. I think I bought it at STAPLES or OFFICE MAX. Another suggestion along the same line is the way I attach my deck fittings to finished decks with out having to worry about glue messing them up, thru the use of some very aggressive double sided craft tapes that I bought at the craft house ,A.C. MOORE. :)

[patmat2350]

It takes some work, but the magnets should do... I'm holding a roof on with them!

For my little guys, I went with 1/32" brass wire pegs. Trick is to get them parallel and to make matching holes in the "floor".

[Kmot]

Yeah, I have done most all those methods before. I wanted to try this method this time. ;)

Pat, If I pull straight up, I can lift the boat deck. If it pulls at an angle, it comes right off the deck. These things work kind of funny.

[green-boat]

How about hot glue. I know it can be picked off at a later date.

[tigerbay]

It takes some work, but the magnets should do... I'm holding a roof on with them!

For my little guys, I went with 1/32" brass wire pegs. Trick is to get them parallel and to make matching holes in the "floor".

Hi Pat

I do this with just one foot. Gets round teh parallel problem and alows the figures to move around a little if desired.

[Shaun Hendricks]

Museum Wax. A little on the hand where it holds the wheel (or tool, or gizmo) will have alot of stick. Nice and waterproof. Cleans off pretty easy too.

Did this for a diarama <sp?> and it worked well. Stuff came out and was reuseable.