Fun with Magnets! - Creating OMNIJACKS!

What's an Omnijack?  Well, its a reference to Omni mechs from Battletech, mechs that could swap and change payloads and weapon very easily. What I wanted was some warjacks that I could swap and change parts on.

So I went to the local friendly gaming store and purchased some rare earth magnets to use with my new Warmachine Cygnar Heavy Jack box. The cool thing about this box is it gives you all the bits to make a Defender, a Cyclone and an Ironclad. the Magnets were about $12 for 24

SHAMELESS PLUG ALERT

I got my Warjack kit from http://www.mk1.co.nz/  for $49 NZ dollars. Which is pretty damm cheap as far as NZ hobby stores go. Chris from Mark One also does free mail order anywhere within New Zealand.

SHAMELESS PLUG OVER!

I already had an Ironclad from the starter box, and i had already started painting the sucka. But, I thought I could lop off a hand and magnetise it.

The process!

Well, it was pretty simple. Get some magnets, and some green stuff and mold them in place. The key thing is to ensure that your magnets are pointing the right way. This sounds basic, but its amazing how many times I molded one on and then had to unpick it. The magnets are also fiddly and its easy to forget what side is what.

I also used a knife to flatten the shoulder sockets to the magnet sat as flat as possible. The real issue I had was with the Cyclone guns, there is no easy way I can see to make them "pop out" less

Its also really tricky to get the magnet socket smooth without it being colossal. They won't look as good as a purpose built warjack, as the joints will be just a little bit to big.

OMNI-jacks ready to accept weapons

Both in Ironclad configuration

Defender and Cyclone configurations

All the magnetized bits close up

Also. no post on magnets would be complete without this