Sick of your skimmers always falling of their bases, or drooping onto the table? Time to magnetize your flight stands!
It’s actually pretty easy AND affordable to magnetize a whole army’s worth of skimmers all in one go, and I’ll show you how.
All you need are some 1/4″ x 1/16 magnets and accompanying drill bit, the normal flying stand with stem, and some 1/4″ diameter tubing (for this project I just used the Gale Force Nine Accessory Pack cause I’m lazy)
The first and foremost trick to make this work, is to take some wide packing tape and cover the bottom of the base that will touch the table top. As you add the tubing, magnets, and such the chemical processes of the glue and added weigh of the whole new assembly tends to cause the flight stands to crack right down the middle, unless you secure it with a square patch of tape first.
Trust me I learned the hard way, do this first. 🙂
After secure all your bases, it’s time to grab a section of tubing and make some measurements. You just want to measure one piece out, then duplicate it’s size by marking its width on the rest of the tubing you have.
Just measure out how high your flight stand is, and then add 1/16″ to the total. That way the magnet will sit on top of the plastic stem (giving it strength), and be flush with the top of your tube so it mates to the magnet you’ll put into the skimmer itself.
After you make your measurement of how big of a tube you’ll need, duplicate that part until you have enough tubing for your fleet of skimmers.
Cut out all you pieces using a straight edge, and try to be as precise as possible. Only make clean cuts, you don’t want your skimmer to sag because you didn’t cut the tube straight across!
Easy right?
Then glue down the tubing to the flying base, and attach the magnet on top of the plastic stem that’s now inside the tubing. Make sure that the magnet drys flush with the top of the tubing straight across!
Now drill a hole a little bit deeper than 1/16″ into whatever model you want to attach to the flight stand. Then after checking the polarity of the magnet on the stem, glue the same sized magnet into the skimmer flush making sure that it will attract (not repel) the magnet in the stem.
Now all that’s left is to paint the flying base, if that’s your preference, and play some games!!!
I hope this article helps you with your skimmers! Be sure to check a whole slew of my How-To Guide articles on Spikey Bits! -MBG
About the Author: Rob Baer
Rob Baer
Job Title: Managing Editor
Founded Spikey Bits in 2009
Socials: Rob Baer on Facebook and @catdaddymbg on X
About Rob Baer: Founder, Publisher, & Managing Editor of Spikey Bits, the leading tabletop gaming news website focused on the hobby side of wargaming and miniatures.
Rob also co-founded and currently hosts the Long War Podcast, which has over 350 episodes and focuses on tabletop miniatures gaming, specializing in Warhammer 40k. and spent six years writing for Bell of Lost Souls.
Every year, along with his co-hosts, he helps host the Long War 40k Doubles Tournament at Adepticon and the Long War 40k Doubles at Las Vegas Open, which attracts over 350 players from around the world.
Rob has won many Warhammer 40k Tournaments over the years, including multiple first-place finishes in Warhammer 40k Grand Tournaments over the years and even winning 1st place at the Adepticon 40k Team Tournament.
With over 30 years of experience in retail and distribution, Rob knows all the products and exactly which ones are the best. As a member of GAMA (Game Manufacturers Association), he advocates for gaming stores and manufacturers in these difficult times, always looking for the next big thing to feature for the miniatures hobby, helping everyone to provide the value consumers want.
While he’s played every edition of Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy (since 5th Edition) and has been hobbying on miniatures since the 1980s, Titans of all sizes will always be his favorite! It’s even rumored that his hobby vault rivals the Solemnance Galleries, containing rulebooks filled with lore from editions long past, ancient packs of black-bordered Magic Cards, and models made of both pewter and resin.
