(Fully Assembled and Primed)

Here's Part 3 of the Modular Space Marine Vanguard Veteran. This is the final stage of the conversion and assembly - painting comes next!

In this article I'll magnetizing the Marine's weapon arms and shoulder pads to allow for easy Wargear Selection.

I began by drilling holes to install 1/8" x 1/16" magnets in each side of the torso. Unfortunately, the photo I took for this step was incredibly blurry, so I'm not even going to bother including it.


Next, I added a little embellishment to the Power Sword arm by sculpting a tiny skull on the back of the hand, as is common among Space Marine veterans and sergeants.


I drilled holes for 1/8" x 1/16" magnets in each weapon arm. I aligned these by first drilling a smaller guide hole with a pinning bit. Magnets were then polarity-matched to the Torso and super glued in place.


Magnetizing the shoulder pads requires a little more finesse. I began by drilling a hole in the weapon arm's shoulder - the location of this hole is fairly arbitrary, but I try to keep it more or less centered.


Next, I squish a small blob of Green Stuff inside the shoulder pad - this is just temporary. I then press the shoulder pad in place on the arm and remove it again, and presto! You can see exactly where the hole drilled in the shoulder lines up.


Using the bump in the Green Stuff as a guide, I drill out a small marker spot in the shoulder pad through the Green Stuff, and then remove the Green Stuff.


Using a 1/16" drill bit, I widen the hole on the inside of the shoulder pad. Because the shoulder pads are so thin, I don't drill this hole deep enough for the entire magnet - I just create a shallow hole for the magnet to sit in.

On the Arm side, things are a bit easier. Using a larger drill bit, the hole is widened. Since there's already a strong magnet in the shoulder, I don't need to worry about adding one to hold the Shoulder Pad in place - I just make sure that the polarity of the 1/16" magnet in the Shoulder Pad lines up with the polarity of the 1/8" magnet in the shoulder, and magnetic forces do the rest. The larger hole on the arm side allows the shoulder pad a little bit of wiggle room.



Here's the fully assembled body with no arms attached. I considered magnetizing the Jump Pack so I could also field the Vanguard with regular packs and a Drop Pod instead, but I honestly can't see myself ever wanting to field them that way.


Fully Assembled and Primed model with the Power Sword and Bolt Pistol arms attached. So far I've also magnetized a Chainsword and Storm Shield arm - there's still plenty more to go!