Magnetizing Tervigons

Despite having entirely too many models, when GW released the Tervigons earlier this year, I was quite enamored.  Though I’d already had my “Tervifexes,” I finally broke down and purchased three of these bad boys.  With my predilection towards magnetization, and the inherent nature of the kit making two completely different models, I naturally had to make them into little transformers.

Ultimately there isn’t much that’s too fancy to the magnetization enabling you to switch them between Tervigons & Tyrannofexes, but I thought I’d share my experiences just the same.  If they help someone learn, all the merrier.

To start with, I used the following tools to create this:

• 1x Tervigon/Tyrannofex Kit from GW
• 8x rod magnets ( 1/16” x 1/16”) to allow the gun arms to connect with the ammo feeds
• 25-44x disc magnets (1/8 diameter x 1/16”) – 7 for the sac, 8 for the body, and 10 for the arms.  It’s ok to double up on most of these if you want additional strength
• Superglue
• Power drill
• 1/16” drill bit
• 1/8” drill bit
• Sculpting putty (or any epoxy putty—something that dries hard and won’t move/break)

Naturally, I made three of these, so multiple all of the parts by three to make it happen.  The only thing I could think of that might be hard to find at your local stores would be the magnets.  Personally, I use Amazing Magnets.

Side note: For Alaskan buyers, their website no longer allows you to order from them directly (apparently they’ve striken USPS as an available shipping option from their default list), but I emailed them, and they placed my order over the phone without problem.  If you prefer, they also allow for a payment request via paypal).

Anywho, after cleaning up all of the pieces and doing general assembly of the body (leaving the top off, to allow you access to the inside—which isn’t strictly necessary, unless you mess things up.  But it’s probably best to leave the top off, just in case).  Anywho, at this point, I drilled 1/8” down the side of the body where each of the spikes would for the Tyrannofex, and another hole in the front limb assembly (ie. The shoulder joint) where the arms would be magnetized.  After which, I lined each hole with superglue and plugged it with a magnet (ensuring the polarity was the same on each one). 

My original intent was to also magnetize the spikes to allow the Tyrannofex to be complete, but after doing it for one of my models, I gave up on them for the other two.  The problem was that they’re so small and fiddly—they’re basically a magnet with a point.  That made them hard to prime, and it quickly became clear that I was going to lose them anyway, so why bother?

After this point, it came time to magnetize the sac.  To do this, I lined up the sac on the model, and trimmed away the internal edge of the sac at all points where it rubbed against the newly fitted magnets (this was necessary because originally the model has a divot on the body to affix the spike into, whereas the magnet is a flat surface).  I then marked the inside of the sac as to approximately where the magnets would be placed, and drilled the start of a 1/8” hole so it had someplace flat to sit.  I then glued the magnets to the inside of the sac (again, ensuring the polarities would work with those already in the body) and let them dry. 

That might have been sufficient, but since I expect to play with these for years, I wanted to add a little extra protection by securing each of those internal magnets with a blob of putty.  When doing this, make sure to keep the blob relatively low on the magnet (as the top part has very little clearance between the egg sac and the torso).

I then repeated the process on the other side of the egg sac, but it became painfully apparent that another magnet was going to be necessary to keep the sac held together as a single piece.  I did this by putting a blob of putty on one side of the sac, and sticking a magnet inside it.  I opted to use one such magnet at the middle of the sac and another at the front (behind where the termagants are bursting out).  Once it hardened, I put the sac together, and repeated the process.  To prevent the dry putty from causing issues with the wet stuff, I separated the two magnets with a leftover Ziploc sandwich bag.   

When assembled, the sac holds pretty well, but after doing three of these, not all of the magnets line up perfectly with parts from other tervigons.  Don’t get me wrong, they’re pretty close—but not perfect.  The end result is that if I wind up picking up halves from two different tervs, they wind up with a slight split towards the back of the sac.  Since this is only visible from the bottom, it’s not an issue for me, but it might be for a perfectionist.

My only issue now is that the sac sits so low on the model (almost touching the ground on each one), that I’m going to have to build up custom bases to allow me to transform the model without messing things up.  Oh well, it’s another project for me!

Hopefully this helps someone out there…