I saw pictures of RcKen's magnetic building system, his is like the ones at airfieldmodels.com. I thought the idea was pretty spiffy so I started to look into it and found that the total cost of the magnets and fixtures to be a little pricey, each fixture has 4 latch magnets $0.55-0.65 a piece plus his design calls for 1/4 birch plywood. ( it is really pricey if you have him make it for you ). Great planes also makes one , it sells for $119 on tower which is less than the airfeildmodels but not as nice. So I decided to see what I could come up with on my own.


Building board, a raid of my father's garage uncovered a tarnished piece of .109 galavinized steel it's 11.25" wide by 54" long. It is a little shorter than I wanted build should be fine. After going over it with some scotch brite it looks good.

For the fixtures, I decided to use these welding fixtures. ( I have more than what is pictured) They hold very well and I can buy them all day long for $2 to $2.50 a piece.

For holding ribs and small pieces I ordered some N40 rare earth magnets 1/4 X 1/4 64 magnets for 18.75 off of ebay, includes shipping tax etc. A magnet slightly larger than this held to the board very well, so the plan is that these magnets will be small enough to use several to position a rib or other small part, and it not require a pry bar to move them around.

So far this is the plan, so since I don't have a kit in the shop, I will have to go buy one with the money I saved ( Ever notice how we "save" money in the hobby just like women) to let you know how it works.

Merry Christmas and let me know what you think.