I am building a giant scale Pt19. I was given a metal board and magnets. Has anyone used them and could give me advise. I will probably need more magnets but don't want to buy them if I don't need them. Right now I have a door with ceiling tiles gluded on that works fine Thanks in advance for your help.

I built a magnetic building system a few years back, and now I won't build with anything else!!!!

I did a build thread on a LT-40 where I used the magnetic system. You can look through the thread and get a good idea of what goes on when building with magnets. You can find the thread here:
[link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_3439708/tm.htm]Pay It Forward build thread!! LT-40 build.[/link]

Ken

I'm doing a build thread on the hostetler Stinson 108 right now. My building table is 8' x 3' with a stell top for magnetic building.

[link=http://www.rcscalebuilder.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10627&PN=1]Hostetler Stinson 108 build[/link]

Also check out www.airfieldmodels.com Pauls the MAgnet Master that we all follow his lead.

Jeff

That's what I used when I built my system.

Ken

Has anyone tried using a metal door for the table. I am either going to build a torsion box and put a metal sheet on top or buy a metal door and go the easy route

a metal door!! what a great idea. a large commercial flat door would be 36" x 80". as a contractor i will keep an eye out for those now.

david

I built a magnet system as shown on Caffeenman's Airfield models site, and RCKen's LT-40 thread. Between both sites, I learned pretty much how to use them. Those two places are like a really good instruction book. It takes a while to read through it all, but it is worth it. But I'm sure that I will develop other ways as I apply it more.

I haven't been in the modeling world for years, but I did quite a bit when I was younger, all with pins and a door. I'm on my first model building with the magnetic system, and all I have to say is WOW!!. I'm like them much better, and I'll never do pins only again.

Once you do try it, you may want a larger table. Just do a search on RCU and look at the sites above for ideas that may suit you.

Bion

I can see how it could be a great way to build. One thing I don't understand, What is the pieces of metal fore, why can't you just the magnets.

You can just buy the magnets. If you call the magnet company that is mentioned on Airfield models, they will sell them to you. I think they were areound 17 cents each. As shown on the websites, they make excellent clamp pads and spacer, weight spreaders for the magnets. Lay them in position and they stick. Then put a magnet with pole pieces on one side and it won't move.

However, the metal plates, which are called Pole Pieces, are there to redirect the magnetic flux that would normally reside at the large flat side of the magnet to the edges. This increases the flux density at the edges by a great deal, and hence the holding power.

Without the magnets, the pull of the magnet on steel is just a pound or two. With them, it increases to 10 to 12 pounds.

Bion