Magnets and IG Heavy Weapons Squads

The IG heavy weapons Team is one of those units/Kits that have several options. The box set actually comes with all the options but not enough kneeling models to pull of several extra squads. This is one of those units that can quickly change roles in your armies. Depending on points level sometimes having some autocannons is great, and other times having mortars may fit the need more. So combine that with the fact that everyone wants the hobby dollar to stretch a bit, magnets are clearly your best options.. I was told that I tend to use my magnets a bit different than most people and that maybe sharing might inspire some others. So let's take a quick look at this kit. 

So as you can see we have a Lascannon Heavy weapons team. I have been building IG models for my allies, and this is the first time I have built this specific kit. My first impression was that maybe magnetizing the gun was the normal option but that lead to some problems..  So after some quick experimenting this is what I came up with.

First off the shield isn't glued on, because it actually easily slides on several of the weapons options with the kit. So we will be painting it and then just sliding it on top of the gun in use. Pretty simple. 

The gun itself already has a pinned style set up to connect to the Stand. So Again simple enough we simply don't glue this part in place as you can see. 

Now I have glued the gun accessories to the Gun itself so they all are one piece. This can easily be done with all the options on the sprue. Make sure that you actually put the gun in place when you do this so that the ammo parts touch the base correctly for the visual look you want. The problem I think most people run into with doing this is that the weapons are all different lengths. So the Autocannon isn't the same length as the lascannon so the gun stand will be out of place to show the gunner actually using the weapon. However we can solve this problem. 

What we have done as you can see is I have glued magnet to the bottom of the feet on the gun stand. The gun stand isn't actually glued to the base at all. 

We then use a slightly thicker magnet to hold the gun stand where we want but we do not glue these in place.  This also has the added bonus of letting us slide the gun stand around as needed for the different lengths of weapons. So when we swap out the lascannon for a autocannon for example, we can slide the base forward or back as needed so the gunner still looks like he is actually firing the weapon. Which is awesome because we don't have to sacrifice look for use. Also this method has the bonus of letting us use the other weapon stand as needed for the other options on the sprue, simply remove the magnets from the bottom and the gun stand comes off the base. Then we just glue magnets to the other stand in a similar manner and swap out as needed. The only option that is going to maybe look a bit out of place is the missile launcher but there are  few creative ways to handle that. Also at worst this gives you at least four options for the kit. 

I also want to make sure you know that this option works if you want some more creative basing as well. For example you can see some cork added to the base here with a larger magnet. 

Same concept a slightly thicker magnet on the bottom easily holds it into place even through the cork. To do this option you clearly would have to use a larger magnet and you would need to cut or file down the circle nubs under the base to be able to move around the stand using the larger magnets but I don't see why this wouldn't work about the same way for those who would like some more creative options basing wise. 

I have done something similar with a few kits, I also attached my deff rollas with magnets and I'll see if I can find the pictures of the process and post those up as well.   Hope you enjoy, questions or comments always welcome.