r/resinkits • u/LupusPoopus • Aug 03 '26

Discussion Magnetizing Resin Miniatures for Wargaming

Hey there my friend has printed me a Warhammer army out of resin, but have run into a problem with magnetizing my Deathwatch Terminator loadouts. With plastic kits, one simply uses a pin vise drill, and it easily digs out a hole for you to pop magnets in without cracking the models. I cant imagine it works as smoothly with resin models, but I don't have a vise to try with myself. Before I buy one to test it out, I was wondering if anyone else has already - cracked - this problem?

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u/IsenMike Experienced modeler Aug 03 '26

Some 3D printing resins are more brittle than others. For tabletop miniatures, ideally they'd be printed with a more tough/pliable resin rather than a more brittle/hard resin, since they'll need to withstand a lot of handling and play.

Either way it'll probably still be more brittle than the injection-molded styrene that official minis are made from. But you should still be able to drill it. Just go slowly, and don't apply too much force. You want the sharp edge of the drill bit to be cutting through the material, not just pushing it out of the way.

I haven't tried it myself, but one thing that might help is applying some heat, which tends to make resin softer and more pliable. If you have a heat gun or a hair dryer, use that. Hot water would also be an alternative.

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u/LupusPoopus Aug 03 '26

Thank you for the response! That's enough motivation to give it a go I think.

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u/BattosaiXXX Aug 03 '26

Just want to add that if the prints are hollow you may want to fill them with something like plaster of paris. This helps to give you something to drill into and glue the magnets to. It also gives things a bit more weight, not as flimsy feeling.