Using magnets to attach pepakura armor?

[HappySalesman]

Hey all,

So I'm doing a Daedric armor build from Skyrim (will be posting build thread soon) and I decided to do the pepakura route instead of foam. However the torso piece is a bit small for me to slip in an out of. I know the common practice is to cut it down the middle and then attach the two halves with magnets, but I was struggling with coming up with a way to attach the magnets where I wouldn't risk breaking them off as I try to remove the armor.

I tried looking up a couple of threads on here and on the RPF, but most of what i found was for craft foam (and what wasn't didn't really show/explain much). Does anyone have any insight or examples I could reference?

Thanks!

 

[FlyinPhil]

For starters, I wouldn't recommend using magnets alone to attach the two halves together. Any slight twist of your body or sudden movements, amd the two halves will pop apart.

What will work, if you are set on using magnets, is to permanently affix hinges to the top of the armor where you cut it in half, and use magnets to keep the bottoms together. Now you will still want to use very strong magnets for this, or else your armor is gonna be flapping around like dumbo's ears on a windy day. I have embedded 5mm x 10mm x 60mm n50(that's the strength rating) rare earth magnets in my armor for holding weapons, and I think something along those lines, or stronger, would be sufficient. I think I got 5 of those magnets for about $15 on ebay.

As for mounting them, I would recommend making a card stock frame to support them in the armor, and then fill your "frame" with resin so that the magnets sit just below the surface. You'll want to be very precise so that the magnets line up directly between the two parts, and be very sure the orientation of the poles is correct. It would also be wise to add a piece of felt or something similar to one of the mounted magnets, just to prevent the pics from snapping together and potentially cracking your resin.

Alternatively, you could cut some thin sheet metal (think 20-24 gauge like you can buy at home depot) and use it as a retaining plate over the magnet, screwing it into your armor, as long as your armor is thick enough to be screwed into. Personally, I think the resin method would work better and look a lot cleaner.

 

[ColdAdamantium]

This is incredibly helpful as i have magnet plans as well.
You're the man Phil!

 

[FlyinPhil]

This is incredibly helpful as i have magnet plans as well.
You're the man Phil!

Haha thank you, sir! Im just here to help.... and occasionally heckle necroposters

 

[HappySalesman]

Thank you for the response. I'll look into that option, I liked the magnet idea because I thought it looked very clean. Aside from using straps, are there any other viable options people have used?

Edit: One thing I just realized is that the shoulder pieces attach to the chest piece in about the center of the pectoral region. If I try to do the clamshell method the shoulders are going to be a problem. So either clamshell and find a way to make the shoulders easily removable, or another option. Ideas?