Cyanight's Customizations

@cyanight:

and now for my turn marker. I had originally posted a 12 sided dice with different countries on each side.  I had problems making it magnetic without destroying it.  So I came up with the Fatman which was the first plutonium bomb.  I thought the Fatman would be appropriate since it was the weapon that ended the war.Â

Very cool idea!  The size and the yellow colour certainly make it an eye-catching marker.  Did you build the model yourself or did you buy it somewhere?

@cyanight:

Had it made at Shapeways.com  The version with the antennas could not be created so I opted for a version without them.

Nice.  It would have been amusing if the Shapeways “Choose Material” menu had included a “plutonium core” option, but that would probably have been extremely expensive (even at the small scale of the marker), and also undoubtedly a violation of many federal laws, international arms-limitation treaties, IAEA regulations, and municipal zoning codes.  Worst of all, it would have made the magnetized marker too heavy to stick vertically to the metal chart!  :lol:

this is awesome man!  Your factories look great! did you buy the majors at HBG or is that shapeways as well??  The Fat man looks awesome too! Now you just need a couple of b29’s from shapeways for your game…magnetized too the fullest of course

These look fantastic Cyanight, keep up the great work.

That is an awesome map and everything magnetized, must make it even better! :-D

@John:

That is an awesome map and everything magnetized, must make it even better!

Though it could be dangerous if HBG even develops sculpts or markers that represent magnetic mines.  The map itself might set them off.  :lol:

@CWO:

@John:

That is an awesome map and everything magnetized, must make it even better!

Though it could be dangerous if HBG even develops sculpts or markers that represent magnetic mines.  The map itself might set them off.  :lol:

LOL, that would be something! :-D

I hear ya man, HBG has these amazing sets coming out but its sooooo hard to be patient and wait for these pieces.  I have been waiting on the UK set now for months.  I am very excited about the America set they are producing, and cant wait too paint the p47 “jug” and the b24 liberator!  “Tall Paul” has a shapeways thread in this customization forum section.  If you check it out he has already purchased the b29 and has the correct scale in his thread.  I will be making some minor and major factory purchases here soon seeing how nicely yours turned out, as well as that b29.  Gotta paint that Enola Gay!

Thanks for sharing your stuff

@cyanight:

I wish I would have done this before I printed my map. I edited the roundels for Italy and replaced them with the fascist Italy roundel instead of Iran’s roundel.  Why was the Iran roundel chosen to be Italy’s roundel?Â

Probably for the same reason (not enough double-checking) as the other game map errors, like Honolulu being shown on the wrong island or Tunguska being spelled “Timguska”.  Anyway, your roundel change is a good idea.  I did the same thing to my Global map when I was customizing it, as shown in the “7 Europe Right Panel” picture of this thread:
http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=32700.0 .  Though I did do some cheating of my own: since the OOB “Italian” roundel with the inverted coulours was now free for use, I enlisted it on my map to represent Mexico.

@cyanight:

Yes, I saw that thread.  Very good job.  I think that may have been the thread that got me interested in the neutral roundels.  Then after research I noticed that Italy’s roundel was wrong or as you stated inverted.  I was thinking of putting decals on my map to fix it but I would probably mess it up somehow.

I didn’t like the idea of messing up my Global map either, so I tried to figure out how to customize it without doing any damage to it.  The eventual solution was to attach all the customized roundels to the map using a tiny piece of double-faced tape (which provides just enough anchorage to keep the roundels in place) and to cover the whole map with a sheet of clear acrylic (which provides most of the anchorage, as well as a smooth surface on which to play).  If ever I want to make changes to any of the customized roundels – which has happened from time to time – I remove the acrylic sheet and I gently peel those particular roundels off the map.  Each piece of double-faced tape is so small that the roundel comes right off; sometimes the tape itself peels off the map too, leaving little or no trace of its presence.  I then put the new roundels on the map, using the same method.  So far it’s worked nicely.  The only map panel on which I used a more aggressive technique was the left-hand-side supplementary panel that I employ to show the sea zone connections.  On that one, I covered the original printed roundels with small black self-adhesive dots, to show that the territories on this panel are not to be used for the deployment of game pieces.  That panel’s purpose will never change, so I was comfortable with the idea of using sticky labels on it.

@cyanight:

I saw that and was hoping it would work for my map as well. The problem is that when I add acrylic or plexi-glass to cover the map I lose a lot of magnetic power. There is no way the pieces will hold onto the map. As of right not I could play the game on my ceiling and the pieces wont move or fall off but with the plexi-glass the magnets I used are not strong enough. Using larger magnets would probably work but then again I would need to revert all the work I did so far.

Yes, good point about the magnetic power.  Our two maps are designed along different lines, so they have different requirements.  On the minus side, mine can only ever work horizontally; even without the playing pieces, the whole thing would collapse if I tilted it vertically; on the plus side, gravity is all I need to keep things in place, so the thickness of the plexiglass isn’t an issue.  Here’s an idea on how you might fix the Italian roundels on your map without doing any permanent damage to it and without affecting its magnetic properties.  If you can find some decals of the correct size and type, get a sheet of paper-thin transparent acetate (for example, the kind that was used for overhead projector transparencies before PowerPoint came along), apply the roundels to the acetate (you may need to use superglue if the decals won’t stick on their own), then carefully cut out each roundel with some scissors.  Next, put four little pieces of double-faced tape at the back of each roundel, on the rim, at the 3, 6, 9 and 12 o’clock positions, and stick them to your map.  The thinness of the acetate, plus the tape-free central portion of the roundels, should allow your magnetized markers to stick to the map through the roundels without serious loss of power.  And the fact that the decal is glued to the acetate instead of directly to the map will mean that your map isn’t messed up.  The small pieces of tape should be able to peel away from the map without harm if you ever want to replace the roundels.

@cyanight:

That is a great idea!

Great – looking forward to hearing if it works out well in practice.  (It sounds fine in theory, but one never knows!)  By the way, some types of double-faced tape are completely transparent and very thin (in contrast with the thick, white, gummy variety), so that would be the best kind to use.