We all have a little squirrel in us, saving anything that looks like it might have a use. I have some of the flat refrigerator magnets (calanders, ball game schedules, advertisements) in various sizes. Has anyone come up with uses for them other than cutting them up to use as car weights? If we had real metal buildings we could put advertisements on them and stick them on the walls. I have several laying around, still haven’t figured out a good use for them. Suggestions?
Thank you,
I tried to use them for uncoupling magnets in N scale…couldn’t get it to work…Jerry
I heard of people using them as “guides” for weathering. They used the edge of the magnets for the rust streaks. The magnet kinda “flows” with the car. Unlike other straight items.
So…On a hopper, the magnet will wrap around the round side of the hopper. Trying anything straight/unbend-able wouldn’t work.
Ditto with me also.
They work on the fridge because the magnetic field is very weak but is spread over a larger area and not focused in a concentrated area. I still have stacks of them going back to the 60’s that my kids and now my grand-kids play with on the fridge and dishwasher. Not the stove though as it may be HOT.
Blue Flamer.
I don’t think I would use them for car weights because they will pick up every small metal filing on the rails. I guess that would keep them out of you locomotive motors though. I go to a tire shop and get a bunch of their used tire weights. They work well as car weights…chuck
I’ve been toying with the idea of using refrigerator magnets to hold billboards and such to plastic structures. A magnet on the other side of the wall should hold it in place.
I’ve used refrigerator magnets for removable signs on structures that I didn’t want to glue onto the building. Just cut one for the size of the sign to glue on to and one to glue on an inside the structure wall. Make sure the magnetic flux is in the correct position between the two magnets so to hold on the wall.
I’ve used them on backdrop buildings to make doubly sure that the building won’t fall over onto the track/trains. [:)]
And at my club, we have a flatcar with a couple of layers mounted underneath specifically TO pick up magnetic debris as it rolls around the layout. You’d be amazed at how much you’ll pick up after a while. Screws, track nails that have come loose, metal shavings (that we’re STILL not sure where they came from), etc.
Why not see if they can be used to help hold stuff in place while scratchbuilding or assembling kits?
Another use: cut them up, paint them, write car or train numbers on them, and use them as aids for dispatching.
I just toss them when they aren’t needed. Magnets have a tendency to cause more problems then they’re worth when used for things other then they’re intended for.