As regular blog readers will already know, I'm always on the lookout for things that might be re-purposed for wargaming. On Monday, whilst visiting Maidstone in Kent, I came across something that certainly can be re-purposed ... A4-sized magnetic sheet.
I found this useful stuff in the local branch of 'Tiger'. ('Tiger' is the name used by the Danish 'Flying Tiger Copenhagen' chain of variety store or price point retail shops. They specialise in selling household accessories and toys, and the name 'Tiger' is thought to be derived from the Danish pronunciation of the word tiger, which sounds similar to the Danish word tier, a ten kroner coin. Ten kroner is worth approximately one pound (£1.00) and was the price charged for everything when the chain first started.)
When displayed in the shops, the A4-sized magnetic sheet could easily be mistaken for a very thin pad of pre-punched file paper with a marker pen ...
... but when turned over the magnetic sheet is very obvious.
The magnetic sheet seems to be powerful enough to hold a figure mounted on a steel washer or similar in place, but it is not so powerful as to make removing said figure difficult. At £2.00 per sheet it seemed like a bargain, and I have bought enough to line the bottom of some of my storage boxes.
I found this useful stuff in the local branch of 'Tiger'. ('Tiger' is the name used by the Danish 'Flying Tiger Copenhagen' chain of variety store or price point retail shops. They specialise in selling household accessories and toys, and the name 'Tiger' is thought to be derived from the Danish pronunciation of the word tiger, which sounds similar to the Danish word tier, a ten kroner coin. Ten kroner is worth approximately one pound (£1.00) and was the price charged for everything when the chain first started.)
When displayed in the shops, the A4-sized magnetic sheet could easily be mistaken for a very thin pad of pre-punched file paper with a marker pen ...
... but when turned over the magnetic sheet is very obvious.
The magnetic sheet seems to be powerful enough to hold a figure mounted on a steel washer or similar in place, but it is not so powerful as to make removing said figure difficult. At £2.00 per sheet it seemed like a bargain, and I have bought enough to line the bottom of some of my storage boxes.
Looks like a good find.
ReplyDeleteNever heard of "Flying Tiger" before though I see that they have a collection of shops centred on London, including one about 6 miles north of me in the middle of Croydon (though these days that's somewhere I rarely visit).
Is your sheet rigid or flexible? There seem to be a lot of fairly cheap flexible sheets on ebay and Amazon but I would expect a rigid sheet to be better for your usage. However, many are shown as being self adhesive so I guess that one could always stick them to a card sheet for rigidity.
Mike Hall,
DeleteI understand that there are over ninety branches of Flying Tiger in the UK, although the name above the door is often only Tiger.
The sheets are quite thin and flexible, and I think that it would be quite easy to fix them to thin plywood or foamcore board to make them a bit more rigid. At present I intend to use them 'as is'.
All the best,
Bob
Bob
ReplyDeleteIt is an excellent find and shop, I found the same on my travels about a week ago in Tiger, even if they are nowhere near home. Sadly no mail order service.
https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/2018/08/05/flying-tiger-palm-trees/
Did you see the eraser ships in Tiger? https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/2018/08/09/hms-flying-tiger-eraser-battleships/
I'm busy painting mine grey for a small merchant navy convoy. Not sure what scale they match in terms of buying a few escorts. I will post pictures in a few days.
MIN ManofTin,
Delete'Flying Tiger Copenhagen' stocks some very interesting stuff. I did not see either the palm trees or the ship erasers in the Maidstone store, but I'll look for them when I visit another branch.
All the best,
Bob
PS. The lack of an online shop is something that one would hope they would rectify in the future.
Several recommendations for your new Naval rules so far when I showed my grey eraser ship painting so far ... might be visiting Lulu soon. Work in Progress here at https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/2018/08/15/dipping-my-little-toe-in-the-big-ocean-of-naval-wargaming/
DeleteMIN ManofTin,
DeleteYou could certainly do worse, although I'd recommend that you look at the list of naval wargames published by John Curry's 'History of Wargaming' project as well.
All the best,
Bob
Ooh...never heard of this shop before but that looks like a good buy. My nearest shops would either be Croydon (...shudder...) or Kingston. Might have to go shopping at the weekend.
ReplyDeleteAlastair,
DeleteI first came across this retail chain during a visit to Denmark, and then discovered the branch in Maidstone. It sells all sorts of useful stuff, and the prices are quite reasonable.
I can understand your reluctance to go to Croydon. My wife and I had to go there last year to visit the local archives ... and it took us hours to find anywhere to park. We had to go back to Croydon to attend a funeral earlier this year, and afterwards offered someone a lift back to the main railway station ... only to discover that it was impossible for car drivers to actually drop passengers off outside the station.
I'd go to Kingston if I had to choose between the two.
All the best,
Bob