| Magnetic Building Board Adventures |
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By
John Ernst
May 1st, 2003
I have a love/hate relationship with magnetic building boards (MBB).
I love to say that I use one because it's kind of cool, but I hated
the process of getting used to using it. After so many years of using
a homosote board and push-pins I was really skeptical about switching
to the magnetic board. The MBB I'm referring to is the one sold by
Easy Built Models. There
might be others on the market, and I'm sure it is easy enough to fabricate
your own. This just happens to be the one I'm familiar with. |
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So, here
are some of the things I like and don't like about the magnetic
board. I'll let you decide if it's right for your building style.
A Few Frustrations
First, the sheet metal is heavier than my typical board, and it's
not as convenient to move around the house once loaded up with all
my building supplies and various "necessities". Also, the
MBB "flexes." I mean when you pick it up from one end it
bows in the middle. Not a big problem unless you've got some piece
of framework drying and, as you pick up the board and attempt to relocate
it, the framework "pops" out of its perfect placement. This
may not matter to those of you who have a nice workspace where you
can come and go as you please, but for those of us who move from room
to room according to family demands it's somewhat frustrating. One
way to deal with this is to mount the board to a piece of plywood
or MDF board. Of course this increases the weight of the board, which
compounds my first "issue" with it, but I still recommend
doing it. If the board should ever bend or kink it will never lay
flat again.
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