Epic stories about removing mold lines and destroying brushes with poor technique.
The Barge is one of the best value kits in the Necron army. You can either assemble a Annihilation Barge (AB) with a Necron Overlord on foot, or a Catacomb Command Barge (CCB). That is a lot of points for a ~$30 kit. It is no secret that, with some work and a few magnets you could have them convertible.
IDICBeer is a YouTuber with amazing, detailed tutorials on magnetization of Necron units. Be sure to check it out. I found it very helpful and inspirational.
There are three fronts for magnetization. The first is being able to replace the AB cannon with the Overlord's feet and Command Barge console thing. The second is to make the Tesla/Gauss weapons underneath the model replaceable. The third would be to make the front bit replaceable. I didn't care to do that and just glued the larger front bit. Even though it may have negative gameplay effect, it looks so much better that way.
To make the AB cannon removable, I put 2x1mm magnets in the cannon's platform and in the base:
Notice that I put only two magnets in the cannon's platform. The two small bits sticking on the side would keep the platform from moving and I didn't want to make removal too difficult. This was strong enough. Note that, unlike IDICBeer, I glued the cannon to the mount. It is not difficult to remove it in one piece once you figure it out.
As for the CCB, I put two small magnets in the Overlord's feet and in the console thing:
I didn't want to glue the Overlord to an infantry base and then magnetize this base to the model. This would be an easier solution and more stable, however, my bases are very bright and textured and this would stand out too much.
To fix the Overlord's feet to the model I needed to put magnets on the underside of the Barge's platform. I drilled from the other side until I was able to put magnets flush to the platform's surface, without affecting the detail on the upper side:
Given the distance between the feet and the platform's surface, the Overlord was barely standing in place. I had to make the contact stronger, and so I stacked two 2x1mm magnets per foot. This made the magnets too deep and I needed to drill a hole in the part that the platform was resting on:
And that's it! The overlord snaps in place and stays there even if you shake the model or turn it upside down.
As for the weapons underneath, that was straightforward and similar to how IDICBeer has done it. I didn't even take close-up pictures, it's very easy.
In addition, I wasn't sure if I wanted to assemble the Overlord with or without the Resurrection Orb (ResOrb). At the time I was doing this, there were rumors floating around about Necrons being updated to 7th edition. I wanted to keep my options open. As it was, I considered the ResOrb to be must-have with infantry, but to be arguably useless in a CCB.
So I just made his left arm convertible:
And with that, the Barge was ready for conversion, assembly and painting:
