Magnets. Always with the magnets.

Bonus points if you know the origin of the title of this post. I'm not exactly sure which kind of points, but go ahead and have a bunch of bonus ones!

So, my magnets arrived (3 days before the shipping estimate - I continue to be impressed by those guys!)
I wasted no time (okay a little, they're magnets, you have to play with them!) but then I promptly got down to business, drilling holes in the door, and the plate of board, and gluing in the magnets. I'm using a standard wood glue, and whether that'll turn out to be strong enough remains to be seen, I suppose. The door is upside down here, obviously:

I decided early on that I want to add cardboard on top of the main wooden plate, for easier detailing and added strength. Since the sheer number of pieces needed for this project is rather scary, I decided to make templates out of polystorene sheets (thin plastic), and then cut the needed shapes out of cardboard. The template, and resulting cutout, for the door frame looks like this:

I added a piece to the bottom of the door, mainly for detailing, but also to help keep the magnets in place - it may be because I was impatient, but on first try, I actually managed to pull the magnets out of the board after they were glued in, simply because they're that strong. Still, since they have to "work" through a couple of layers of cardboard + paint, they need a certain strength or it would be pointless.

 I also uploaded a little video to youtube, showing how the door works:

The rest of the templates I'll need, at least for the first room - I'll make them on a "when needed" basis. I've "pencilled" them to make the text stand out (for the benefit of the photographs really).

I then got down to some serious (if slightly mind-numbing) cutting of cardboard squares, so that I had enough for the first room. My plan is to finish the first room, then if all goes well, the first board section, and only then move on to the other board sections, so that I can benefit from the experience as I go along. Then, adding glue to the board - this may appear to be a lot of glue, but it turned out to be just about the right amount. I want the squares to "stick" on their entire surface, so I don't end up with loose corners!

First (and so far, only!) floor is complete, as far as cardboard is concerned at least:

I then went ahead and added some detailing, in the form of holes in the squares - when painted, it'll look decently like industrial flooring that is bolted down.

It's on purpose that the squares don't match up perfectly: this isn't the Emperor's flagship, it's a derelict, ancient alien-infested Spaceship after all.