Case Construction Technique

[Jack Shrapnel]

Well here's my take on one of those expensive aspects of our hobby that aren't getting painted and pushed around on the table - the transport case!

I have GW cases, Sabol Cases and those cardboard & foam ones too...

they're all great in their own way, however my problem with them all (in various degrees) are:

1. cost
2. storage capacity
3. foam (if you change stuff out / options - changing foam configurations can be a pain)
4. if you have multiple cases (due to #2) transport can be a pain

So in taking a bunch of ideas off of Scott, and expanding with a few ideas of my own I have a lower cost alternative:

Materials:

1 plastic tub with the lid - can get from Walmart pretty cheap - make sure it's deep enough to make a second level inside - usually 12" deep is plenty for even the tallest models to still allow two levels... I've used 10" deep which still works

1 flat sheet of thin metal... I use the kind used to make duct work, a flat sheet will cost you less than 5$ at home depot.

1 thin piece of board (by thin I mean less than 1/4 inch - the pressboard/utility board stuff at home depot is under 2$ for a big square)

1 dowel (a couple bucks at home depot)

two sheets of peel & stick magnets that they sell at the dollar store which are sold to magnetize pictures (it's by the picture frame section) each sheet can magnetize about 50 small based mins or so... so even a horde army is only going to cost a few bucks

Rare earth magnets - as few as 4 small circles (believe its the D41 size at K&J magnetics) for the bare minimum - I really recommend using them for bigger models (especially without bases), flying stands, and metals that you NEED to stick securely but are heavy.... If you're interested in trying some of these out, let me know... I order regularly from K&J and it costs very little to increase the order size (I pay around $25 for 100 - and $9 of that is shipping!)

Next post - assembly!

[Jack Shrapnel]

Assembly:

1. Take your metal sheet and cut it to fit the entire bottom of the plastic tub. Glue this down to prevent lifting and small shifting (it's hard to get an exact fit with tin-snips so the glue is needed)

2. cut your dowel in four pieces for legs for your shelf. 4" seems to work out best, as it gives room for banners and slightly tall models.

3. cut a shelf out of the thin board... you can make it whatever size you like - I normally don't do the entire size of the tub again, given that there are some really tall models (Trygon I'm looking at you!) that really need the full height... so I give about three - four inches short of full length.

4. cut out more of the thin metal the same size as the shelf and glue it to one side. My best results thus far (but more work) was when I made it a little bigger than the shelf, then bent it over the sides and around - no sharp edges that way, and secured it quite nicely... wish I would have thought of THAT sooner!

5. secure your dowel legs to the underside of the shelf.

6. glue rare earth magnets to the bottom of the legs. *** important**** let this dry COMPLETELY before getting it anywhere near metal... otherwise the magnets, along with the super glue holding it, will stick to the metal surface, gluing itself in place where you don't want it... rare earth magnets are STRONG!

7. since everything is now drying, here's the time consuming finicky part... but really the case doesn't work without doing it! you have to magnetize your bases... all of them... use the thin dollar store sheets to do anything not large and heavy... put a drop of superglue when you do this... do not rely on the stickyness on the magnet sheet itself to work for long... I did... and have just reglued all the bases of my vampire counts... and my other armies are next... trust me, I'll never forget this part again!

I use rare earth magnets for all the heavy stuff, 40k vehicles, tippy metal models (zoans), bigger models (carnifex), and flying bases. once again, allow glue to dry completely before trying out your fancy new case or you will have no one to blame but yourself for the mess, frustration and glued fingers!

8. once all glue is dried and everything ready, start filling that case! smaller stuff on the bottom (leave room for the legs to fit!) real tall stuff at the end of the case the shelf doesn't fit - and the shelf for all the big stuff.... this will hold ALOT

for example in my Orks I have:

2 battlewagons
6 killa kans
deff dread
2 trukks
4 deffcoptas
assorted characters
6 warbikes
60 boyz
10 lootas
10 burnas
nobz
and probably some other stuff I've forgotten...

In my skaven:

2 plague furnaces (really tall models)
200+ rats of various shapes and sizes
weapons teams
two doom wheels
warlord on litter
etc.

you can also get creative with respect to the unused sides of the case - some squares of thin metal glued to the side gave me a bunch of room for securing 10 gargoyles sideways (rare earth magnets are strong!)

a rare earth magnet on the bottom of your tape measure / dice cube also stops them from sliding about

codex/army book, templates, and army lists will fit securely on the side / end of tub using the shelf to hold it in place

[LizardTau]

hmmm sounds intersting wish i hadn't bought two cases from ebay, was just thinking if i could take out the middle foam so i could put them im trays magnitized

[Jack Shrapnel]

Now manufactured cases do have their uses, and are more compact and keep the mins pretty secure with the foam + you don't have to magnetize (which is a bit of a chore)

I tried taking the foam out of a layer of my sabol case, inserting trays with ghouls inside - it didn't work very well actually... the trays themselves shifted, which was enough movement to knock the magnetized ghouls around...

In my homemade case above, I also put a rare earth magnet on the bottom of my fantasy trays, which secures them in place so they don't move...

I'd suggest if you wanted to do full cases in a foam tray to make sure the foam you take out is exactly the width of the tray you're putting in so it doesn't shift....

no sense repeating MY mistakes!

[Jack Shrapnel]

Almost forgot:

For fantasy armies:

once you've magnetized your mins, make movement trays and ensure that the bottom of the tray where the mins will sit has a thin sheet of metal (to hold the guys in place!)

glue one rare earth magnet to the bottom of the tray so it is secured for transport in the tub

...for some reason I was thinking more about 40k when I wrote the guide, so forgot there's an extra step with fantasy mins in that you need to include the movement trays into the system!

[justice7ca]

This is amazing, thank you! I will be putting this into production asap!

[voodoo]

If you can find them at garage sales or otherwise, Old ammo cases make great storage containers as well, I've got one for mortars which will hold 2 trygons high, 3 deep and about 5 or 6 across, perfect for large guard armies, etc. they're built to hold ammo so if you have to travel they're a godsend and for the foam I get the bed foam rolls (about $5 from walmart last I checked) and cut it to fit, glue the foam into place, and pow, you've got an incredibly strong model case for minimal dollars.

[BewareOfTom]

can you have pics of assembly? I need more help then text, just the way I learn

[Mythweaver]

Hey Shannon,

Thanks for following through with that in such short order. My Jetbikes flying stands might actually survive another game or ten now that I can make them a permanent fixture.

Well written and easy to follow too!

Brad