Storage and transport of minis

[Eyendasky80]

Keyes Bill, I was thinking of you when I decided to ask this.

So, does anyone have a particularly clever/economical carrying case for their miniatures? I'm trying to find one, I keep seeing cases from twenty dolllars all the way to fifty. What do you use?

[Brother Jim]

chessex figure cases and the army transport.

[teh bunneh]

Well, I use those $60 boxes and I swear by them, so my personal experience may not be what you're looking for. However...

Pistol cases from Walmart are fairly inexpensive, come with good, tough foam, and can transport a lot of figures.

I have a friend who transports his Warhammer armies in fishing tackle boxes. They have lots of little customizable slots that can hold a lot of figs. If you don't mind them getting beat up a little (like a whole bunch of plastic GW Orks, f'rinstance), just use them as-is. If you want some minimal protection, cut small pieces of thin foam to layer across the bottom. You can save foam from blister packs of minis and use that, too. These tackle boxes are really cheap -- like $4 apiece at Walmart.

If you can find a locking plastic toolbox in the right size, you can buy layers of customizable foam from a variety of places. Fit the foam in the toolbox, cut out the sizes that you need, and you're ready to go!

(Incidentally, this is basically what I use -- the company buys toolboxes, fits them with foam, and sells them for Godawful Amounts of Money. And me, like a sucker, buys 'em. The company I buy from is called Camelot Pewter, Inc. in Richmond VA; they use Plano toolboxes. I'm sure you could find the toolboxes for not too much money, and maybe buy the foam from Camelot). ;)

Everything else I know about costs tons of money, but are specialized for transporting minis.

HTH!

Bill.

[shadowcat1313]

we use the plastic roller carts with multiple drawers a bunch
since we use metal washers for bases, its really easy to line the drawers with magnetic tape or sheets, and it keeps them stable, I have one for minatures, and another I use for gaming books

its not the cheapest idea, but a friend of mine has 8 or 9 of the carts, and can swap out drawers as needed[this is a person who probably has going on 2 tons of minatures between lead and plastic for a bunch of genres

[Bud Gray]

I actually use an inexpensive plastic storage box I got a Wal-Mart for less than $20, then I used the "egg-crate" foam padding for a mattress (it has littel foam "teeth") and cut it to fit into the box. The teeth make foam pockets to protect the minis. I laid one sheet over top the other to make two layer and another turned upside down to lay over top to protect them from the lid. It's cheap, but effective. You may want to pay a little extra for a more heavy duty box than what I got if you're going to transport them a lot. Mine was more for storage than transport.

[Redmenace]

I like Plano boxes, the 30 something space ones particularly with rubberised drawer liners, available in supermarkets, homestores and 99 cent stores, cut to fit and act as shock absorbers.

Of course almost all my minis are plastic and more resistant to impact damage.

http://www.hempeldesigngroup.com/lego/storage/Plano3700.html

[Corven_Ren]

Although I have never really transported minis to a game I have moved them from Florida to Michigan. I bought a large tackle box and individually wrapped each one in bubble wrap. They all survived the cross country hike well. The tackle box also had a very deep area under the lid which is where I keep my paints and brushes. Unfortunalty as I have no game to use them in they just sit in the tackle box in my garage. However if I get a digital camera any time soon perhaps I will pull them out and take some pics to get the opinions of the local mini masters, such as Keyes Bill, Prodiator..etc, on my paint jobs.

(I have a scanner but dont think that would work very well)

[bblackmoor]

So, does anyone have a particularly clever/economical carrying case for their miniatures?

I use a clear $5.00 bin made by Sterilite. Here is a picture:

http://www.rpglibrary.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=23

I love these bins. They're also the perfect size for game books (as you can see in the photo).

[Eyendasky80]

All good ideas, thank you.

[shadowcat1313]

I talked to my friend about the plastic roller carts he uses, I asked him if he could write up something on what he did to modify them, I know each drawer has a lift out shelf made of wood or plastic with legs that allow storing more in each drawer for one thing

one suggestion for magnetic sheeting to line the drawers is scrap from sign shop I got some thin magnetic signs from a seed dealer that were used as placards on the sides of vehicles that were thin enough to cut easily

[Blue]

I have a numerous and plenty chessex cases.

I like the new reaper case (that resembles army transport) but haven't bought one.

I have several of these little Tin carrying cases that ROOK makes for holding HeroClix. It's about $10, and as long as the figures have large bases, like hero clix, it holds a pretty good handful.

There's also a great "hard side" equivalent to the Army Transport. I have one but I'm having trouble remembering the name. It's got a handle, layered trays, an accessory/dice tray, and enough room to hold regulation size books (like the D&D books) if you leave out one layer.

I have 3 cases of varying side that were plain unfinished wood that I stained and added dividers in. These are great for large figures because I can build the dividers huge.

If I'm worried about characters sliding inside their little spots, I sometimes insert the little foam pieces that you remove from chessex cases. I've got a bag full.

My favorite holder is one that I painted by hand with the image of my favorite character, Anthem. I lined it and installed the dividers. Pictured here...
<img src="http://www.herogames.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=13750">
<img src="http://www.herogames.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=13751">

[red_eagle123]

I've got 5 Warhammer 'suitcase' carrying devices, 1 army transport, about 15 extra Army Transport foam trays and one very large tackle box I picked up at the local sporting goods store.

The Army Transport, Army Transport Foam Trays and Warhammer suitcases all hold miniatures from the old Clan War game (Based on AEG's Legend of the 5 Rings). I have 3 complete Naga armies, and decent sized Dragon and Shadowlands armies.

The Tacklebox is what I use most these days, as it holds all the miniatures used for Champions. The slide out trays and whatnot have all been lined with a thin foam like substance that I cut to size and placed inside each pocket. But I'm running out of space and will likely start looking at co-opting my Army Transport for when I need to run to the next Champions game.

If there's enough demand I'll snap a couple shots of my tackle box so everyone can get an idea of what I'm using.

[allen]

Pistol cases from Walmart are fairly inexpensive, come with good, tough foam, and can transport a lot of figures.


I'll second pistol cases as a cheap (relatively) alternative to miniature cases. Just be aware that some folk might think you're carrying around a handgun, and if you leave the cases in the car, you'll want to move them to your trunk or at least get them out of sight.

If you attach magnets to the bases of your minis, you can use pretty much any old box by sticking a flat piece of metal on the bottom of it. This might be a little hard core, though.

For taking a handful of minis back and forth to an RPG or something else low key, you can just use a box and toilet paper (I like the USPS "video casette" boxes for this). Primitive, I know, and you do run a high risk of chipping the paint job, but low investment.