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I have been using cases with foam inlays for years ( GW and KR) but I am becoming quite dissatisfied with the number of damaged minatures that are caused by the foam trays themselves. Bent weapons, minor components ripped off etc.

Does anyone have a suggestion for an alternative method? I know that you can get custom made inlays but I would prefer something mulipurpose. I have seen magetised steel cases used before which seem to work well for small models but I have my doubts about their usability with 28mm models.

Pluck foam. Then you can shape the storage space around the model instead of just forcing it into a pre-cut size space.

 Palindrome wrote:
Does anyone have a suggestion for an alternative method? I know that you can get custom made inlays but I would prefer something mulipurpose. I have seen magetised steel cases used before which seem to work well for small models but I have my doubts about their usability with 28mm models.

Magnets will work fine regardless of size if the magnets are sized correctly. Back in the day, we used to play games at lunch on a magnetic dry erase board that was on a wall using 28 mm metal figures. We had everything from regular foot troops and smaller all the way up to fantastical monsters (smaller dragons and giants) that stuck in place on that board. To give a little increased slip resistance a quick coat of rubberized spray paint over the metal should allow you to use a smaller magnet and not worry about it sliding from side to side should you take your driving lessons from the WRC.

I keep mine in these:

http://www.tablewar.com/display-tower-full-size-case-mark-ii-black-red-blue/

Complemented by some custom-cut sheet metal shelves from here to maximize capacity:

http://shogunminiatures.com

The disadvantages:

Kind of expensive.
Not suitable for airline travel.
You probably want to magnetize every base.
Heavier than foam.
Does not yield like foam. You wouldn't want foam to drop from a height, but dropping this would be calamitous.

The pros:

No damage from constricted, ill-fitting foam.
Can set up and store your miniatures extremely fast. I imagine this would be wonderful for local tournaments.
Doubles as a display case.
Easy to see what's missing - no overlooked miniatures.
I love the aesthetic.
TableWar guys are incredibly friendly and go out of the way to ensure you are satisfied.

Not sure what to say on storage capacity except there's plenty of room for my ork horde. I can fit 90 boyz or 5 trukks on every shelf using Shogun's bare metal trays. My collection is overly skewed with infantry, but I can fit 3 infantry and 2 vehicle shelves without the bottom drawer, to give you an idea of capacity.

I am rather new to the hobby, so some models might be tricky to magnetize and store in this, but everything I've built and painted works fine. Plus, maybe you don't need to magnetize every unit. The makers don't seem to think so. I do magnetize everything though for both consistency and caution!

Edit: overstated the number of shelves. I can fit 2 shelves of boyz, 1 shelf of taller boyz like nobz and warbosses, and 2 vehicle shelves in one case simultaneously without the little drawer.

If you can wait till tomorrow I will have a solution for you

 Palindrome wrote:

Does anyone have a suggestion for an alternative method? I know that you can get custom made inlays but I would prefer something mulipurpose. I have seen magetised steel cases used before which seem to work well for small models but I have my doubts about their usability with 28mm models.

Rare Earth Magnets.
You take a 1mm steel sheet, 4 bolts and nuts, a regular file box, and voilà.



Yeah, yeah, it's 6mm stuff, but these units (especially cav ones) are heavier than the average 28mm plastic mini. I don't have pics of my 28mm stuff, everything's stored at my parent's.

These bases are thin, the magnets are put on top of them. The magnet loses half its power because of the thickness of the plastic sheet, but it's constantly pushing on the top of the base, so it's quite reliable.

To magnetized good old beveled bases, just hold your mini upside down, put the magnet inside, maybe with one or two small washers to adjust its height, then pour epoxy or hot glue inside your base, let cure, done.

You may want to experiment with blue tack before gluing everything in place, just to get things right. Sometimes, you'll have to use more than one magnet (looking at you, full-metal cold one knights). Sometimes, you may want to put the magnet in the very bottom of your base to make it slightly less powerful.

All in all, it's reliable, pretty inexpensive if you buy your magnets from chinese stores like DealExtreme and you can use standardized file storage boxes that are very convenient, mix their contents without having the "I have to take two half empty trays" syndrom, etc.

I'll never, ever use foam trays again.

Battle foam premium bags are amazing. I didn't think the quality would equate to almost twice the cost of ArmyTransport cases but the hard inner plastic shell makes a huge difference IMHO. I had my bag knocked off a four foot table and my models came out fine.

Sadly, the models with the long flimsy weapons like spears still don't fare as well as I'd like, but as long as they're in the top level with a foam topper they're okay.

I'm considering the Battlefoam Infinity bag... It looks small enough for my purposes (Infinity and a small Warmachine force). I've been hesitant to commit to foam but everyone seems to swear by Battlefoam, so I think I'll finally be taking the plunge.

I owned Tablewar's full size case and found it very heavy and awkward to use... I think the half size may be better and easier to handle.

Love my infinity bag. I'll prob be getting the beta as well.

I have been very satisfied with my battlefoam bag (I use the pluck foam version). They're expensive, but ultimately just a percentage of the value of what they hold.

My battlefoam bag I great. The only issue I have is if I have a weird mini with arms akimbo an I don't have a proper slot for him in a foam tray. Which means I need different foam trays.

Experience with Battlefoam is their customised trays. Those are pretty efficient for packing. I can put 130 models in 2 trays (total 3 inches). Of course they are all infantry and only a few odd ones like Seraphim and Repentia.

Battlefoam still means foam trays and that is something that I am keen to avoid.

That's a pretty good idea Litcheur, do you have any issues when transporting models? My models will be moved in a car, so weight and ergonomics isn't that important.

Does anyone know of anything similar to the Tablewar cases available in the UK?

My current problem with KR trays is that the models are often stored upside-down or on their side. With Finecast, (don't start..) some of the banners and weapons are bending. I've torn gaps between the foam holes to hold them in place, but they still bend.
So, if you can attach the models by their base, you're less likely to get bends.

 Palindrome wrote:
That's a pretty good idea Litcheur, do you have any issues when transporting models?

I learnt a couple things :
- Be consistent with the polarities. You really don't want to have two large metal minis with very powerful magnets to be suddently attracted one to another.
- Don't put these greasy fingers on your minis. Sometimes, the magnet will be more powerful than the glue you used on your mini.

But that's it.

If you play games that use formations, like KoW or WHFB, you can of course put all your (magnetized) minis on steel movement trays, and then use a large magnet to make each tray stick to the steel plate in the bottom of your box. The magnet will stick to the thicker plate when you separate the two.

Unpack your stuff, open the boxes, take entire units out of the boxes, put everything on the table, your 3k army is set up in 5 minutes.

Sometimes, you may want to store your standard bearers separately, because using a 4in wide box instead of a 2in one just to accomodate these 2 or 3 taller minis is a waste of space, but that's 'bout it.

a miniature transportation system?

like this?

3/10 for effort.