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Firearms cases. The plastic, double-layer pistol cases work best. Around $7, $4-5 on special, and I can fit 3 Leman Russes and 4 Chimeras in one without worrying. I've got 3000-4000 points of Guard in 3. Just drop by sporting goods at your local firearm friendly store and you're golden.

It's nuts how much game companies charge for mini cases when you can get these instead.

EDIT - It's worth noting that quite a few "branded" mini cases are, in fact, exact copies of the firearms cases I'm talking about. Only difference is about 6x price difference.

Wraith,
Where do you get your pistol cases? I picked up two at Wally World for $8 a piece. They were the 4 gun variety with pick and pull foam on the bottom level, egg crate in the middle and egg crate in the lid. Are these the same you have? I'm getting them set up for my High Elf army. I also have an old VCR case the video stores used for their rentals. I pulled out the fitted foam for the old vcr and cut egg crate foam for the bedding. I have four layers of foam for 3 levels of mini storage but the pressure of the closed lid has snapped a few lances and spears. I'm really in the market for a large case for the entire army.

Aduro wrote:Here's a shot of the above mentioned toolbox I use for my tanks. Figured I throw it in since it doesn't exactly Look like a toolbox.

that is seriously sweet.

I recommend the BattleHive II from CrystalCaste.com. It’s a large hard-case box with rollers. I installed a lock on mine. It’s easily the best case I’ve had. Unfortunately they are currently out of stock (and they have been for awhile now). CrystalCaste are the ones that make it, but you might be able to find them on another site. Some retailers might have some in stock. Good luck!

http://crystalcaste.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=CC&Product_Code=10343&Category_Code=BH

~Logic

I've used the GW cases (too much wiggle room, not great for vehicles) as well as the army transports (these tend to be a bit small for my armies, as I play orks as well).

Since I live overseas and travel a bit, with my minis, I tend to find the cases from Charon Productions were the most reliable. Actually, I was recommended these cases from the fine folks at Dakka. I'm surprised no one has mentioned them thus far.

Contact them, let them know exactly how many tanks, infantry figs you need to carry around, and they'll even customize the foam inserts to what you need.

The customer service was very friendly, and moving forward would only buy cases from them.

http://www.charonproductions.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=91

Check em out.

Most all of my finished armies have rare earth magnets in the bases. I buy tool boxes with a flip open large top compartment and 2-3 metal drawers. All of my infantry go into the drawers, by squads. All of my vehicles and large models fit into the top. At tournaments and casual play, I can go straight to whatever models I want without juggling a bunch of trays and trying to unbury the right one.

As point values go up in tournaments I might be pressed to find something larger. Right now I can fit around 180 cadian infantry models, including heavy weapon bases, in drawers with room to spare and 3 lemans or basilisks, 3-4 chimeras or hellhounds and 8-10 sentinels in the top compartment.

Look at hardware and home improvement places and find one that's right for you. It seems like a lot of work with magnets and all but it's worth the trouble. Getting ready for a tournament is a simple as checking drawers, packing my books, dice, and army list, and go.

I saw this on B-town:

http://www.foambymail.com/CharcoalFoam.html
http://www.foambymail.com/picknpluckcr.html

Awesome stuff if you're making your own cases!

I was at my local Canadian Tire today, and if not for the somewhat small trunk my car enjoys, I'd have found a new case for my Chaos Marines in the tackle box section.

So, to restate: Tackle boxes can be quite good with a wee bit of work... ie, add foam.

For my 3rd company of Ultramarines I used 3 pistol cases that I got at Wal-Mart. They are a seasonal item (fall) so not readily available. Very cheap, like $15 each.

Now I switched over to Sabol Army Transports. I have 2 of the model number ATC. 6-1", 2-3" trays. One of mine was old and I reordered trays. Hoping that 12 rhinos and 160+ troopers fit between the 2 cases.

I know what some of you are saying with the glue on bottom of Sabol trays. My buddy had a Chaos army stored in Sabol case for like 4 years. It became part of case, lol. I suggest putting some paper towel in any pockets that have glue spots.

kutzmon wrote:Wraith,
Where do you get your pistol cases? I picked up two at Wally World for $8 a piece. They were the 4 gun variety with pick and pull foam on the bottom level, egg crate in the middle and egg crate in the lid. Are these the same you have? I'm getting them set up for my High Elf army. I also have an old VCR case the video stores used for their rentals. I pulled out the fitted foam for the old vcr and cut egg crate foam for the bedding. I have four layers of foam for 3 levels of mini storage but the pressure of the closed lid has snapped a few lances and spears. I'm really in the market for a large case for the entire army.

Sorry, lost track of this thread for a while. Those cases you picked up sound pretty much like what I have. I've collected 3 or 4 varieties as I've expanded my collection. We've got a place 'round where I live called Farm and Fleet. I got a couple from there. I'm pretty sure a couple of them came from Gander Mountain, and Cabella's should stock something similar. Any sporting/outdoors/farm-n-barn type place should have something. It's just a matter of comparison shopping and waiting for a sale.

I'd choose them over any of the other cases I've seen out there. They're by far the most affordable, and they're quite easy to handle due to their size. I figure most tournament armies should fit into two, maybe three if you've got a real horde. I managed to pack 2000 points worth of Guard into 2 for the first Lucky 13s battle.

For my Eldar army, which is my best painted army ever, I spared no expense and went with the Sabol Army Transport. For my Necrons. which are less than detailed (I got the old skool ones from an X-mas army deal about 8 years ago. Painted 200pts. in two nights.) I use a standard rifle/bow case. I have another rifle/bow case for my titans.

Little tip for the Sabol users:
The foam is connected to the bases of the trays via glue. When you tear out your foam columns to fit your models, you often get it out with no foam chunks still connected to the bottom. This leaves glue residue as the topmost layer of the tray. I found that, in the hot summertime days in my car, the glue would soften and my painstakingly and meticulously painted Eldar would stick to the bottom of the trays. When I would remove Guardians, arms would be stuck and I would inevitably pull one off the model. Some lost chunks of paint to the glue. This happened ONCE before I devised a remedy for the problem...

I cut out rectangles of aluminum foil to fit the holes made for the models and glued them down to the exposed tray. Viola! No more gluey death for my stuff. Now they go back to dying to Ordinance like they do...


Ghidorah

I put down masking tap over the glue, and the problem is only at the edges, where the pull out foam is glued to the base.

I wonder if a good solution to the glue issue of Sabols would be to put squares of papertowel in the bottom, or even drier lint, then purposefully let it out in your car in the sun. Let the glue get tacky, then soak into the paper towel. I might have to give that a shot, since I would want to kill God if chunks of paint came off in the tray :(.

I originally bought the regular Army Transport, then I graduated to the Battalion model (wheel around). After overflowing that, I now have a plastic wheel around footlocker that holds 5.1k Ultramarines, and 2.5k of Sisters. I had to pull my Epic stuff out of the footlocker to make room for the Sisters Baneblade. Now the Epic stuff is back in the original shoulder slung model.

The footlocker is a perfect fit for three columns of trays in there sideways, with an extra 2.5" tray for anti-slippage over the wheels. And for less than $30 for the footlocker, plus the cost of the trays, which I had already bought over the years.

Bookwrack wrote:the problem is only at the edges, where the pull out foam is glued to the base.

That's true of the Army Transports sold now. I suspect Ghidorah, like me, bought one in the first year or two or so of general availability- at that time even the pull-out cubes in the center were glued to the base, so you had the problem throughout the whole tray. Happily, that's no longer true- you might have to be aware of it if you were acquiring an older one used, I guess.

And Wehrkind, the paper-towel rectangles solution is exactly what I did with my first Army Transport. (I own 3 now, which ought to tell you what my opinion of them is...)

got the plastic case...
with the imperial eagle on it...

.... got it free!

There's one born every damned minute...


Umm... yes. OT. Just got another two of those big double GW cases. I don't care if they're expensive. They look cool and they'll hold all my Necrons.

Now... I have to go and actually build some Necrons...

BYE

JohnHwangDD: I posted those links on Bartertown. I was seriously considering that alternative but the pick and pull foam is a little expensive. So I turned to searching Ebay and came across this:



These are 1" thick and 16"x18" and have a very thin skin of rubber on the bottom. I picked up 15 for $10 plus shipping from these guys:
http://www.foamandupholstery.com/

You don't have to bid on Ebay, you can just call them direct and say you saw their auction. They have a bunch of colors to choose from.

I trimmed a couple down to fit this:



This is the Plano 1404 pistol case. It comes with a layer of pick and pull foam on the bottom, a layer of eggcrate in the middle and a layer of eggcrate in the lid. I picked up two of these at Wal-mart for $8.00 a piece.

I cut holes out of my purchased foam and glued the foam on to foam board to add rigidity. You can get the proper fit by drawing around the foam inserts that come out of the Plano case. You have to fiddle with the foam board to get the proper fit as the original foam is held in by being bigger than the case but once you have the fit you can save it as a template and create as many as you need.

After ordering all this foam and trying to be cheap my wife goes to Ft. Collins, CO for a girls weekend and comes back with a Sabol Army Transport she picked up on clearance from Hobbytown. I love her. And now with all this extra foam I can make a poop load of extra trays for the Sabol.

Hellfury wrote:

BWAAAAA-hahahahahahaha-hahahahaha... *snort*


Foam N' More! A buddy told me about this site some time ago. Couple of years, I think. He showed me the site but I couldn't remember it later to check them out. Thanks for the reminder!


Ghidorah

Beat me to it, Patrick.

/shakes fist

apologies for re-opening what appears to be a dead thread.. but:

I've almost finished my awesome Necron army ( 7 immortals to go ), and am going to have to figure a way of carring the 30 troop models and 3 monoliths around safely (the nearest place to game other than my own house requires a 20 minute train journey)

I like the sound of the Football bag with tubs stacked inside, this could be cheap and effective

Alternatively I've seen some KR 'Double' Alluminium cases.. hmm..

Steering towards the football bag idea since I can store multiple armys in cheap tubs and just put em in the bag when needed. But one question, my dad has access to loads of bubblewrap at his workplace and I figure bubblewrap is better for the Tubs anyway. Is that right?

Cheers, Gary

I'd advise against bubble wrap as it will get to be a pain to wrap/unwrap every single time you play. I'd look at either getting some soft foam and making some fitted recesses for them, or some steel sheet for the tubs and rare earth magnets for the bases.

Interesting idea on the magnets, i've not heard or seen that one before.

Somehow I can imagine something going nastily wrong like the magnetic bases flying towards the tape measure

I guess I could just find some Sabol/GW Foam trays to be put in the tubs (can be hard getting Sabol in the UK), or would it be better to find some other brand of foam?

As you are in the UK I'd suggest Kaiser Rushforth
www.kaiserrushforth.com

I live in the states and just recently bought two of their aluminum-double cases. They're quite excellent. As you're in the UK you can easily go with just their cardboard cases or foam without being murdered on shipping.

I use the reaper cases. They are ok but at times I wish I had used the hard case GW stuff. They are more suvivable.

smart_alex wrote:I use the reaper cases. They are ok but at times I wish I had used the hard case GW stuff. They are more suvivable.

I've got a reaper case that my nurgle-skaven army lives in, and I buy a lot of reaper trays on eBay to put models in and then put the trays into (liquor :S) boxes for transport to the store and back. Cheaper than Sabol trays, though smaller, and I can swap my ogres out for the reaper case for bigger rides.

I also have an Army Transport case for CSM boys, but that's largely because of all the demon princes, vehicles, random big stuff. Frankly AT is better than Reaper transports IMO, but Reaper is a bit cheaper in the end.

My GW case is nice for armies that are nearly all infantry (demons) but generally requires a second box / foam tray to hold the bigger stuff (DP, soul grinder).

- Salvage

I use an "Army Transport" medium bag. Not too bulky and carries my entire 1,500pt IG army. The foam can be torn to whatever depth or length you like so all 3 of my tanks fit just fine in there. The only annoyance I have had with this case was tearing all the foam for my infantry but once you get the case configured it is very nice.

I use a battle hive for my marines, it now also come in double size with nadle an wheels for those huge armies. Bought one of the big GW cases at crimbo for my admech, big mistake. They're big and bulky and the internal layout wastes a lot of space.It fits about two banblades (with turrets next to the hull). I reconment a battle hive, it fits 40marine per level (you will need to varnish them as to fit thismany they are separated by squad lines rather than individually, but I've used it for a few years now and not had any major probs. Only thing that I don't like is the starp but you can get loads of straps from guitar shops etc.