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rofl firearms section, i still dont believe that 60.000 people get killed in the usa each year and they still have a firearms section in most random shops -_-

anyway back to the thing: nice tut, but could somebody point me to a place where i could get a good case without destroying the one from my dad? :p (as we dont have a freakin firearms section XD)

Cigarettes and alcohol kill far more people annually than firearms, and I'm sure they still would if we counted firearm deaths from war.

As for where you can get a case, if you don't want to use GW, BattleFoam or Sabol, then Wal Mart or the equivalent in your country should carry some sort of plastic storage container that would suffice with regular old foam.

I use a small suitcase with foam blocks around the edges and foam in the middle. Works fine.

Ok, they may not have Wal-Mart or these EXACT cases everywhere, but you get the idea. Great tutorial. A+ and a gold star. Another Option is using a larger case with the same concept. I used a rifle case (cheap, plastic type) lined with carpet padding for years. I did not cut round holes though, so models flopped a bit. Thanks again for the great tutorial.

drakenkanon wrote:rofl firearms section, i still dont believe that 60.000 people get killed in the usa each year and they still have a firearms section in most random shops -_-

anyway back to the thing: nice tut, but could somebody point me to a place where i could get a good case without destroying the one from my dad? :p (as we dont have a freakin firearms section XD)

Check out Australia's gun control laws. VERY liberal. And yet, they have a very low crime rate. Maybe if you knew that EVERYBODY had a gun, you would be less likely to do stupid stuff.

drakenkanon wrote:rofl firearms section, i still dont believe that 60.000 people get killed in the usa each year and they still have a firearms section in most random shops -_-

anyway back to the thing: nice tut, but could somebody point me to a place where i could get a good case without destroying the one from my dad? :p (as we dont have a freakin firearms section XD)

Guns can be a very good thing. I'd say the Netherlands could have used a few more about 70 years ago.
If people want to kill others and didn't have guns, knives, swords, spears, or bow and arrow, they'd use bricks. Would you have us remove those also?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
If you can't get a gun case, you could try a tacklebox or some sort of fishing case if you can find one that lets you remove all of the internals.

Awesome. I got pretty much all the tools needed for this in my garage, I think I need to start making less expensive cases.

This is really handy, Thanks!

NICE

Thabks for the awesome tutorial! I'll start shopping around for a case now..

And thanks Tuatha, for the great cheap foam link.

tuatha1337 wrote:For an alternative source for the same type of foam, check out www.foambymail.com
I find that they're a little cheaper.

Excellent work mate! I picked up one of these cases earlier this week and had been contemplating how to make it work a bit better. And now I know! Thanks.

To be honest your parts and labour makes this pretty redundant when i comes to saving money. It does look like a good carry case though and obviously it is ingenious and well made, it is by no means thrifty however.

LOL @ 11 month threadomancy.

MagickalMemories wrote:LOL @ 11 month threadomancy.

Go eat a soggy ing grot. This thread it too good to let die!

NakedBatBoy wrote:Go eat a soggy ing grot. This thread it too good to let die!

EDITWoops! Spoke with the poster, and this was meant to be tongue-in-cheek.

I'm going to leave this thread open for now, as there seems to be interest in it.

lol you could buy one case for 50 or spend mnore then 50 on making a case of your own...

You didn't add those costs right.
He doesn't have near that much into them individually.

Eric

coolness 10/10

You= Genius...

I'm definately doing this soon.

MagickalMemories wrote:You didn't add those costs right.
He doesn't have near that much into them individually.

Eric

actually i did. a case that size with foam and all from GW is around 50. now, saying you dont have those tools, you have to buy them. the foam is 25 for 4 pieces at GW and more expensive online. so i did figure it out because i dont want to spend that on making cases so i have been researching. its a geat idea though. i just buy foam, and make boxes out of the IOB and AOBR boxes. they are big enough for 2 layers untill i buy a case.

DefQonOrk wrote:

MagickalMemories wrote:You didn't add those costs right.
He doesn't have near that much into them individually.

Eric

actually i did. a case that size with foam and all from GW is around 50. now, saying you dont have those tools, you have to buy them. the foam is 25 for 4 pieces at GW and more expensive online. so i did figure it out because i dont want to spend that on making cases so i have been researching. its a geat idea though. i just buy foam, and make boxes out of the IOB and AOBR boxes. they are big enough for 2 layers untill i buy a case.

Right. So, then, you aren't even making the same cases he is. You're pricing GW foam? His foam is cast off foam boughtat a discount. Calculate what *he* spent to make them.

DefQonOrk, your costs still aren't adding up. Let's work this out, using kutzmon's example as a guide and a standard GW Citadel Figure Case.

The Citadel Case is listed as carrying 108 miniatures in 3 layers, for $57.75.

Now let's break down the cost for Kutzmon's, assuming you start with no specialized tools for building these. I'll shoot for a similar price point to one Citadel case.

You can buy 2 of the Walmart pistol cases for $19.90, at $9.95 each. While you're there, pick up a can of spray adhesive. It's not listed on Walmart's website, but I did find it on Office Depot's site for $5.50. I'll use that price for reference.

The cases each come with 2 sheets of eggcrate and 1 of pick-n-pull foam, as detailed in the OP. That's 2-4 trays right there, fully customizable, already included. But we'll assume you want to make your own infantry trays as well, again based on kutzmon's. As ebay sales are a bit hit-and-miss, let's assume you go with a known entity. There appear to be a number of websites selling packaging foam, but I found with a minimum of googling this site which lists shipping costs and a number of types of foam. For this example, I'll use their quarter sheet of 2" standard charcoal foam. This is a 24"x72" sheet, which by kutzmon's dimensions would let you make 8 different 2" trays with enough spare for 2 half-size trays. This sheet would run you $28.47 shipped. Other sites list cheaper foam prices, but don't give a quote for shipping. You could customize the sheets as you see fit, but using kutzmon's cutting pattern and tray depth, you'd be able to fit 54 infantry figures per tray, with 3 trays per case, for 162 figured per case assuming you go pure infantry. You still need to put bottoms on the trays though. The site I listed didn't offer quarter inch foam in quarter sheets, so you'll need to either use a different site or use a suitable substitute. This I'm making up on the fly, but it occurred to me that you may be able to use craft foam sheets. These are $.79 each from Hobby Lobby but widely available elsewhere. They also come in many different colours so you can choose whichever you want to suit your army or whatever-some colours are slightly more expensive. I have chosen a dull grey in this example in anticipation of a new Grey Knights force. You'd need 9 to outfit every tray made from the foam you've ordered, and let's throw another one in to put on top of everything to make 10 just in case you run out of the eggcrate or something.

Now here's the big one. To cut your holes using kutzmon's method, you'll need a copper pipe coupling. Sharpen it with the hobby files you already have on hand. The coupling he lists at $1.29.

The velcro and whatnot is all extra. Useful, I'm sure, but not really necessary.

Totaling up the costs here, for two cases, and let's say 3 trays included with the cases and basically 9 scratchbuilt trays, you're running $63.03. Slightly more than one GW case, but cost per case is down to about $31.50, and EACH case can carry more infantry than one GW case. Combined, you have the capacity of about 3 GW cases. Plus, you have a ton of extra trays that you can switch out at will. AND you have the opportunity to customize each tray to suit your needs, rather than being stuck with pure infantry.

With the amount of foam in the one $30 order in this example combined with the foam included with each case, you'd easily have enough to fill 4 of the cases. The only added cost here would be the 2 extra cases. So for 4 full cases, you're looking at a total cost of $82.96, with a per-case cost of about $20.74.




In other news, I think I just convinced myself to pick up a few more of these pistol cases, stop by Hobby Lobby, and make an internet foam order...

Geez, old thread.
Anyways, that's a daunting amount of work...

Lorek wrote:

NakedBatBoy wrote:Go eat a soggy ing grot. This thread it too good to let die!

EDITWoops! Spoke with the poster, and this was meant to be tongue-in-cheek.

I'm going to leave this thread open for now, as there seems to be interest in it.

Thanks Lorek. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

Zefig wrote:DefQonOrk, your costs still aren't adding up. Let's work this out, using kutzmon's example as a guide and a standard GW Citadel Figure Case.

...

With the amount of foam in the one $30 order in this example combined with the foam included with each case, you'd easily have enough to fill 4 of the cases. The only added cost here would be the 2 extra cases. So for 4 full cases, you're looking at a total cost of $82.96, with a per-case cost of about $20.74.

In other news, I think I just convinced myself to pick up a few more of these pistol cases, stop by Hobby Lobby, and make an internet foam order...

Thanks for the awesome price rundown Zefig. I think you convinced me as well. Will my upcoming move, it will be important to have some great, cost effective packaging!

Great no more chipped models for me! yay!!!

I wound up getting one of these back when I was playing MW clix for my mechs, using this tutorial. I couldn't find this case at Walmart, and the shipping price on it was extreme (like $40). I would up getting a very similar one at Gander Mountain (a sporting goods store), but it was $20. It's about half as big as a Sabol Army Transport, so unless you can really get these at Walmart for $10, you're not going to save very much money doing this, if at all.

Thant being said, another angle to think of here is this is that even at $20 each, it's far cheaper then GWS ripoff "monster case" at $82 (!). It's not quite as big as the monster case, but it's still easily large enough to fit in 4 or maybe 6 drop pods, or a pair of baneblades, or 4 land raiders, etc etc. It's also much, much sturdier then a soft-sided Sabol case.

Zefig and MAgikalmemorys, you guys are not including the tools used. ouze is also right, he got really lucky. 10 buck case? doubt it. even if he did, its uncommon to sell them at ALL stores. i have worked at a market like wal mart, they dont all sell the same stuff. your not saving that much.

I did find these cases on Amazon. I had to buy 4 of them to get free shipping.

DefQonOrk wrote:Zefig and MAgikalmemorys, you guys are not including the tools used. ouze is also right, he got really lucky. 10 buck case? doubt it. even if he did, its uncommon to sell them at ALL stores. i have worked at a market like wal mart, they dont all sell the same stuff. your not saving that much.

Well, as long as you're going down that path, you might as well include the electricity required to power those tools, the cost of gas required to get to the store to buy the cases, a dollar value for the amount of your time that it takes you to make these cases...

I think you've got it wrong. I think it's you who's being obtuse about the whole thing, really.
It's apparent that you don't like the idea when compared to GW cases. It seems you're throwing every obstacle in the OP's path you possibly can.

Christ! Does every thread on Dakka need to include a disclaimer about all of the presumptions that must be made for the thread to make sense (that you own the tools, can get the cases, have opposable thumbs with which to operate the tools, etc)?
it should be pretty apparent that, if you dont have a method to file the copper, you're SOL.

Oh, wait... you can get a nice set of files for $10.
Fine. You've got to buy files. That brings the total (using Zefig's numbers) to $92.96, or $23.24 per case.
STILL a better deal*.

Eric
*"Better deal" indicates that the final cost per case is a better cost per case and/or cost per stored 25mm based miniature than GW's case and does not take into factor any costs due to electricity, automobile wear & tear, gasoline or valuable time that someone might incur while making said cases.

I'd just like to start out with this:

DefQonOrk wrote:Zefig and MAgikalmemorys, you guys are not including the tools used.

Zefig wrote:[...]
Now here's the big one. To cut your holes using kutzmon's method, you'll need a copper pipe coupling. Sharpen it with the hobby files you already have on hand. The coupling he lists at $1.29.
[...]

That and maybe the spray adhesive are the only "tools" you really need to make these that you wouldn't already have in your hobby toolbox. I'll assume for this that your hobby toolbox includes the hobby files, a ruler, and a craft knife/razor blades. All of the other things like dremels, lathes, rivet guns, and what-have-you are purely optional. If I missed anything else, let me know and I'd be happy to include it in my cost breakdown.

DefQonOrk wrote:ouze is also right, he got really lucky. 10 buck case? doubt it. even if he did, its uncommon to sell them at ALL stores. i have worked at a market like wal mart, they dont all sell the same stuff.

I'm sorry you haven't been able to find them, assuming you've actually looked. But keep trying buddy, they're definitely out there! If your Walmart doesn't currently stock them, then try again in the fall when hunting season is starting up. There's probably a better chance of finding them then. The closest of my area's Walmarts had 3-4 of them in stock last week when I bought one though, so you never know. Try shopping around.

DefQonOrk wrote:your not saving that much.

For a single case, sure. You're saving maybe $4 versus buying a GW case. But you've also got enough trays now for your one case to have about 4 different sets of trays for different armies or whatnot. But then I'll refer you back to my cost breakdown:

Zefig wrote:Totaling up the costs here, for two cases, and let's say 3 trays included with the cases and basically 9 scratchbuilt trays, you're running $63.03. Slightly more than one GW case, but cost per case is down to about $31.50, and EACH case can carry more infantry than one GW case. Combined, you have the capacity of about 3 GW cases. Plus, you have a ton of extra trays that you can switch out at will. AND you have the opportunity to customize each tray to suit your needs, rather than being stuck with pure infantry.

With the amount of foam in the one $30 order in this example combined with the foam included with each case, you'd easily have enough to fill 4 of the cases. The only added cost here would be the 2 extra cases. So for 4 full cases, you're looking at a total cost of $82.96, with a per-case cost of about $20.74.

That's two of these cases for about the price of one GW case. Or 4 for 20 bucks each. That's about a third of the price of a GW case, each. Saying that's not saving much is just being willfully ignorant. But maybe it depends on what you think your time is worth. I enjoy the creative aspect of all this, so that's half the draw of it for me. Plus, I like the idea of being able to customize my trays to be exactly how I want them. YMMV.


edit- MagickalMemories, I think you summed it up pretty well. Can't please everyone I guess.