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RavienCoromana wrote:So I was wondering - for those of us who don't have or have access to a dremel, what would be the best possible way to sharpen the copper fittings? also, which dremel bit would be the best use for sharpening these fittings?

A simple file would do if you don't have access to a dremel

Shasta Hawk wrote:

RavienCoromana wrote:So I was wondering - for those of us who don't have or have access to a dremel, what would be the best possible way to sharpen the copper fittings? also, which dremel bit would be the best use for sharpening these fittings?

A simple file would do if you don't have access to a dremel

Yep.
Needle files would take a long time, but a set of diamond files (can be found for around 10 bucks or so) would be a good tool for the job. It would still take a while though.

However, I would recommend just buying a cheap Rotary tool (generic name for dremel-like tools). It's a really usefull tool to have for modeling/household. You can find them for super cheap online or at big box hardware stores. Here's one for arouind 25 bucks.
http://www.grizzly.com/products/Mini-Grinder-Kit/H3117

Googling for mini grinder or Rotary tool or Motor tool will show others
http://www.grizzly.com/products/category.aspx?key=300040

The bit you want is a grinding stone. Most Rotary tools come with one, but if yours doesn't, it looks like this
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/DREMEL-Grinding-Bit-1UH81

Lastly, it may be possible to find a similar bit for a power drill, but I haven't been able to find one.

I tried using hand files, and while I think it's certainly possible, it would take a very long time. I ended up using one of the brownish bullet-shaped grinding bits. There's probably a better one out there, but that certainly worked.

Yep, the bullet bit is just fine. I just used the one above because that's the one from my kit that looked the toughest, but I really don't know what the best kind of grinder is.

Folks making multiple cutters should be aware that the copper will wear down grinding bits. It hasn't ruined mine, but making 5 copper cutters has made a notable groove in my grinder bit.

On the other hand that's the only thing I use the grinder for, so it's no big deal.

Just wanted to add that there's now no reason to not have a rotary tool. Here's a cheapie for the same cost as a set of diamond files.
10 bucks!
http://www.harborfreight.com/power-tools/rotary-tools.html?hft_adv=10041&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=cheap%20rotary%20tool&utm_campaign=Power%20Tools%201%20-%20Exact&gclid=COeSn_e7kqkCFUa8Kgode109sw
It's single speed, and probably not the highest quality, but I'm sure it's fine for hobby work and comes with a set of grinding stones!

JBW wrote:

Eilif wrote:

JBW wrote:Well, I got my two Plano cases tonight; also at local Wallmart. I'll post pics when I start building. Thanks for the tut!

Glad to be of help. I'd love to see pics of what you come up with.

It might be a month or so. I'm looking at fitting 3 Stormravens, 2 DC Dreads, and about 31 DC models. While I have purchased two cases, do you forsee me fitting all that into one? I haven't actually opened the SR kit yet. (thought they were between a LR and a Pred). Thanks for the insight!

I finally got the Stormraven built and placed it on the un-plucked bottom layer of the Plano Case. It appears there's enough room for a dread and a full squad per case, but I'll be checking that after I get the Dread built.

Nice cases,I own two,And a bunch of the small ones.Well worth the money.

Interesting shape to try and fit, you'll definitely be doing some custom cutting of the foam with a knife. If you go for stackable 1/3 size trays, you could fit quite alot of infantry on the right side of the case.

Also, you'd save alot of space by putting a layer of funky foam on the bottom of the case and letting the raven rest on that rather than wasting 1.25 inches of space just having it rest on the pluck foam.

Looking forward to seeing how this turns out!

Eilif wrote:Interesting shape to try and fit, you'll definitely be doing some custom cutting of the foam with a knife. If you go for stackable 1/3 size trays, you could fit quite alot of infantry on the right side of the case.

Also, you'd save alot of space by putting a layer of funky foam on the bottom of the case and letting the raven rest on that rather than wasting 1.25 inches of space just having it rest on the pluck foam.

Looking forward to seeing how this turns out!

Yeah, I didn't mean to imply that I would be leaving the Raven sitting on the pluck foam. I was thinking of applying your method of mixing the foam types. Might try to use have egg-crate and half pluck on the bottom level. Just depends on the dread requirements, and space left over. With a three Storm Raven list, it'll like be three cases no matter what. That is, unless I magnetize the wings!!!! Which I likely could do and have been considering.

I was also thinking of including any gaming materials I use to fill up any extra space if three cases ends up being a requirement. An all in one carry case (with rivetted velcro of course).

who the amount of money being saved heres is like wow...
I mean for me living in South African a large citadel army box cost me round about 1200 Rand... I could buy myself a battle forces, HQ and the codex and maybe a little more

Walmart has a basic dremel for 20 bucks model 7300 only 2-speeds
(6500 / 13000 rpm. I used it to make my cutter cheap and works great.

Good find! Not everyone has a Harbor Freight nearby or wants to buy power tools online, but most everyone in the USA can get to a walmart.

I am starting on a miniatures case to hold a friend's collection. It should be a good example of variation within a case so I'll post pictures when I finish.

Nice nice. Love the use of funky foam.
I am looking forward to picking up some of these and experimenting.

What size coupler should I use for 40mm bases?

Unfortunately I just lent out my cutters to a friend and I didn't bother to write down the labeled sizes of the larger ones.

However, My two largest cutters make holes about 55mm and 44mm and they were both made with standard size pipe fittings. I would recommend the 44mm.

At the hardware store, they will be labeled in inches which don't necessarily translate to the size of the hole they will cut. Grab a ruler from the tool section and check the distance from outer edge to outer edge (when you sharpen the edge, grind from the inside of the tube) until you find the one that is closest to 44mm.

Just recieved these pics of a case I built a while back as a going away present for a friend of mine.

This one was designed to hold a fairly random assortment of figures that he had painted up for various generic skirmish games. He's fairly new to miniatures and doesn't own too many figs yet, so the idea was that whatever figs he decides to buy there will be a space in the case for them.

This was my first try at a different color funky foam for the backing.

The top section is setup with alternating rows of 24mm and 31 mm holes for standard size minis. The 31mm holes accomodate figures on 25mm square bases. 3 larger (44mm I think) holes are included as well on the right side.


The bottom section is made similarly to the Mechwarrior box shown earlier. Two interlocked sheets of eggshell foam. It's large cavities accomadate tall, bulky and even monstrous creatures. The largest rectangles were specifically made for two large monsters that he has. I also included a few 44mm diameter holes for regularly based figures that might have tall banners and such.


Exterior shot.

That puts it into great perspective in another real-life application. Thanks! As soon as I get back home and gaming, I am making one of these.... After all, the old shoebox can't last forever

Does anyone know a place that will ship these to the UK, or are bored enough to take theirs to find out what the shipping cost would be?

Just wondering if the shipping expense would make it worth getting some sent, given we don't have an equivilent really in the UK

Here's the dimesions.
Height: 6"
Width: 14-1/2"
Length: 16-3/4"

Estimate about 3 pounds just to be sure and you may be able to come up with a good estimate.

Alternatively, here's the item at Cabella's sold as a "reel case"
http://www.cabelas.com/product/Fishing/Rod-Reel-Storage/Fishing-Reel-Cases%7C/pc/104793480/c/104812380/sc/104527080/Plano174-Reel-Case/704776.uts?destination=%2Fcatalog%2Fbrowse.cmd%3FN%3D1102358%26WTz_l%3DSBC%253BBRprd704776&WTz_l=SBC%3BBRprd704776%3Bcat104527080

They ship internationally.
Best of Luck.

My local Wal-mart in East TN carries these in the sporting goods section. I have been buying them for around $11.00 each. They are outstanding for large models. I currently have all my armorcast Tyranids and winged hive tyrants in them. I think I have around 12 of them now, keep up with places like bass pro shops, cabelas, and other large sporting goods stores and you can catch them at a great price. Assuming that you can't find them locally at your walmart, also remember walmarts have different stock depending on shopper habits. You might want to check all of your local walmarts for them.

Flat shipping rate of $20 dollars, or 25% of the cost of the cases if that's more from Cabelas; and those ones are $18 a pop =X
From what I understand they only have two foam sections compared to the non-embossed pistol case.

Other sites charge additional handeling rates and you end up with between 30-50 dollars added on, which is fairly surprising.

Almost looks like an ebay opportunity for someone here if the standard shipping was actually cheaper than $20 dollars flat, given there seems to be little international support~

Spiku,
The good news is that I've bought reel cases before and the case has all 3 pieces of foam. The bad news is that you're unlikley to find anyone who can ship more than one or two of them for 20$ or less. If you bought 5 of them, Cabellas would probably be taking a bit of a loss on shipping.

Still, compare the amount of storage from 5 of these for around $110 USD to whatever 70 GBP would buy you from another case company.

Good to hear the reel case has 3, I saw reviews saying just two!

I stand surprised, given I sent a metal toolbox three times the size abroad for $18

Clearly the best course of action is to see if there are fellow UK Dakkaites who are interested, and just do a bulk purchase between us all as just two people interested in a pair would be making a large saving on shipping.

A group deal sounds like a good idea. Maybe you'd get some interest in the Swap shop.

I've not seen any, but if you've seen reviews stating only 2 sheets of foam, it might be worthwhile to call cabellas just to be sure. I've never purchased any cases from Cabellas.

I've bought these cases under both "reel" and "accessory" labels and they have all had the three pieces of foam shown in the ads that call it the "Plano Protector 4 pistol case". This is the pic from Farm and Fleet where I bought a few. They are listed online as Pistol cases, but the sticker on the case at the store says "XL accessory case". You can see the two layers of eggshell and the layer of pluck under the pistols at the very bottom.

Great tutorial Eilif.

Can you link a website to purchase the Reel Case?

I've only found one but not sure if they ship to Canada. I was hard pressed to find a supplier that ships the gun case to Canada, but a fishing box might be an easier buy.

More Dakka wrote:Great tutorial Eilif.

Can you link a website to purchase the Reel Case?

I've only found one but not sure if they ship to Canada. I was hard pressed to find a supplier that ships the gun case to Canada, but a fishing box might be an easier buy.

Glad you enjoyed it!
Not to pick on you too much, but 5 posts up....

Eilif wrote:
...Alternatively, here's the item at Cabella's sold as a "reel case"
http://www.cabelas.com/product/Fishing/Rod-Reel-Storage/Fishing-Reel-Cases%7C/pc/104793480/c/104812380/sc/104527080/Plano174-Reel-Case/704776.uts?destination=%2Fcatalog%2Fbrowse.cmd%3FN%3D1102358%26WTz_l%3DSBC%253BBRprd704776&WTz_l=SBC%3BBRprd704776%3Bcat104527080

They ship internationally.

Hope it works for you.

Made a few more trays, inlcuding a cavalry tray! All these are half size trays with the corners and edges trimmed so they are interchangeable for either side of the case.

The first three are pretty basic infantry trays.

Ventauran and Khiff infantry. These old school figures require no larger holes, so all holes are the small 24mm cutter. Even with the lost space due to half size trays, these small trays still hold 28-33 figures each depending on the eggshell arrangement.


Random Sci-Fi and Post apoc. Pretty much the same as the above tray.


Junker tray, for my growing Junker army.


Here's the interisting one. made for my Junker buggy and cavalry. Rather than cutting out rectangles like some of my other custom trays, these are all circle cuts with additional side cuts made for bases, heads and lances. The leaders cavity has a piece of foam so that the weight of the figure doesn't rest on the fragile lance.


Cav case with figs.


Enjoy!

Have so say, thanks a lot for this!

I bought the case before seeing the tutorial because it was so cheap ($10) and after seeing this it blew my mind. Although you can just lay units in between the two layers without cutting holes, its 100% more effective to do so.

I'll upload pictures later when I get home

Mechwarrior? NICE! i have TONS of that.....even though its in a big tub in the cloest for years...

Steak wrote:Have so say, thanks a lot for this!

I bought the case before seeing the tutorial because it was so cheap ($10) and after seeing this it blew my mind. Although you can just lay units in between the two layers without cutting holes, its 100% more effective to do so.

I'll upload pictures later when I get home

You're very welcome. Pics would be great as I'd love to see how yours is arranged!

Dannygee wrote:Mechwarrior? NICE! i have TONS of that.....even though its in a big tub in the cloest for years...

My club loves the mechwarrior stuff. We were looking for a cheap entre' into small scale sci-fi mass combat and they turned out to be just the thing. We rebase thm and use them to play Mech Attack and Future War Commander. If you decide to part with them let me know...

ive been looking for this thread for ages! Thankfully its here again. How would the case work with a all IG / Mech heavy tau lists? would i be able to carry a 2000+ army in it?