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I'm not a rich man; I'm not a terribly poor man, either, but the $100 price tag I so frequently see attached to a good army carrier case seems rather egregious. I understand that it involves a lot of custom parts, but I still don't want to pay that much.

Is there a reasonable alternative? Have any of my fellow forum-goers come up with a clever solution?

Failing that, is there a place I can get one for cheap?

How much have you spent on the contents you hope to put Into the carrier? How much value have you added by conversions, painting and basing?

$100 to protect your pride and joy is a large chunk of cash, but what could be the consequences of using a cheaper and, most likely, a poorer quality case?

You could buy the foam inserts only and fit them into one of the plastic storage containers from Michaels. At least the container is sturdy and waterproof. Should work out much cheaper.

I've found that any cheaper solution includes quite a bit of work on my part... so it comes down to how much value do you give to your free time. If spending 3 or 4 hours cutting foam and glueing it to make trays and then fitting said trays to your box of choice is worth it, do so.

I used a laptop bag for my Deathwing, since it is a low model count, and reused scraps of foam cut to size, but it was still a good 2 or 3 hours to make sure I did everything right.

Make sure your alternative offers a decent amount of protection, too. Sports bags are cheap, but they don't protect from falls and such.

try using a big tool box via walmart and ordering from this site

http://www.thefoamfactory.com/packagingfoam/picknpluckcr.html

StewRat, you have an excellent point. It's true; the contents of the carrier are important.

Right now I use my girlfriend's discarded Citadel Paint Carrying Case, which is nice but it doesn't hold and larger figures like vehicles or warjacks.

I dont put a massive amount of money into most of my figures , so I guess using a poorer quality case isn't an issue. Yet.

I'll keep that in mind... I'll look into getting smoe of those foam containers for cheap.

That toolbox looks awesome!

http://www.amazon.com/Stanley-018800R-Mobile-Work-Center/dp/B0026SM66A/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1397928396&sr=8-5&keywords=portable+tool+box+with+wheels
http://www.amazon.com/Stalwart-75-2250-Mobile-Workshop-Toolbox/dp/B005E6MX7S/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1397928396&sr=8-2&keywords=portable+tool+box+with+wheels

I put a magnet on the base of each mini, and then put some sheet metal in the bottom of a $5 plastic bin:



It holds them pretty well

Here in Australia there is an auto parts etc shop and I picked up a large instrument safety case with foam in it for $70. It is that big that it can fit two whole citadel case in it with some arrangements. It fits perfectly on the pillion seat of a motorbike fyi and is air and water tight

Um, i can't believe anyone hasn't mentioned this yet, but are you aware of KR?

Their standard card 'multicase' starts at $43 delivered, and holds 160 space marine sized models. Ridiculously good value and much more durable than they look. I have about 15 of them.

www.krmulticase.com

 ArbitorIan wrote:
Um, i can't believe anyone hasn't mentioned this yet, but are you aware of KR?

Their standard card 'multicase' starts at $43 delivered, and holds 160 space marine sized models. Ridiculously good value and much more durable than they look. I have about 15 of them.

www.krmulticase.com

+1. KR rock.

I also use the magnet+metal sheet lined plastic bin method. Rare earth magnets aren't very expensive and this method holds metal models in place just as well and you don't have foam rubbing paint off your models in transport, or crushing delicate swords/spears between layers. It doesn't hold well enough to survive a fall, however, so you do have to be mindful when moving the boxes around more than a foam lined case.

Another option I used for years is a foam mattress pad with slots cut into it yourself. You can get one for around $20 and all you need is a pair of sharp scissors and you can cut whatever shapes you need out of it and match it to whatever sized box you have

+2 for kr. I'm not quite at 15 yet, but I'm heading that way...

Feldherr?

For my Ork boyz, Nobz, and other 25mm based models, I use old Egg Cartons. Polystyrene ones so as not to risk scratching the paint.

I use large pistol cases from Walmart - less than $12 US.

The Auld Grump

 TheAuldGrump wrote:
I use large pistol cases from Walmart - less than $12 US.

The Auld Grump

Have you been able to find any of the pluck foam variants lately? I was looking for one to fit my Colossals for Warmachine and all I keep finding are egg shell foam, or non pluck. I got the suggestion to use one of the pistol cases from an old post from last fall showing the models I wanted one for sitting in the foam in case, but now that I'm actively looking I can't seem to find one.

Personally, I'm a huge fan of portable warfare cases (portablewarfare.com) and the bluFoam they sell. Normally I hate pluck foam, but this stuff is top notch. You can get them at a discount from Miniature market (I just priced one filled for about $70.00), since you cross posted this on the Privateer forums I assume this is for Warmachine so I will warn you to stay away from the 1" trays as the small Warmachine bases are larger than an inch. I currently have something closing in on 100 points sitting in one bag (1x 3", 2x 2", and 2x 1.5"), and that's an army that the trays weren't originally plucked for, so if I were to do it over (which I plan to at some point) I am confident I could fit another 25-50 points in.

On the alternative of precut foam I am really pleased with the KR bag I had done for my Space Marines during their black Friday Sale last year. I'd taken advantage of other companies Black Friday deals in years past, and KR was absolutely the easiest to work with and got my foam to me the fastest. Their Customer Service was top notch, friendly, and replied to inquiries right away, and from order to in my hands was about 10 working days. That is absolutely the fastest I have ever had precut foam delivered (other companies I have waited 3 months or more). You'll have to be careful with the sizes on the trays because of Warmachine's larger base sizes, but you really can fit a lot in just one of their card cases.

 derek wrote:

 TheAuldGrump wrote:
I use large pistol cases from Walmart - less than $12 US.

The Auld Grump

Have you been able to find any of the pluck foam variants lately? I was looking for one to fit my Colossals for Warmachine and all I keep finding are egg shell foam, or non pluck. I got the suggestion to use one of the pistol cases from an old post from last fall showing the models I wanted one for sitting in the foam in case, but now that I'm actively looking I can't seem to find one.

Personally, I'm a huge fan of portable warfare cases (portablewarfare.com) and the bluFoam they sell. Normally I hate pluck foam, but this stuff is top notch. You can get them at a discount from Miniature market (I just priced one filled for about $70.00), since you cross posted this on the Privateer forums I assume this is for Warmachine so I will warn you to stay away from the 1" trays as the small Warmachine bases are larger than an inch. I currently have something closing in on 100 points sitting in one bag (1x 3", 2x 2", and 2x 1.5"), and that's an army that the trays weren't originally plucked for, so if I were to do it over (which I plan to at some point) I am confident I could fit another 25-50 points in.

On the alternative of precut foam I am really pleased with the KR bag I had done for my Space Marines during their black Friday Sale last year. I'd taken advantage of other companies Black Friday deals in years past, and KR was absolutely the easiest to work with and got my foam to me the fastest. Their Customer Service was top notch, friendly, and replied to inquiries right away, and from order to in my hands was about 10 working days. That is absolutely the fastest I have ever had precut foam delivered (other companies I have waited 3 months or more). You'll have to be careful with the sizes on the trays because of Warmachine's larger base sizes, but you really can fit a lot in just one of their card cases.

I only saw the pluck foam pistol cases at Walmart once - and that was maybe four years ago. They were intended for paintball guns, and were, I think, about the same price.

They may still have them, but if so then I have not seen them. The Walmart site does not list any paintball pistol cases at all, that I can find.

The Auld Grump

 TheAuldGrump wrote:
The Walmart site does not list any paintball pistol cases at all, that I can find.

The Auld Grump

That is because you need to look at gun cases not paintball cases.



http://www.walmart.com/ip/Plano-Gun-Guard-SE-Series-4-Pistol-Accessory-Case-Black/20893850

I use 2 of these, perfect price for a budget, but it does involve a bit of work if you want to custom cut the foam.

 DeathReaper wrote:

 TheAuldGrump wrote:
The Walmart site does not list any paintball pistol cases at all, that I can find.

The Auld Grump

That is because you need to look at gun cases not paintball cases.

Spoiler:

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Plano-Gun-Guard-SE-Series-4-Pistol-Accessory-Case-Black/20893850

I use 2 of these, perfect price for a budget, but it does involve a bit of work if you want to custom cut the foam.

Yeah, those are what I've been able to find, the ones we were conversing about had pluck foam in the 1/2" squares.

Edit- spoiler tagged the image so it wasn't repeated.

In australia you can get segmented plastic cases at k-mart (equivelent of wal-mart I think) and that works just fine and just by some foam at the local hardware store should work
and at about 50 dollars(au) should store a 1500pt force of (25mm marines) and dreadnoughts( leave the dread bases detacheble with blu-tack in one segment so you do not need glue for games) and tupperware with foam for tanks then store the lot in a gw good quality bagall in all should leave some money for modelsallup 75$au

Kr multicase is much more reasonable and a better value than battle foam. I have 6 or 7 of their cases and although sometimes they aren't the most ideal, they are always the best value

 DeathReaper wrote:

 TheAuldGrump wrote:
The Walmart site does not list any paintball pistol cases at all, that I can find.

The Auld Grump

That is because you need to look at gun cases not paintball cases.



http://www.walmart.com/ip/Plano-Gun-Guard-SE-Series-4-Pistol-Accessory-Case-Black/20893850

I use 2 of these, perfect price for a budget, but it does involve a bit of work if you want to custom cut the foam.

Err - no. Those are not the cases that I was writing about in my second post. Right company, wrong cases.

The PLUCK foam cases were labeled for paintball - the ones that you have linked to are NOT those same cases. The ones that you linked to were the ones that I mentioned in my first post, but he specifically asked for the pluck foam cases, which those are not. On the label (still glued to my case) it lists the foam as 'cubed foam' and shows an example with a space for the hopper pulled out.

The outside is an identical Plano plastic case, but the inserts intended for paintball guns were pluck foam, so that you could pull out enough to make a space for your hoppers, gauges, and etc..

What you have linked to are the regular pistol cases - and they are what I use for just about everything. I have a small mountain of them, but only the one case with pluck foam. (Hey, I didn't say that they were bad - for the money they are excellent. Simply that those are not the cases that I was talking about in the second post.)

So, I went looking for paintball pistol cases and 'cubed foam' with a negative result at Walmart.

However, I just did a similar search on Google, instead of Walmart, and found some more cases that do have the pluck foam. A Black Watch 2 pistol case is $32.50. More expensive, but I think less so than a dedicated miniatures box.

You can also buy the pluck foam separately from several places.



The one pluck foam case that I own holds my vehicles for a Dark Angels army that I have not played in quite some time.

The Auld Grump

The Plano 4 pistol case used to have two layers of eggshell and one layer of pluck. Now it's 2 eggshell and one plain foam. Still, it's a great case if you modify the foam as I have to make cavities for the figures and use "funky foam" for the base layers.

Here's a complete pictorial guide to a great case for 20 bucks.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/362407.page

Takes a bit of DIY, but I've made about 5 of these now, and they're great.

One other idea that I've just about finished with is old video camera bags (They're very similar in dimension to sabol and much tougher) from Salvation army (5 bucks) instead of army transport bags. Then getting used trays and using hot glue to rearrange them for your use. I'll be putting up an article about this in a month or so.

StewRat wrote:
How much have you spent on the contents you hope to put Into the carrier? How much value have you added by conversions, painting and basing?

$100 to protect your pride and joy is a large chunk of cash, but what could be the consequences of using a cheaper and, most likely, a poorer quality case?

This is my attitude to transport. I don't do conversions, but I do paint a lot, and while it's not competition level painting, I'm proud of it and it's taken time. Plus, the models themselves are by no means cheap, and I don't want to have to constantly fix broken parts or in some cases replace whole models due to damage. Making a more expensive one off purchase of a good quality army transport, custom cut you your needs, is a good investment.

While I do applaud those who go the DIY route, it doesn't work for all armies. Magnetising bases to trays for a horde army - particularly a horde army with a lot of tall models - is going to get unweildy to say the least. Going the DIY foam and case route works if you have a lot of simply shaped models like humanoids holding guns to their chest and box-like vehicles, but it's going to be much, much harder making it work with an army like Tyranids which is full of oddly sized and shaped models, not to mention more than a few absolutely enormous oddly shaped models.

All this is why I went with Battlefoam. They had the case I wanted that could transport my entire Tyranid army, big and small models, all in the one case. With a lot of custom cut trays specifically designed for Tyranids, plus the ability to custom create trays specifically cut for my models. It was expensive, but I haven't had a broken model or chipped paint from transport ever since I bought it.

 EccentricOwl wrote:
I'm not a rich man; I'm not a terribly poor man, either, but the $100 price tag I so frequently see attached to a good army carrier case seems rather egregious. I understand that it involves a lot of custom parts, but I still don't want to pay that much.

$100 per case a quite a lot

Is there a reasonable alternative? Have any of my fellow forum-goers come up with a clever solution?

KR do cheap-ish cardboard cases filled with either generic, pluck or custom foam, slotted into hefty carry-cases.

Failing that, is there a place I can get one for cheap?

Not really, but I've heard these are quite cheap:
http://www.figuresincomfort.net/

This is the exact same exterior case that is sitting in my lap right now - sold as a miniature case by Reaper in their Bones 1 KS for $25 or $30 a pop.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Flambeau-Outdoors-1711-17-Pistol-Case/23578640

The only difference appears to be that the Reaper case has undersized figure slots in it (and no top protection layer!) while the Walmart one has wave foam. I keep hearing great things about the Plano cases as well.


But basically, you live in the US. You've got a smorgasbord of cheap and affordable, good quality figure (gun) case options to you at K/Wal-Mart.

Just don't leave them visible and unattended in your car. Because people will think they're filled with guns and steal them.

 Azazelx wrote:
This is the exact same exterior case that is sitting in my lap right now - sold as a miniature case by Reaper in their Bones 1 KS for $25 or $30 a pop.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Flambeau-Outdoors-1711-17-Pistol-Case/23578640

The only difference appears to be that the Reaper case has undersized figure slots in it (and no top protection layer!) while the Walmart one has wave foam. I keep hearing great things about the Plano cases as well.

But basically, you live in the US. You've got a smorgasbord of cheap and affordable, good quality figure (gun) case options to you at K/Wal-Mart.

Just don't leave them visible and unattended in your car. Because people will think they're filled with guns and steal them.

Reaper also sells a 16 dollar case, that is exactly the same as an 8 dollar case sold by other companies.
http://www.reapermini.com/OnlineStore/case/sku-down/08705#detail/08705_p_2

It's true, there are alot of good options in the USA. I picked up a bunch of pistol cases from a gun store that was selling the cases from their rental guns. 5 bucks each! They're great for small games where you have a warband. However, if you have more than a warband to store, I highly recommend the Plano 4 pistol. It's almost quadruple the space for about 5 bucks more:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Plano-Gun-Guard-SE-Series-4-Pistol-Accessory-Case-Black/20893850
even if you don't modify it as I do (see my post above) it's a fairly high capacity case for very little cash.

If you are in the US try Harbor Freight. http://www.harborfreight.com/18-x-12-34-x-6-Aluminum-Case-69318.html They have an aluminum tool/camera case that comes with a pocketed sleeve, dividers, and pluck foam that appeared to be about 3 inches thick or so. $29-$30 in store prices.

I think I'm going to pick up one or more for my Infinity and 15mm stuff that I am now collecting. They also make a larger aluminm case, but it didn't come with any pluck foam as far as I could see.

Edit. several other aluminum cases that do not come with foam. The above appears to be the one I was looking at in person, and it did come with pluckable foam inserts. The smaller versions did not.

I made a thread on a new case I have developed if anyone is interested and I believe this would solve the OP's predicament.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/591968.page

Lots of different options for you, and modern pluck foams are a lot better than they were 15 years ago (some of that old stuff fell apart when you looked at it).

Here in the US, pistol cases are cheap and easy to find (even if you can't pick one up at Walmart - there will generally be a local store that sells them in one way or another).

You can also split up your search and find a case which you like (from any number of portable toolboxes, briefcases, back packs and other luggage...) and then combine that with a 3rd party foam option (either PnP like you can get from the Foam Factory) or custom foam from a company like MyCaseBuilder.

The prices are not much less than BF (in some instances more) but you get your product very fast and the online tool allows you to build three dimensional cutouts without too much difficulty. Normally I get my trays in about a week from them (granted it isn't for miniatures - but still, same principle).

For a different option, you can get custom inserts from Case Club and they also do the velvet coating in a variety of colors on the foam (forget the pricing off the top of my head - but if you are really interested in making your cases unique...).