Transporting your models

[Cerberus]

I'm looking to upgrade my army transportation system. At the moment, my vehicles are sittnig in shoe boxes, my dreds are in a box that is too small to close, and my Marines are in a rifle case. try walking into you local store lugging one of thise in one hand and a 50mm ammo case in the other! Not the image I want to project, especially if I want to start an after school gaming club at my school for my students.

I've checked out GW, Sabol Designs Armytransport, and KR Cases. What do you guys think? Which ones work well for you?

Later

[Renegade]

I'm looking to upgrade my army transportation system. At the moment, my vehicles are sittnig in shoe boxes, my dreds are in a box that is too small to close, and my Marines are in a rifle case. try walking into you local store lugging one of thise in one hand and a 50mm ammo case in the other! Not the image I want to project, especially if I want to start an after school gaming club at my school for my students.

I've checked out GW, Sabol Designs Armytransport, and KR Cases. What do you guys think? Which ones work well for you?

Later

Personally, I would stick with what you have as I would grab attention and has that :cool: and :eek: factor. You would probably have students come along that would have otherwise have over looked it.

Well thats my 2 pence.

[Cossack]

If you're walking to the game store carrying your army, then Army Transport is the way to go.

I drive, so I use cut down copier paper boxes with metal lining the bottom and my miniatures are magnetized. This helps with storage and I don't have to deal with foam trays.

But if you're carrying your stuff any distance more than across the parking lot, I think a system with straps that can handle being bumped around would work best.

[BuFFo]

My IG rolls around in a wheeled Tool Box by Stanley.

http://www.buy.com/prod/stanley-fatmax-4-in-1-mobile-work-station-4-shelf-7-caster-metal-22-29/q/listingid/66301613/loc/66357/207907401.html

[BlindGunn]

I have both GW cases (the original infantry only and one of the newer Plastic large cases) and Army Transports.

The GW Hard Plastic shell is a turnoff for some people, especially with the Logos molded on the case. The large ones also tend to be awkward and have all the issues of regular suitcase as they are about the same size and shape and open like one as well. The ones I have also have no locks so if security is an issue, you may need to consider that.

The Army Transports tend to be less awkward if you can fit everything into one bag. While technically not "lockable", you can pick up a cheap luggage padlock to lock the zippers. Most designs are a top-down "Stacked Tray" design. The foam fits snuggly, so if you just need one model on the bottom tray, you need to remove all the other trays to get to it. That can be annoying. If you get Army Transport II, they zip down the sides so it's not as bad. You can get multiple depths of foam for Sabol, however, the individual foam trays can be pricy.

Foam is ok in both. GW has some pre-made (I've had no issues with the infantry trays) and customizable foam. I believe Sabol is all "customizable" trays, so you need to plan out everything more carefully.

You may want to hunt around and see what the pricing will be on the foam to fit your army into either case - that may be the deal breaker. I choose both - for different armies I use different cases.

[windspear]

I go to a fabric store and buy foam, and then cut my own foam trays customized to the models. GW shipping boxes, because they have self securing lids, work great for this. Make sure you have foam lid covering the models as well to protect your paint job from the cardboard. This works out to be slightly cheaper than buying the army transport bags from GW or another provider.

It's important to cut the foam so that thin bits (ariels and the like, the swords on my Dark angels winged victorys bitz) that are breakable are protected.

[Chris Copeland]

I've been very happy with my GW cases over the years...

[lobster-overlord]

Most people in our area use either Army Transports or toolboxes (either metal bottom or having magnets set up in the bottom to have magnetized bases).

John M>

[BlacknightIII]

A gun case is a very effective and relatively cheap way to transport an army. i say relatively because while cheaper than most cases sold right now they are still expensive but have a hard shell which is a major plus!

[Aldramelech]

I use toolboxes.

[Suttobs]

I have GW cases, Sabol cases and a battlefoam case.

GW are, IMHO, only good for transporting bunches of troops. For what they carry, they are expensive and require converting for anything other than an SM/Ork Boy/Guardian, etc.

Sabol cases are relatively cheap and pretty easy to customize with the pluck foam. The only issue I've had is losing a lot of space when you need a barrier between models

BattleFoam cases are expensive, but are the last word, especially if you want to fly with your models. The customcut foam works well, but has some issues (Try fitting a Chaos Marine in a Marine troop tray.)

My advice? Sabol cases with custom battlefoam. For $100 you can fit ALOT of models in a Army Transport 2.

[Lane]

A lot depends on what image you want to project.

GW cases are well made and have the company logo on the. As already stated they are not efficiently designed so you will be hauling 3-4 small cases for an army and all the extra things we take to the store.

Sabol and Army Transport cases are better designed for transport and come in multiple sizes. Get enough foam trays for all your minis. One case should hold an entire army. Both offer customizable trays and multiple sizes.

Custom boxes. These can range from cheap looking to fairly cool. Tool boxes are sturdy and generic looking. Card boxes, GW mail order boxes are OK looking and sturdy. Pick one style of custom box that will fit everything in an army, multiple depths OK but style and foot print should be the same otherwise it looks disorganized.

You can get pick n pluck foam for your own custom case here http://www.thefoamfactory.com/packagingfoam/picknpluckcr.html
Note: it says 1/2" cubes is is actually 1/2" columns.

Another option, although expensive, would be Pelican cases. Extra strong, secure and heavy. Available in many sizes. Would require custom foam trays.

[LadasN]

Don't want to piggy-back off the thread here but can anyone recommend a good case to transport 3 valkeries, 2 leman russ tanks and a chimera lol? Currently they are in an old camera bag but it can only hold the russes, the chim. and one valk... just wondering if anyone can recommend a cost-effective method of transporting my vehicles without annihilating them.

[Denzark]

I use GW cases - however I got a KR multicase metal affair - has locks, is metal, has about 6-8 layers with 40 minis in each tray. The foam layers hold 40 - a more sensible amount than the 36 in a GW case, as you can stack in squads of 10.

I recommend them to anyone who can afford it.

[Chuck777]

I use a cloth covered plastic tool box I bought at target for transport. Inside the box, I use craft store bead cases and other small plastic containers to house my minis in. The Bead cases work great for Marines while the other plastic containers are better for my Nids.

[Kirsten]

Don't want to piggy-back off the thread here but can anyone recommend a good case to transport 3 valkeries, 2 leman russ tanks and a chimera lol? Currently they are in an old camera bag but it can only hold the russes, the chim. and one valk... just wondering if anyone can recommend a cost-effective method of transporting my vehicles without annihilating them.

To the above, and the OP, I would say get battlefoam if you can afford it
http://www.battlefoam.com/

All manner of ready made trays for models from valkyries and dragons to doomwheels and heavy weapon teams.

[scadugenga]

My wife got me the BF P.A.C.K. 1520 for my birthday this year. It's effin' fantastic. I love it. Finally I have something that fits my entire eldar army (so far.)

And while it's expensive normally ($300.00 for the custom loadout) we got it at Adepticon where they sold it for 25% off.

It's certainly pricey, but if you have a large collection, it's hard to beat. My only near criticism is that the backpack straps are too low for someone as tall as I am. I have to nigh-duck through standard doorways as it is. This thing makes it a bit worse. And, when fully loaded, it can be H E A V Y.

Fortunately, I have a wheeled carrying thingy that pretty much turns it into a rolling suitcase when I don't feel like shouldering the case.

[Kirsten]

For my vehicles I have a pair of army transport motor pools, each one carries four foam trays, and each tray will fit either 3 leman russes/chimeras, 10 sentinels, or one super heavy/valkyrie. My infantry all go in standard GW cases, small ones for chaos and wood elves, large cases for undead, empire, high elves.

[Rapture]

Buy Battlefoam and you will not be disappointed.

I got my 1520 (i think) last year. The Black Friday sale is the perfect time to buy.

[wittdooley]

Another + for Battlefoam. It really is amazing stuff. I'll never buy another army transport system.

[Warptiger]

I'm a big fan of any case with a hardshell. My guideline is pretty much, if I could stand on top of it, it's okay. I know that's a bit extreme,but I've seen way too many accidents happen with cardboard boxes, camera bags, etc (I've been playing since 1st edition). I've seen people spontaneously decide to sit on flexible padded cases.... crunch, snap.

Hardshell cases are also great when you need to stack stuff on top of it (crowded space in a car, hotel room, etc).

I have a few GW cases. Not crazy about the huge logo, or the pebbly surface. Stickers won't stick to it.
I cut the two bottom layers so that I can fit 4 rhinos inside, plus space for about 8 bike sized models. The top layer is all infantry, with some dividers cut out for larger models (chaos is hard to fit in anything, damned tentacles, claws, and extra arms).

I have another brand of hard case roughly the same size as the GW (can't remember the brand) which has eggcrate style foam inside. I love that. Eggcrate is very friendly to odd shape models, like chaos or nids.

[Col.Gravis]

I use 'Figures in Comfort' cases for the most part, they're soft cases (with a big variety in sizes with a good range of foam and UK based. Can't say I've got a bad word to say about them.

[Mystery.Shadow]

Just remember, the more strong/sturdy the transport case is, the more abuse it will be subject to!!

A 'Flight Case' may be nice and rugged, but remember, even the reinforced metal corners and hard surface will make people THINK that they can bang it around, and perhaps even sit on it.

A flimsy cardboard box taped together will be handled with care!

[Lane]

Just remember, the more strong/sturdy the transport case is, the more abuse it will be subject to!!


Thus my mention of Pelican cases, you can sit on them. They are so well made that I have seen some of the larger cases, 28' x 20" x 18", stacked three high and over 300 lb on the bottom case.

[Cossack]

I store my miniatures in cut down copier paper boxes lined with sheet metal. The figures have adhesive sheet magnet glued to their bases and they stay put. These boxes are cheap, easy to store, carry a lot of figures, I don't worry about damaging the boxes (because they can be replaced for free)....it just works.

The sheet metal is just roofing metal you can get in the roofing section of your hardware store and cut it with a paper cutter.

http://mysite.verizon.net/krista.smith/paperbox1.JPG


Cut the box down to the height you want and just drop the metal in.

http://mysite.verizon.net/krista.smith/paperbox2.JPG


You can see a metal ork warboss attaches with no trouble at all. The white thing on the table is an 8.5" x 11" sheet of adhesive magnet.

http://mysite.verizon.net/krista.smith/paperbox3.JPG



This shows my orks packed into a box, stacked onto another box. You can see how many it holds. And they don't rub against any foam.

http://mysite.verizon.net/krista.smith/paperbox4.JPG


My closet has plastic stacking shelves and these boxes just stack neatly in there. I write on the sides of them what they are so I can pull them out without searching through boxes.

[DiStudios]

Up until I broke out my Warmachine army, I used nothing but Kr Multicase, I prefer the foam and product range, in particular the metal cases. The Warmachine army however is stored in the Battlefoam pack.

DiStudios

[DarkLink]

I store my miniatures in cut down copier paper boxes lined with sheet metal. The figures have adhesive sheet magnet glued to their bases and they stay put. These boxes are cheap, easy to store, carry a lot of figures, I don't worry about damaging the boxes (because they can be replaced for free)....it just works.


That's very similar to what our Golden Daemon player does, though he used those clear plastic storage boxes, and has a setup so the box has multiple layers of sheet metal. He can easily fit his whole 'nidz army in one box.

[warpcrafter]

My Orks travel in tacklebox inserts and the boxes that my baneblade and stompa came in, inside of a great big wheeled footlocker that I got from Walmart. The whoel setup cost me about $60. I'd rather spend money on overpriced GW toys than an overpriced thing to carry them in.

[Mystery.Shadow]

My smaller Tyranids ride in those cheap plastic Chinese Take-Out containers. They're free and they come to my door!

[DarkAngelHopeful]

My advice? Sabol cases with custom Battlefoam. For $100 you can fit ALOT of models in a Army Transport 2.

I have a GW case that has 3 red foam trays and a SABOL Army transport case with some completely trashed pluck foam trays. The foam in both of them has taken a beating and I want to replace them with Battle Foam trays. I was wondering if any of you know if the battle foam trays they advertise as "GW Foam Trays 13.5 x 10" and "SD Foam Trays 13 x 7.75" will fit into the GW cases and the SABOL army transport.

I know this appears to be a rather silly and simple question, however, since I cannot actually hold the tray and try to fit it in my case, I thought I'd see if anyone out there has experience with this.

Respectfully,
DarkAngelHopeful

[erwos]

I have an Army Transport myself. It's pretty good, but I find myself unable to fit much more than 3000 points of CSMs into it - the new mech metagame really sucks down transport space with lots of vehicles.

Now that I'm building a combination IG / ABG army for use in Apoc, I find myself requiring another transport system... what can hold seven Russes, six Chimeras, six pieces of artillery, three Sentinels, three Hellhounds, and 70-80 troops? (I'm not even going to worry about the super-heavies... I'll haul those by hand, if needed.)

EDIT: http://blackdiamondgames.blogspot.com/2009/08/battlefoam-pack-1520-vs-sabol-division.html

Looks like the Division might work for me, given the focus on vehicles.

[eldargal]

I pay out of work Merchant Bankers to carry my armies one miniature at a time to my destination. Then when they die of exhaustion I use Battlefoam.

[Lane]

the new mech metagame really sucks down transport space with lots of vehicles.

It not only suck down transport space, it suck up floor space at the store. Imagine how much space is taken up by cases during an eight person Apoc game. I won't even comment on the Tanksgiving game with over 350 vehicles and monstrous creatures.

[titan eddy]

i suggest to get a standard case from gameswork shop or one that fits your army

[Insaniac12]

I use my Fat ***.