TRANSPORT and STORAGE CASE FOR MINIATURES

Storing and Transporting your Troops,rule book and gaming accessories to and fro from a gaming event effectively is always a issue for wargamers no matter what scale miniatures you game in .

My solution the humble plastic utility storage drawer system for offices. 

My entire Late War British Platoon together with all there supporting elements all contained In one container. 

Which fits neatly into a collapsible polyester cooler bag.

Zipper closed and ready for transport to the gaming venue.

Plastic drawer container purchase at Office works for about AUD 16 dollars.

Image showing the drawers.

First step is to remove the drawers this is done by press on the end portions of the plastic drawer while pulling each drawer out. This is done to disengage the small spurs of plastic that act as stops to prevent the drawer from being pulled out completely.

Once the all the drawers are removed you can choose to leave the spurs of plastic intact or cut them off, I chose to cut them off because I wanted to be able to remove the drawers.

Locate a large empty can of cooking oil, I found this on the side of the road near a restaurant.

Use a sharp instrument such as a chisel with the help of a hammer make a indentation in at the top of the  can this will act as a point for the insertion your tin snips.

Wearing gloves carefully cut the metal and remove the top portion of the tin.( I took off my gloves just for the photo but did use the gloves pictured in the background)

Next cut down till you reach the end of the base, as you reach the lower portion of the base start angling the cutters so that you can cut off the bottom base portion of the container.

Completed task, next step is to cut the large sheet into 2 pieces and carefully wash down the metal with soapy water to remove any oil residue.
Flatted out the pieces by applying even pressure on a flat surface.
If you are not up to the task of prepping the oil can you can just buy a notice board with a thin metal sheet and remove and use the metal sheet.

The base of all my figures are magnetic that is why I am using metal sheets.

An easier way to obtain metal sheets is to purchase cheap metal notice boards from a 2 dollar store and remove the thin metal sheeting and use that.

I you are using metal washers for the base of your miniatures you can skip these steps and purchase and use Magnetic sheet in place of the metal sheets. 

Measure the inner portion of the drawer and transfer the measurements onto the metal sheets using a sharp instrument or permanent marker.

Cut out the sheets with tin snips.

Round off the pointed edges and lightly sand the top surface of the metal sheet in preparation to receive the spray paint later. 

Clear Silicon was placed on the base of the drawer, the metal sheet placed on top and allowed to set.

Drill 6 holes into the metal and out thru the plastic drawer, use a drill bit to match the rivet size.

Using a Rivet gun with suitable rivet.

Use the rivet gun to secure the rivet in place.

Image showing the firmly in-bedded rivet.

The large bottom drawer of the container had to be leveled using 2 pieces of 3mm MDF.

MDF pieces glued in place.

All the surfaces where sprayed with Rustoleum primer paint you can also coat them with a light coat of clear Matt vanish.

Completed storage container.
You can choose different colours for different armies.

What I will be using for the next part of the project are foam core boards, I managed to pick up a few of these  for a couple of dollars from a reject/recycling store.
Since these are old advertising boards, one side is coated with a plastic which increases the strength of the foam board.
The right image shows the underside of the board.

Position your miniatures on the foam as desired.

Lift the base of the model and poke a hole using a sharp pointed instrument in the middle,   where the base was located. 

Use a drill with a matching drill bit just larger that the base of your figures and start cutting the holes in the foam board using the guide holes to locate the tip of the drill bit.

Completed circular holes for the troopers

Use box cutters to cut out the square and hex shapes into the foam board.
And lightly sandpaper the edges of the holes.

Foam core board glued to the metal base.
 I used red paint to help identify the different elements within the Platoon. 

1st tray: Clearly visible are the 3 different Sections , PIAT, 2" mtr and  Senior Leaders. 

Second tray: The support options include extra Section,Section of infantry in fox holes,PIAT team, 2"mtr, Vickers Machine gun, 2 Snipers, Adjutant, Medic, FO, JOP markers,Demo team, wire cutting team,Mine detecting team and Flamethrower team.

3rd Tray: More support options, 2 Bren carriers, Halftrack,Stuart tank, jeep , different Turrets for Churchill tanks and flame thrower trailter for the Churchill croc.

4th Tray: Which is the deepest drawer houses all the tanks and some gaming tools.

the tilting of the tray shows how the tanks adhere to the metal base on the tray, to achieve this I placed magnets on the base of the vehicles, this stops the vehicles crashing into each other when the container is being transported. 

Using  a hobby drill( match the drill bit size to the earth magnet that will be used) to create 4 holes on the underside of the tracks make sure to create the hole in a thick portion of the plastic.

Place super glue into each hole

Place the magnets into the prepared the holes.

Then place the vehicle onto a metal sheet and allow time to for the glue to set, this ensures that all the magnets will be at the right level so that each magnet grips on the metal.

Currently I am into  Scenario 2 of Chain of Command Operation Martlet campaign game.
The use of the tray helps greatly in keeping record of the troops that I have available for the next game.

Last of all, a big thanks  to Mark from "The Tactical Painter" who brought to my attention this type of Platoon Board.
"Its worth visiting his blog for his take on the board".

    cheers John