Hello all, Joe M. from Models Workshop here.   I want to talk about something that I have touched on before, and that is a carrying/storage solution for your miniatures.

It doesn’t matter if you are brand new to the hobby or are an experienced modeler, sooner or latter you run into the problem where you have to transport your models safely.  When I got started no one talked to me about this and I tried making a carrying case out of a $8 tub from Target and a roll of mattress foam.  This led to many broken models, at best lots of time spent in repair and making things look right again, at worst a waste of a model.   So with that in mind I am going to talk about carrying cases.

Now there are several ways you can approach the problem of a carrying case.  Either you can buy a pre-made one, or you can make your own.  There are pros and cons to both methods, and actually in the end you will probably find yourself best off with using both methods.

First is the pre-build cases.  Not counting specialty custom cases, these cases usually consist of a hard/soft case, with foam inserts cut to be roughly the size and shape that will kinda fit most 25mm models.  This generally has the benefits of being well built and will protect models of the aforementioned size decently.  The major downside is cost.  The Games workshop case that I bought holds about 500 25mm models, but cost $99.

Next you have the specialty cases.  These are very pricey but have the benefit of being custom fit to each of your models, size not withstanding.   These provide the ultimate in protection foam wise, though often you have to buy a good hard case for yourself to fit the inserts into.

Last is the home brewed case.  While my initial attempt was a major fail, there are some good solid methods that will actually yield results almost as good as the specialty case, but for a fraction of the coast of the pre-built cases.  The two things you will need for this are a rifle/pistol case (depending on the size of the models) and some pick and pull foam.  This foam comes in sheets and looks like it has diced cubes throughout it.  Simply pull out the cubes to be just slightly larger and in the shape of your models, put the foam in the case, and then put the models in the foam.   This gives a very secure method that fits all sizes of models in your collection and costs less than the pre-built cases that only hold 25mm models.

All said and done though your goal is to be able to move your models safely and feel assured that if they fall in storage or transport that the models will be in one piece.