Best transport options for our fragile models?

I'll admit it, I've carried my past armies around in shoeboxes and wound up with broken, busted and chipped models. I can't even imagine doing that with Raiders, Venoms, or DE infantry models.

Can anyone recommend some good transport options? I'm interested in what brands are good, pluck foam versus laser cut, tray capacity, durability, that sort of stuff. Thanks!

EDIT: Apparently there was a thread on this topic about 5 years back that covers a lot of this. Still interested in any opinions however!

So after about 5 years of collecting Dark Eldar and carting my army in a shoe box and various "Chinese takeaway" containers I finally sprung for a travel case and foam at Christmas of last year. Best thing!

Here in Australia the shipping costs of Battlefoam, KR and the like is so expensive but a little researched uncovered our very own Combat Company and they are stockists of "Modifx" cases. The foam is pluck foam but some careful planning and a bit of foresight I decided on the tower version and it holds very comfortably 2000 pts....of any variety of army build. Now I did have to invest the time to plan each pluck tray based on what I wanted to hold (and my army is magnetized.... so packing 8 Talos/Cronos in a single 2" tray is a breeze!) but you can still make it work if not magnetised.

I have been kicking around the idea of "Magnets. Magnets everywhere".

So my plan is to go by Home Depot and buy a strip of the weak "fridge magnet" stuff, and glue to the bottom of the bases. Find metal trays that fit into my "Warhammer" tool box, and voila, perfect transport system that cant break off all our little fiddley bits.

At least in theory.

My travel cases are old cash boxes for transporting large amounts of money to or from a bank. (They came with bags, and fit three boxes to a bag.) I put sheet metal in the bottom and magnetized my minis.

I've once accidentally rolled one of my bags out of my car, end over end, and only had a single model detach.

The Raider is the better transport. The Venom is the better weapon. So the goal matters but as a transport it seems to be the one that does the most work and can take the most punishment.

Unorthodoxy wrote:

The Raider is the better transport.  The Venom is the better weapon.  So the goal matters but as a transport it seems to be the one that does the most work and can take the most punishment.

Erm...he's talking about how to transport models to and from games, tournaments etc.

Count Adhemar wrote:

Unorthodoxy wrote:

The Raider is the better transport.  The Venom is the better weapon.  So the goal matters but as a transport it seems to be the one that does the most work and can take the most punishment.

Erm...he's talking about how to transport models to and from games, tournaments etc.

I guess with all the talk of shoe boxes etc I can see where the mistake comes from

Yeah, Combat Company are legit for those of us in the south Pacific. We're already constantly assault by GW's pricing down this neck of the woods, so any option for cheaper shipping are a godsend.

I picked up the Citadel GW 6 tray case a while back for free.

I've noted that with Dark Eldar, I rarely have more than 40 or so infantry models, so they almost all fit on one single tray in the box. The rest of this 'half' of my case holds things like dice, codex, markers, medium sized models like Sslyth etc.

On the other 'half' I can fit my vehicles (multiple venoms & ravagers, and even a Razorwing), between 2 trays, with foam cutouts in and around them where necessary. Working really well so far, but is a little bit time consuming arranging the layers/cutouts.

Eventually, I'll upgrade to modifx too, if I can summon the willpower to keep playing & collecting 40k. I'm just getting into Malifaux, which requires one to carry only a dozen or so models at most, and it seems to be several times more rewarding (and less painful) than 40k.

I know man. All the time, I go to GW's website and see a price, and I'm like Grotesques are HOW MUCH?!?!

Oh, whew, I was just logged in as australian for some reason...it's all good.

But seriously, the prices suck everywhere, to be honest. I don't know how their prices are so high. Matel can make a detailed plastic transformer the same size, with as much detail as a phantom titan and sell it pre-painted in multi-colored plastic for $50 USD. And it has moving parts, transforms, and doesn't break when it falls off a table.

GW charges $550 USD.

BetrayTheWorld wrote:

I don't know how their prices are so high.

They have to be, because GW has to pay for all the lawyers that hunt down other cheap spinoff companies (that make stuff that doesn't cost one their own liver to afford) and their customer service teams that deal with daily doses of RAAAAGE.

The irony is that if GW didn't pay so much of their money for either of these, they could make the actual product they supply cheap enough for their customers that there would be no need for either.

BetrayTheWorld wrote:

Matel can make a detailed plastic transformer the same size, with as much detail as a phantom titan and sell it pre-painted in multi-colored plastic for $50 USD. And it has moving parts, transforms, and doesn't break when it falls off a table.

GW: "But does this transformer have "For the Emperor", "Mortis", "Terra" & "Redemption" inscribed on every available surface? No? Checkmate; buy our titan you dicks"

I like these:

http://giftsforgeeks.org.uk/shop/-/product/908254837/build-your-own-tyrant-army-figure-case/

The Shredder wrote:

I like these:

http://giftsforgeeks.org.uk/shop/-/product/908254837/build-your-own-tyrant-army-figure-case/

Yeah, I bought a Tyrant bag with foam and a load of extra foam trays. Been pretty pleased with them.

I bought Feldherr boxes / foam. Never had a broken model ever since.

My brother put neodymium magnets under the base of all his guard guys and put them in a metal tool box. They stand up straight, even more than on the battlefield. Works pretty well, just a bit expensive...

CptMetal wrote:

My brother put neodymium magnets under the base of all his guard guys and put them in a metal tool box. They stand up straight, even more than on the battlefield. Works pretty well, just a bit expensive...

I'm doing the same with my Infinity models. Only about 30 of them though so not too expensive.

I go the "magnets everywhere" route for all of my infantry models (even 60mm ones) and scrounge foam from wherever to make trays for vehicles.  The key to this strategy in my case though is an old steel briefcase I found at a yard sale (it locks too and is kind of awesome in general).

The foam trays fit snuggly in the bottom half, and the based models just hang from the lid not touching anything.  I've yet to see a model fall off the lid, even with the case sliding around on the bench seat of my truck.  I do go a little overboard with the magnets though... like 10 cents worth of magnets per 25mm base.

A buddy of mine loaned me a huge plastic case with sheet steel attached to the inside so I could transport my renegades army once and it worked fine.  That's definitely a way to go if you can't find a steel briefcase.

Edit: whilst I was typing this, people beat me to mentioning the steel box strategy.

I'm about to order a set of KR trays, boxes and a bag to accommodate as much of my army as possible, I'll report back when it all turns up.

(Unfortunately it won't be ALL my army, they don't currently have trays for my Voidravens and Tantalus)

This might be bordering on thread necromancy, but I did say I'd report back...

The first thing I have to say is that KR Multicase have fantastic customer service.  After my army proved to be too big for their autofill system to handle, they were happy to take a list of my models by email and come up with a set of trays to accommodate everything (except the Voidravens and Tantalus mentioned before).

The particular bag that I wanted was out of stock so I elected to wait, but when they found out that particular bag wouldn't be available for a couple of weeks after their original estimate, they offered to send me the card cases and foam trays separately, and I still only have to pay one set of postage.  So, again, happy with that.

Moving on to the actual product...

I ended up with four of their card cases filled with blue foam.  For cardboard, the cases feel tough and sturdy.  The blue foam is quite soft and flexible, which I found fine but is something to bear in mind.  In general, everything fitted well into the foam, with a couple of exceptions:

One of my Ravagers has the tallest sail option, and this required the Ravager to be heeled over at quite an extreme angle in order to fit, but it did fit.  The other Ravager and both Raiders had no problems.

Some of the more dramatically posed (Succubus with Archite Glaive, Sybarites with Agonisers, Wyches with Shardnets) or taller (plastic Haemonculus) models didn't fit in the standard cutouts in the infantry trays.  I only had problems with six infantry models in total and all but possibly one of these will be fine after I do a bit of foam trimming.  For the time being those six models are in six spare Reaver slots.

The spaces for the flight stands for the two Razorwings weren't completely cut out.

Overall I'm very pleased and no longer have any concerns about transporting my army.

Congratulation

At my local GW one of the employees plays Dark Eldar. He got some BattleFoam and after going through his load-out one apocalypse game i decided i would splurge for it too. He said he would recommend it for an army as fragile as Dark Eldar but wouldn't bother for most of the others.

I got the 1520 XL custom load-out case while it was on Black Friday sale and couldn't be happier. Sale made it so basically shipping was free, but i live in Canada so if your in the USA it would have been a way better deal. I can fit all my 3200 points of models in it no problem and have room to grow. Everything is snug and safe and i don't have to worry about anything getting broken. I plan on bringing it down to the states regularly so it surviving the travels (and bungeed to the top of my trunk) was a big requirement - im not worried about it at all.

I got the Dark Eldar trays that they have on the site, but if i were to order again i would build my own. I got 1 custom tray because there was no templated ones for multiple taloi - i was able to fit way more models on my custom tray than in the template ones. If i had custom built all of them i think i could have fit way more models in there. Additionally, the reaver tray only allows them to fit if you used the smaller of the flying bases (i happened to use the bigger ones and they all stick up a little bit). I also didn't think about my sails being magnetized on the skimmers, so i could have gotten a shorter piece of foam. Still - overall happy with my purchase.

hydranixx wrote:

BetrayTheWorld wrote:

Matel can make a detailed plastic transformer the same size, with as much detail as a phantom titan and sell it pre-painted in multi-colored plastic for $50 USD. And it has moving parts, transforms, and doesn't break when it falls off a table.

GW: "But does this transformer have "For the Emperor", "Mortis", "Terra" & "Redemption" inscribed on every available surface? No? Checkmate; buy our titan you dicks"

I honestly don't know why this fact doesn't get more attention. It's like it gets glazed over and no one really cares. The price gouging that is happening is appalling. I imagine our hobby would be at least 5 times bigger if their prices were more similar to other "toy companies".

BetrayTheWorld wrote:

hydranixx wrote:

BetrayTheWorld wrote:

Matel can make a detailed plastic transformer the same size, with as much detail as a phantom titan and sell it pre-painted in multi-colored plastic for $50 USD. And it has moving parts, transforms, and doesn't break when it falls off a table.

GW: "But does this transformer have "For the Emperor", "Mortis", "Terra" & "Redemption" inscribed on every available surface? No? Checkmate; buy our titan you dicks"

I honestly don't know why this fact doesn't get more attention. It's like it gets glazed over and no one really cares. The price gouging that is happening is appalling. I imagine our hobby would be at least 5 times bigger if their prices were more similar to other "toy companies".

Games Workshop operates on the basis that they are selling luxury goods and that they will charge whatever the market will pay. Unlike Hasbro, Matel etc they have no interest in selling more toys for less money. They want to sell less toys for more money. Well, ideally they want to sell more toys for more money but that ain't gonna happen!

Yeah, well, that's not an ideal plan for long-term success, in my opinion. The broader their market, the greater longevity they can expect.

Didn't you used to be able to get a blister of metal GW models(more expensive to make than plastic), for like 2 dollars?

Now it's 20 for a single model. I can understand inflation, but inflation would be like 4-5 dollars, not 20.

Count Adhemar wrote:

Unorthodoxy wrote:

The Raider is the better transport.  The Venom is the better weapon.  So the goal matters but as a transport it seems to be the one that does the most work and can take the most punishment.

Erm...he's talking about how to transport models to and from games, tournaments etc.

display board w magnets

I used to buy 5 metal aspect warriors in 2nd ed for $14aus and another $8 for an exarch.

It's what... $63 for the 6 models today in fine cast?

On topic, I use battlefoam with full custom foam for my DE... It's travelled from Australia to the UK and Europe as well as around Australia and I have not had a single breakage ever.

My sails are magnetised on the raider hulls but I leave them on stand to put them in. I get 5 raiders, 9 venoms, 60 odd infantry plus 30 odd large infantry/hellions in the case.

I bought a Crusader case, which I'm been really happy with, but my old school raiders and ravagers are wrecking the foam even when I take the time to be very very careful with them. Everything else fits fine, so I'm going to try getting a bunch of loose foam and putting them in a cardboard box.