Help needed: Spaceship Storage

[zorg]

Hi, I need some help from you guys. I have a bunch of spaceship minis, mostly painted up. What I lack is a workable storage solution.

I had put the minis in some showcases on the wall, but that makes them fiddly to remove, and I'd like to display something else by now. Also, the showcases offer limited space.
Foam-based storage appears to be difficult, since the ships are formed somewhat irregular (that is, lots of pieces poking in various directions). I'd have to hand-sculpt individual storage "nests", and with about 50-70 ships, that's impractical. Also, the flight stands tend to break off, so I'd need a damage-preventing solution.

Oh, I'd also prefer something fast, cheap and simple

I can't be the first guy with this problem. So, do you have any advice, suggestions, help? I greatly appreciate your input! Thanks for your time!

[Hobby Services]

Fast, cheap, simple:  Buy a large sports card box and stow the minis inside nested loosely in soft cloth or even paper towels.  You can fit dozens of Ground Zero Games Full Thrust-sized ships in a 3000 count box that way and they'll be fine for long-term storage.  Investing in an 800 or 1600 count for a lighter, more transportable box to lug a squadron or small fleet to a game might be a good idea as well, but you'll want to be careful not to bash the box around much in transit.  The key for safe transport is to pack loosely without leaving actual empty spaces.  Having the minis free to wiggle around in their nests is fine, but the individual nests need to stay put.

Ugly and not as secure as custom foam pockets, but costs almost nothing.  

Might also consider the joys of barrel clasps, per Dean of Starship Combat News:

http://www.star-ranger.com/BasingMinis.htm

    

[Muzfish4]

I misread this as "buy a large sports car and stow the minis loosely inside".

If finances permit I suggest you go with the above suggestion. The miniatures may not be as secure as you'd like but, hey, you'll have a large sports car in such circumstances who really cares how securely your miniature spaceships are stored.

[Maledrakh]

or you could go for the really, really, really cheap (in every sense of the word) option:

Empty egg cartons.

[Hobby Services]

or you could go for the really, really, really cheap (in every sense of the word) option:

Empty egg cartons.

Only works with smaller models, but how many superdreadnoughts do you need?  Battlefleet Gothic and Firestorm Armada players are well and truly shafted when it comes to using egg cartons too.  Some of their biggest models won't even fit in a card box.

I wonder though, do they sell ostrich eggs in cartons somewhere?

[Elbows]

I would second the "box w/ loose bubble-wrap or cloth" option.  And then cloth on top to press down if you're worried about shifting.

[The_Beast]

I'd really start with 'first, buy removable ship stands, then fix to ships...' 

A box with soft foam thinner than the distance from base to ship is another thing to try. You can vertically cut into the foam from the side, and slide the ships in. Work out how you want the ships to fit before you start cutting, of course. If really close, you can press down on the foam as you push the ship to the center.

I know: you're having visions of me with three or four arms. 

I'm still working on getting from plan B to plan A.

Doug

[zorg]

Thanks. Those are some good suggestions.

[Michka]

You could add washers to the bottom of the flight bases. Then line the inside bottom of whatever box you want to store them in with magnet sheet. The minis stick the magnet sheet pretty damn well so long as the box is held relatively flat. It helps if you actually glue the magnet sheet the inside of the box, but it's not necessary. I use this method for almost all of my miniatures, but I know it works really well for my spaceships.