Minis Storage

[Mr. White]

I was looking over my arrangement this weekend and came to the realization...a lot of space is wasted.

I mean, do painted plastic minis really need a quarter inch of foam between each? Particularly since all they do is lay in their case on a shelf 90% of the time? That's a huge waste.

My minis just sit there and are pulled down from time to time to play, but they aren't carried, shipped, thrown around....so why the individual spaces in these pluck type foam cases? It seems one large square for each team/warband to lay in should suffice.

Well, I can understand maybe not wanting large metal ones to rub up on each other, but the rest? No way do they chip just laying there and even if they lightly touch when I pull them down...I doubt there'd be any damage. Far less than the manipulation that goes on during play.

I do have a small case that has individual cavities for minis when traveling, where they may jostle around, but for my main storage system there's no need for individual slots.

What a waste.

I feel like I need to reorder my APCs and pluck them up right.

[Jimmyg]

You can get foam that allows you to place items of various sizes in the same area, it looks like egg box arrangement. I have seen medical equipment shipped that way.

[sukhe_bator]

I never really got on with the whole foam nest arrangement. I always found spears etc snagged on the foam making breakages easier and the more dynamic poses plastics are capable of these days make storage fiddlier in any event. I mount magnetised sheets (fully magnetic L-plates off ebay) on the bases of my plastic minis then store 'em upright in biscuit tins. They are then stackable. I can get up to 72 minis on 25mm dia. bases in each tin. Depending on depth they can cope with lances/standards and the deeper 1kg tins can comfortably take around 16 cavalry.

[Silent Invader]

I do similar to the above but reversed, as my minis (increasingly plastic) are based on steel washers for the added heft.

They go into A4 document boxes (I cut off the spring loaded retainer thing) that are lined with the magnetised L plates. As mentioned above, the minis don't snag on the foam and I'm not restrained by 'slot' size.

The boxes are card and I've heard talk of the acid in paper etc encouraging lead rot but I've not had any problems (all my minis, especially the lead ones, are 100% sealed with a solvent varnish).

[Mr. White]

What are these 'L-plates' you fellas are talking about?

[Silent Invader]

What are these 'L-plates' you fellas are talking about?

Ah, sorry..... 

They're panels that learner drivers attach to their cars. Some tie on, some have small magnets attached and some... the ones we are using.... have an entirely magnetised backing sheet.

http://www.screwfix.com/p/hilka-pro-craft-magnetic-l-plates/9090r

[Lowtardog]

I used and still do use, box files, however now visiting a club some 2 miles away notice the mini take a bit of a kicking. Normally in the first battle, both for my ego, as they die and also the odd chip.

I am gradually replacing the box files with KR (others are available) carry cases with foam inserts. I have to say they are worth getting and for historical minis you can fit 200 in a case so save on space and organise the forces too.

[Silent Invader]

To clarify, I use the boxes for storage and a foam case for transport (not that they travel much)