Basing, storage and transport.

Hi All

I've been doing a lot of prepping of figures over the last week, but don't fear, I still have a mountain of lead and plastic.

This stuff is mostly 20mm stuff that I purchased from Splintered Light Miniatures awhile back. I'm including a few 28mm figures that I wanted to get done as well. I still need to have a sort through and prioritize my painting.

Anyway, after seeing other peoples stuff and getting a lot of tips, I wasted time did the necessary internet research on the various topics.

Basing: I think my general fantasy basing scheme is going okay. I'm using all the old and new square plastic bases that I have. One thing I've hit upon to tackle scale creep/ integral base is to use either the thin plastic rendera bases or 1.5mm plywood from Litko. For my 1/72 (20mm) projects I'mm still using the fender washers 3/4" (~20mm) and larger for monsters etc. Where I'm not sure what to do next is my planned foray into 40K or Sci-Fi/ Post Apocalyptic / Space Trash games. My 28mm basing for non Warhammer Fantasy Battle has been a little all over the place. Thus far I've primarily used 3mm thick 1" (25mm) wood discs that you can buy at the craft store. I've also used one of the lipped bases, I think it ends up being slightly larger than 25mm at the edge but the top area seems the same as 25mm. I was looking at info on 40K and there seems to have been a switch from 25mm to 32mm for most troops, with larger bases like 40mm and 60mm for monsters/ robots. Putting a Space goblin on 25mm seems like overkill, but I can see the appeal of not having to have so many different base sizes. I have some 20mm plastic slotta bases that I'm not going to use for 20mm metal zombies. I guess the open question is, what do you do for your sci-fi? I feel like I should try a different basing scheme as well.

Storage: I feel like the Sterlite plastic containers have done their job adequately. One innovation that I saw at Oldhammer USA was the addition of sheet metal to the bottom of the bin and rare earth magnets on all the bases. I have been using the metal roof shingles from Home Depot for basing 20mm cavalry and engines, but I was having trouble finding what they call "craft steel" in 12" x 12" squares. I finally found it in aisle 20 of my local Home Depot, near the specialty fasteners. Coincidentally it is the same aisle as the rare earth magnets. Now I did purchase some magnets there, but they were 3mm thick and don't fit completely underneath a standard slotta base. Some more research showed that many use 2mm thick magnets because they a strong enough to stick to metal even with a 0.5mm gap. Of course in America we don't use metric measurments so I may try 1/8" (3mm) x 1/10" (2.5mm) disc magnet from K&J Magnetics here. Again any thoughts you may have to share are appreciated.

Transport: While I did use the Sterlite containers and seat cushion foam to transport my figures in my check on luggage, a few people were using jewelers cases to transport their figures. The recommendation I got was for Nile Corp. Jewelry Supply and I think what I saw was one of the aluminum cases from here. I'd need to review carry on sizing restrictions but I think 861-7 might be the way to go. I'm not sure if the 26" dimension on the 862-7 puts it out of carry on size. Any how you could use magnets and sheet metal in the trays and add foam to reduce impact. I'm gong to seriously investigate this.

I want to close with calling your attention to Belched from the Depths, particularly their tutorials which cover many of these topics. If you have any links or suggestions for things that work for you feel free to let me know.