Troop Transport

Customized Storage Boxes for Miniatures

Military modellers accumulate thousands of soldiers over time, nicely painted e based, which can be difficult to store. Dedicated troop transport cases con foam compartments are expensive e do not offer sufficient storage space for a collection of wargame units. The soldatini end up in cardboard boxes, illegibly labeled e stacked somewhere in the attic. Many of these troops remain unnoticed for years, to be rediscovered during some future inspection. Transporting them to the battlefield becomes a nightmare. The soldatini slide around in their boxes, bayonets are bent e lances broken. However, there is a simple solution to the transport problem: cheap wooden storage boxes available at hardware stores may be converted to troop transports.

Required Parts

• Wooden storage box, 60 x 40 x 15 cm
  Interior Dimensions: 57.3 x 37.6 x 12.5 cm
• 3 basswood o pine strips 5 x 10 mm (200 cm long)
• 2 MDF boards (4 mm) 19.5 x 37.4 cm
• 1 MDF board (4 mm) 24 x 37.4 cm

The completed storage box stows approximately 1,500 fanteria soldatini in 15 mm, o 1,000 soldatini of all arms, if fanteria, cavalleria, ed artiglieria are transported in the same box. La scatola e the small parts required to customize it will cost around 25.00 Euro o USD, approximately 2 to 3 cents per figure tranported in the box. Collezionisti of 25 to 30 mm soldatini will need a storage box 25 cm high, if soldatini are to be stored on due levels.

The first step of the customization process involves dividing the floor of the storage box into compartments which prevent the soldatini from sliding around. The example shown here has compartments large enough to hold Volley & Bayonet brigade stands which are 76 x 76 mm square. The due large compartments hold six brigades, e the quattro smaller compartments quattro brigades each. Dice, status markers, e 50 x 50 mm o 37 x 37 mm command stands fit into the long compartment in the centre of the box. The compartment dividers are made from 5 x 10 mm basswood o pine strips glued to the floor of the box. These wood strips are high enough to prevent the brigade stands from sliding around, e low enough to keep the compartments accessible so that the brigades can be picked up by the stand. It is important to match the compartments to the actual figure stand sizes, so that the available space is used efficiently. The compartments should be smaller, if the soldatini are mounted on small stands.

The storage box shown here has an internal height of 12.5 cm, ed it is tall enough to store 15 mm o 20 mm soldatini on due levels. Removable trays are used for this purpose. The trays rest on strips of 5 x 10 mm basswood which have been glued to the long interior walls of the box. The basswood strips are 57.3 cm long e they are mounted 60 mm above the floor of the box. We used wooden supports of 50 mm length to ensure that the basswood strips were level inside the box. These supports were removed once the glue had dried. If one of the tre trays is removed from the box, the other due trays slide sideways to reveal the soldatini stored below.

The trays are made from 4 mm MDF board, purchased at the hardware store e pre-cut to the required sized. The trays are edged con strips of 5 x 10 mm basswood o pine, to prevent the soldatini from sliding off the tray when it is lifted out of the box. The basswood strips ensure that the tray will not warp e fall into the box when completamente loaded con metal soldatini. The required width of each tray depends on the base sizes of the soldatini. La scatola shown here has due narrow ed one wide tray holding due e tre brigade stands adjacent to eachother, respectively. The trays are not divided lengthwise, because the large Volley & Bayonet brigade stands tend not to slide around much.

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Per ulteriori informazioni, per favore contatta la redazione di Rivista Military Miniatures nel Miniatures Forum.

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– Pubblicato: 03.09.2004 – Aggiornato: 09.03.2005
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