Wednesday, July 25, 2012

From the Desk: Portable Assembly Case

Inspired by the value gained from having a portable assembly kit, I decided to upscale it a bit with a proper case that could hold everything I needed. Here's a quick overview of my refined version.

This is the case itself. I picked this up at Michael's for $8-ish. There were lots of options, but I picked this case because it was compact, had plenty of lengthy spaces for storing specific tools, and a larger section in the bottom that could hold models of decent sizes. Let's take a tour of the contents!
This section holds models in various states. I cut down my foam from before to fit. This foam lets me keep up to 6 projects safe and separated. As you can see, I've got an Ironback Spitter sitting in there, which is a large but relatively compact model. The case is great for things up to that size. However stuff the size and shape of say a Scythean or Dire Troll Mauler may not fit so well. There are of course limits to what can reasonably be carried in this case. Nevertheless, this gives me plenty of space to bring projects with me and is perfect for even large pieces that just need to be trimmed.
This section contains mostly tools. Clippers, knives, pin vise, micro files, tweezers, probe, and brass rod. This section of the case isn't very deep, so I keep the relatively compact tools in this section. There's plenty of space for more, but I found that this was more than adequate for what I normally do.
This is the top deck, which has a bit more space than the tools deck due to the shape of the lid. This one obviously contains green stuff, glue, liquid putty, a few random things, and then a mysterious bamboo roller (which I'll explain in a moment. This section also ends up carrying my dice and pencils when I take the assembly case to RPG sessions. At present I'm only bringing green stuff, but in the future I suspect I may also bring other types of putty with me, and fortunately there's plenty of additional space.
This is the unrolled bamboo roller. I've converted it into a brush case, but here I'm using it to store shapers, sculpting tools, additional micro files, and a brush (for the liquid putty). I just roll the whole thing up and stick a rubber band around it to keep it secure. I've found this to be a very convenient and safe way to transport this misc tools.
The whole case measures less than 7"(d)x10"(w)x6"(h) which makes it extremely compact. As I mentioned above, it's great for taking to RPG sessions or other situations where I know I'll be able to sit and get some work done. In those cases I usually throw some paper towels in as well to catch any waste material. In any case, I hope this is useful for other people. I've gotten a huge amount of value out of putting this case together already. Over the last few RPG sessions I've gotten 8 models assembled which is keeping my assembly pace ahead of my painting pace, and that's great for maintaining my momentum.

1 comment:

FilmExile said...

This is actually an excellent idea. I think I'll be following suite and assembling my own assembly kit.