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Magnetic transportation is probably the best way to carry miniatures safely. Its main pros are ease of use and speed with which the miniatures get packed/unpacked. Although pure comfort, this way of transporting miniatures is not without issues, amongst which is how very heavy pieces can slide and rub on one another, damaging the paint job in the process. Today I will present to you an easy way of dealing with this issue once and for all!
I have been using magnetic transportation for the last few years. Before that I was all about foam bags and stuff, but since I got my first A-Case I’ve abandoned all other ways of carrying minis and never looked back. Now I am happily carrying my lovingly crafted armies, including scenery, in magnetic transportation cases exclusively. Although I will never trust in any one way of carrying minis completely, with only the positive experience, I grew to trust magnetic transportation *almost* all the way. By “almost” I mean there are, like with all methods, some things worth being aware of. For starters I will never, under any circumstances put my case sideways. Do not get me wrong – my miniatures are professionally magnetized, but why tempt fate? More importantly some miniatures are really, and I mean REALLY, heavy and may slide around regardless of how many magnets you put into their underside.
Just recently I have completed a large Solar Auxilia commission, including ten resin Dracosan tanks, over 400 grams each! The customer asked me to magnetize them and I got to it right away, but not without some thorough testing, to ensure the solution will work properly for these bad boys. Of course the miniatures moved around. I went through magnetized 3d printed holders, more magnets, stronger (over 20kg attraction power) magnets, magnets with rubber bands stretched between them, anti-slide stickers, foam trays to protect the miniatures and more. Neither solution satisfied the goal of providing safe transportation for my customers’ collection. Finally after multiple trials and errors I found an easy, cheap solution that gets the job done and is very user friendly.
Final word before we start:
The solution is very simple: Due to heavy weight the miniatures, if well magnetized, will stay on top of the metal shelf without issue. In order to prevent them from sliding around I simply needed to create a socket to block any extensive sideways movements.
For this I used 3mm thick self-adhesive felt sheets and pads. Yes, that is correct – the solution was much simpler than anticipated. I used the actual Dracosan tanks spread across an A-Case shelf and stuck a few felt pads, prepared in advance, around them. I left some loose space between the sheets and the tanks to make it easier for the customer to fit each tank in each slot, regardless of eventual small differences in size of resin elements. Assuming the tanks will not take off, they are allowed to slide just barely, as long as the only thing they hit would be a relatively soft pad…
The Final Test was successful!
I hope you’ve enjoyed this article. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below or via Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate it if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it interesting. Finally if you are looking for a professional miniatures painting service, be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
