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A-Case, the company best known for their outstanding magnetic transportation cases for miniatures, is at it yet again! If you follow my content you know that I am a big A-Case fanboy and in a close relation with the company. So much so as to participate in testing of ‘everything A-Case’ before release and providing feedback that is then implemented into the final design. That is to say that although clearly biased, I can recommend A-Case products with full confidence in their quality and functionality. This goes for the Portable Painting Station as well.
The Portable Painting Station is a set of cleverly designed extensions for the A-Case Victory, transforming this compact miniature carrying case into a mobile hobby workshop. Apart from the case, the set comes with:
* Two detachable LED top lights with appropriate click-in mounts.
* Two detachable LED front lights with magnetized mounts.
* Photographic background with detachable, magnetic mounts.
* Photographic background exterior Velcro based holder.
* Magnetic water cup.
* Magnetic Accessory/Paints transportation box.
* Shelf-to-Tray extension.
* Detachable carrying strap.
Sometimes, be it on vacation, visiting a family member, or just on the move the only thing you might want is to sit down and paint your miniatures. The A-Case Portable Painting Station provides a way to not only transport miniatures and essential hobby accessories with ease, but also create a firm, cozy, well lit hobby space for you to work at. Revolving around a compact carrying case the hobby space is enough to get some work done, in comfort, and keep the ‘artistic mess’ contained.
Following the ‘magnetic’ theme of the entire A-Case line, the set comes with an array of additional magnetic accessories such as Water Cup and the Paint Box. These, combined with some classic A-Case accessories such as the Magnetic Painting Grip, can then be transported, with ease and safely, on top of an extended tray.
Personally I find sharing pictures of finished miniatures online to be very exciting. Taking such pictures? Not so much. It usually takes a lot of setup to get a few good quality pics and up until recently I wouldn’t be able to imagine doing this while traveling. That is – until now! The A-Case Portable Painting Station is supplied with a detachable photographic background and a set of additional LED lights that quickly transform a working space into a miniature photographic studio. I could go on on the results, but I think the below pictures speak for themselves.
Not everyone might be interested in miniature photography during a trip. That’s fine, because A-Case takes your individual preferences into consideration. The background can be rolled up and attached to the exterior of the case while additional LEDs fit to the front accessory pocket. You decide if you want to leave these accessories or take them with you.
The Portable Painting Station expands the already vast range of A-Case functionality into a completely new territory, maintaining the theme of magnetized accessory compatibility along the way. It is a well thought through, user friendly and easy to transport hobby gadget – perfectly suited for anyone who’d like to take their hobby away from home. I have done some thorough testing, including an Easter trip. The quality is there, the product does exactly what it was designed for. I am impressed by the functionality and although clearly biased, I can vouch for the Portable Painting Station with my name on the line.
The Portable Painting Station is available from the official A-Case online store.
I hope you find this review interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below, or at Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate it if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it useful. 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.
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.
Transporting your miniatures should be smooth and easy. No company seems to embody this philosophy better than A-Case. A relatively small company from Poland, dedicated to producing the very top miniatures transporters. Their entire shtick revolves around magnetism and believe me – Once you go magnetic there’s no going back!
A-Case is best known for their Hybrid series magnetic cases, coming in four different types (and sizes), but there’s more to the line than meets the eye. Lately the company released a Magnetic Token Box, a peripheral accessory fully compatible with their cases. The item is a huge step in improving the comfort of miniatures transportation. Today I will focus on this awesome gadget and present to you its many advantages.
The Magnetic Token Box is an accessory dedicated to transporting a variety of wargaming peripherals, be it dice, laser pointers, gaming tokens and more. Each box is 3d printed with an integrated powder coated metal lid. There are five strong magnets mounted in the underside to immobilize the box inside an A-Case transporter or on top of one another. Boxes come in four colors (Red, Blue, Black and Grey), each 18cm long, 12cm wide and 3cm high (about 7x5x1″). Within you will find adjustable compartments consisting of five powder coated metal walls.
Magnetic Token Box is more than just your typical dice/token holder. It has a wide range of features. The most interesting of, are compatible with the magnetic theme of the A-Case products.
Although I have purchased both boxes used in this review fairly recently, I have been using the beta version of the Magnetic Token Box since last year. I have provided feedback, then watched as the design evolved through multiple iterations, new features being added, size adjusted. I can only say that the actual product got optimized to a point where I consider it perfect for wargaming related needs. The quality is great and the long list of features and possible uses is just mind blowing. It is also pretty well priced for what it offers. Magnetic Token Box is LEGO level of brilliant. I wholeheartedly invite you to try the product out.
I hope you find this review interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below, or at Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate it if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it useful. 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.
Carrying your miniatures around should not be a challenge. No need to waste time and risk miniatures getting damaged with foam or other old school transportation methods. Once you go magnetic there’s no going back – at least for the vast majority of us, hobbyists. And when it comes to magnetic it would be difficult to argue the A-Case is at the very top of the food chain, producing high quality, stylish and user friendly miniatures carrying cases.
Today I will present to you the latest A-Case’s release – the “Carrier” magnetic backpack for miniatures.
Side note: Before we dig in, please allow me to emphasize that the reviewed item was purchased and not a gift. That being said, throughout the years of using A-Case products I got to personally know the owner and we became real life friends. I am a big sucker for anything A-Case, do my best to support the company and as such, my opinion is surely compromised.
That out of the way, let’s focus on the backpack itself. A-Case Carrier is a fourth magnetic transporter for miniatures in the current “Hybrid” series . It follows the same design philosophy. Black, powder coated and lightweight aluminium frame inside a poliester binding. Three to six removable shelves and some metal pins to lock them in place. I have already covered the basics in previous A-Case Review, but what sets this particular model apart is definitely it’s size. 39,5cm height, 19cm width and 15cm depth of transportation space packed within a more or less 45cm x 35cm x 20cm backpack with straps and extra pockets. Thanks to increased height the Carrier can pack anything between a skirmish and a medium sized forces from any mainstream range. Plus, being a backpack, is is very comfortable to carry around.
The Carrier, just like all other A-Case transporters, is very user friendly. This includes a simple and intuitive build, presented below:
The A-Case Carrier seems like the very peak of magnetic transportation. I know for a fact that the designer had put a lot of thought into its creation. I myself had thoroughly tested the beta and must admit that all the extra features, size and weight had greatly exceeded my expectations. Still, what some prefer, others might find to be inconvenient. For the purpose of this review I will set aside the basic pros and cons of magnetic transportation and focus on immediate differences between the Carrier and the rest of A-Case’s range.
The Carrier expands Hybrid series range in a previously unexplored direction offering a relatively compact, airline friendly, carry-on size combined with extra height and additional peripheral space. Suitable for both skirmish and low points battle sized games, it is a transporter that you can simply put on your back and take to a gaming event. In my biased opinion, the Carrier is a fantastic miniatures transporter and I am very happy with the purchase. Once again the A-Case did not disappoint.
I hope you find this review interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments at Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it useful. 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.
Painting holders… love them or hate them, am I right? Personally, due to sheer quantity of miniatures that go through my desk I’m used to paint miniatures mounted on shot glasses. Standard painting grips are bulky and take up too much space, not to mention price and need of at least few dozen of these to keep up a comfortable work flow. This is why I was never truly interested in any Painting Grips available in the market… until now!
A-Case is a well known, one-man company from Poland, specializing in probably the best magnetic carrying cases for miniatures that money can buy. Let me put this up front: I am a big fan of A-Case product line and grew tight with the company. I might be a bit biased here. That being said I try my best not to get influenced by sympathy for A-Case, to a point of being very sceptic about any new product lines. Luckily I got samples for thorough beta testing. After some brutal, ruthless hobbying, I can honestly say all my misgivings got put to rest. More so I grew fond of Magnetic Painting Grip to a point of pre-purchasing multiple sets and extensions and switching to work with it almost exclusively.
At first glance A-Case Magnetic Painting Grip (MPG) might put you off. A mix of stylish design with a rather unorthodox production method result in a feel far from popular Chinese plastic we all are used to. A huge advantage of 3d printing is being able to fully integrate magnets and metal plates within the body, leading to increased durability and comfort of work. Apart from visuals, which are highly impacted by bare metal plates* (see update below), the MPG feels great and I had no quality issues amongst multiple Grips and about a hundred exchangeable heads I currently possess.
I really dig the shape and visual aspect of the MPG. The mix of colors and texture, specific to 3d print, makes it look sturdy and fit hobbyist’s workspace nicely. My only beef is with bare metal plates* (see update below), which look out of place. Still, these are almost always hidden beneath a miniature so it’s not a big aesthetics issue. All the while bare metal means better magnet compatibility.
Here’s where MPG shines. Large integrated magnets combined with a variety of exchangeable heads makes it, in my opinion, the most interesting painting grip in the market. Different head shapes can be used to distinguish different painting levels, or mark units, which is paramount in bulk painting. Switching miniatures is fast and comfortable. Weight is balanced between light and solid further increasing the comfort of work. On the downside the MPG might be difficult to keep clean, but the same is true for all painting grips, regardless of material.
Additionally:
After spending couple hundred hours painting Warhammer 40,000 miniatures with this thing in hand I can say it feels like made just for me. Goodbye shot glasses, as from now on the MPG is my go to tool.
Price wise the A-Case Magnetic Painting Holder comes close to competition, depending on how you look at things. With a set of five caps it definitely wins over multiples of other handles, but is less more expensive than its immediate competition of Redgrass Games:
As of November 2023 the item has seen some improvements. In response to users feedback the bare metal plates got exchanged for black powder coated beauties and new types of caps/heads got introduced as well.
As of January 2024 the extension range grew exponentially. Additional items include 25mm top, Oval Shaped top, Batch Painting top and Priming Top. I have tested all of them personally and can vouch for each and every one.
Whereas the 25mm and Oval is rather self explanatory, the large extensions are a bit more advanced. They work great both individually and alongside regular toppers, depending on the size of the miniatures bases mounted on top. Worth noting is the weight of mounted items – too much and there will be need to hold the base of the extension while operating as not to let the weight take the entire thing off of the handle. That being said – I have not encountered any issues when working on my own miniatures.
To sum things up: Magnetic Painting Grip is a brilliant design that fits, but is also not dependent on the “magnetic” theme of entire A-Case brand. MPG is comfortable and user friendly. It also is fully compatible with A-Case transportation cases which adds additional value. Based on feedback the item seen improvement and is currently my very favorite painting holder of all time. And I’m talking purchasing multiple, multiple copies level of favorite. I sincerely couldn’t recommend it enough.
What’s your opinion? Have you used one? Let me know in the comments.
Moving painted miniatures to a tournament or painting competition can be a real challenge. I bet that every single miniatures painter had one or more miniatures damaged while being transported. Sad truth is that no matter what we do, situations like these happens. Still, when it comes to safe transportation of our beloved miniatures, we’re not completely helpless.
In the world of miniatures painting there are two well established ways of professional miniatures transportation, both with their own pros and cons: Foam Bags and Magnetic Bags. Today I would like to talk a bit about the latter and present to you the A-Case Hybrid Series from A-Case, one of the leading companies in the market.
During my years as a hobby store manager and a hobbyist, I’ve seen my share of transportation bags. This imho allows me to say that when it comes to quality A-Case is king. Everything fits, everything is smooth, no thread going wild along the stitches, inner metal casing of great quality plus the overall feel of an exclusive product.
New A-Case Hybrids saw a lot of improvements compared to previous series, such as a much sturdier construction, reinforced trays, strapped side pins to keep the trays in place and more.
I know this part is totally subjective, but Dayum! The new case looks so good! Everything from design, through quality makes it feel prestigious, both in the inside and the outside. To be fair the sole look is what made me crave a Magnetic Case of my own when I scrolled through facebook and saw it time and time again. Just couldn’t resist. At least now you know why I’m so hyped about it.
Coming from a position of an orthodox foam fan I have thoroughly tested this carrying case during last month. Apart from obvious features like light weight, comfort of use, adjustable strap with a shoulder pad, handle, large pocket and removable trays the Hybrid has some cool features that improve on the case’s functionality. A Velcro strap on top and at the front allows to attach badges, while water resistant material will keep your miniatures safe in case of bad weather. My favorite though are side pins to immobilize the trays in place. In previous series these might get lost but now attached with flexible straps they will follow the trays around.
It’s not easy to compare A-Cases to other transportation cases as there’s really no high tier competition in the market. Yes, there are some magnetic cases out there (Battle Foam, Tablewar etc.) but most is just out of this league. The A-Case is more expensive than foam counterpart, but it offers a totally different method of miniatures transportation. One that does not involve your paint job touching anything, even as soft as foam. One that allows you to transport large quantity of miniatures in a rather small bag. Most importantly one that is durable and will last for years to come. In addition A-Case offers free shipping around the world and in some cases (like US) that means huge savings.
For me the pricing of this exclusive product seem fair. Taking the cost of miniatures and time/money spent on painting into consideration, it seems like a reasonable price for solid, comfortable and very aesthetic protection.
To summarize, if you’re looking for a solid and comfortable way to transport your miniatures – A-Case is the thing. It looks great, it is very comfortable to use, made of high quality materials and with utmost care for detail. A bit on the expensive end of the hobby, although still reasonably priced. Personally I love it, as A-Case totally revolutionized my approach to Magnetic transportation and ended twenty years of my foam addiction.
A-Case Hybrid Series is available at:
A-Case website,
A-Case Facebook,
I hope you find this review interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments at Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it useful. 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.
