Space Hulk Boxes

Transforming my 'Barrel of Genestealers'
into a 'proper' wargame box!

Recently I painted up my 2nd Edition Space Hulk set.  It was a quick, enjoyable and visually appealing job and I've really liked playing with the 'new improved' set since.  The one problem was storing everything in the box, more specifically, the painted miniatures.

Two annoying things associated with miniature wargaming are (1) losing miniatures and (2) scratching or damaging their paint jobs.  On Saturday I lost a Terminator - whilst I found him a few hours later (he'd fallen behind the desk) - and with the constant play my miniature collection gets at the hands of Master 6 (Charlie), they're forever requiring a touch-up or two.



So today I decided to do something about it.  Yesterday I magnetised my Space Hulk miniature's bases (5mm circular N50's stuck on with epoxy glue) and today Charlie and I nicked off to first Lincraft (no luck) , then Bunnings (a religious temple here in Oz), hunted around and ended up buying two craftwood pencil boxes and some sheet metal and set to it.  And for once I took a few snaps of the process...

Here you can see the relative size of the boxes.  Around 12x25x7cm.
They cost about $12- each and have a sliding lid.

After a bit of measuring, I worked out that I'd need 5-5.5cm sections.
I cut out 10.5x10cm metal rectangles from my big bit of metal sheeting
(about $15? I used about a third) then bent them.  They sat flush in the box. 

Three L-sections later and the shelves are almost done.
The top shelf is a bit taller than the others to accommodate the Sargent's banner pole.

The top shelf had a fourth L-section mounted but in reverse -
that way both ends of the box are metal. I used some epoxy glue
to stick the metal onto the back face of the box - mind you, it was probably
snug enough that I could have left it as is.

A bit of metallic paint from a rattle can I had lying about and
and this box was left to dry.

The above took a couple of hours to do.  Once it was drying, I tackled box number two.

I knew I kept this for a reason: some mesh used on computer cases.  This would look
a lot different to the sheet metal. A quick trim and bend and it was ready to fit into the box.

Hello, lucky salvage #2: some orange, translucent acrylic.
Scored, snapped and sanded and it would make a nice lid. 

Another piece of acrylic, but more orange - it actually
almost glows - the photo doesn't do it justice.
I cut a narrow (110x10mm) strip and expoxed
it to the end of the other piece - not only does it
provide a lip to pull the box open with, but it also
hides a scratch in on the lower, larger piece.

So the second box took a little less time - maybe an hour? - and it was also sprayed and left to dry.  I took the opportunity to tidy up my workspace some...

The evidence of madness...

And so onto the results!

Here are the two boxes, side-by-side: Ultramarines on the left (with a sticker I had lying about)
and Greenstealers on the right.

Firstly the Ultramarine box: slide the lid off and there's room for my current 10 Terminators and I think I could fit 20 in there if I had to (5 on each shelf).

As the shelves and back of the box are all metal, the Terminators can be
placed either as you see them or in the same manner as the Genestealers (see below).
The magnets mean they won't rattle about and fall out.

And the Genestealer box: it looks pretty 'alien' with the orange see-through lid and honeycomb grated floor don't you think?  I can just pack in the 20 Genestealers as their bloody claws and arms all tangle up.  I think it looks great - like some kind of sample box or something.

See the orange glow effect?  Crazy!!

And look at that - they both fit nicely inside the Space Hulk Box (almost flush)
And there's still room for everything else to be packed inside.

I may do another coat with the rattle can and even put some sort of protective varnish on it - again, easy to do with a spray.  Right now the backs of the boxes and lids are just plain craftwood.  I'm thinking of printing up some rule summary card-type things to stick on the - much like the one on the back of the rule books.  Now that I've recently made a Cyclone Missile Rack and acquired (but yet to paint and magnetise) some Lightning Claws and Assault Cannon, I could do with their rules also being readily accessible.  Some day...

I love it when a project just comes together, especially when there's little by the way of planning - instinctive creations, they're often my best :-)