Dropship Carry Case

Recently I built the UD-41 Dropship, a papercraft project that resulted in a rather large and awesome 28mm scaled space vehicle. The only problem with such a big model is how to transport it.

The final product

As of late, I've made a number of game-related containers and boxes, most notably for Lost Patrol. While doing those projects I learned some new skills and developed some techniques for building and converting containers into attractive game boxes.

Fortunately, I had just the container - an old musical instrument case, maybe for a small saxophone? The case's skin is some sort of semi-ridged metal weave making it really strong. Add in a sturdy handle and two snap locks, and it appeared to be a perfect choice. 

It's pretty large (52x24x15cm-ish) but light.

First of all, I ripped out the internal velvet and foam molding - it took all of a minute to do and left a decent shell with which to work. And so the fun began!

First of all, I wanted to see whether the ship actually fit!
Clearly, it was long enough and luckily it was the exact width required, with
hardly a millimeter to spare!

Using some scrap cardboard, I made a pretty simple frame to
hold the dropship. Being effectively waste material, I could afford
to start relatively rough and trim to size. Getting the corners' curves 
corners was the hardest bit.

A quick check and yep, nice and snug 👌

Using more cards, I made some tops to cover the front corners.

I cut a piece of metal to match the card and wrapped it in velvet.

It's... black! And metallic and therefore means it can hold
my minis because I magnetise their bases.

This back section has lots of room, to hold both minis and the
dropship's two jet engines. But to do so, it needed to be metal lined as well.

I also completed the same process to line the case's lid, allowing me to store minis there as well - fortunately there's about 4cm clearance. And done! Snug as a bug. It was a fun little project and I enjoyed taking it to show my mates at Axes & Ales. Once I've gotten my team of Corporate Marines (?) sorted, I can pack them all up together into the case and travel. Have transport (in a case) will battle!