A question popped up on the Two Hour Wargames forum recently where someone asked about figure storage solutions which allowed quick access to figures.
So, I decided to do a quick post on how I store my finished figures. Note, the unpainted lead pile of shame & terrain pieces are not covered in this post – we all know what a shoe box looks like.
Whenever I travel to play a game, I use one or more of these four cases. You’re probably familiar with them, they come in all sizes and colors (of course I would have a pink one!). Inside they have foam trays to protect the miniatures.
While these cases are great for transporting figures and storage, they are a bit of a hassle if you have to dig through them to find specific miniatures. Plus, some sizes and case material can be expensive.
Sterilite Stationary Cabinet
For quick access to figures I use a lot, I have some Sterilite 3-Drawer Stationary Cabinets I picked up at Wal-Mart or Target. I use one to actually store stationary: paper, card stock, printer cartridges, etc. Seems like they cost around $5 or $6 bucks.
It’s best to place a piece of paper or cloth on the bottom to keep the figures from sliding around when you open and shut the drawers. The only way I could see traveling with one of these would be to use a magnetic basing system with magnets & “paper steel”.
The Humble Egg
Several months ago, Jeremy of Black Magic Craft had a situation where he wasn’t able to produce an episode for his channel, so he reached out to fellow crafters & painters to each give one quick tip. Brent of Goobertown Hobbies had the most brilliant idea for inexpensive figure storage – egg cartons! They are the right size for most 28mm miniatures, they’re stackable & give some protection to the miniature. You can color code them & put labels on them. I think they will be the go to storage solution for my small WWII collection.
I hope this quick post has been useful. Let me know how you store your miniatures. Don’t be embarrassed, for years I used shoe boxes. How many of you stored Space Marines in a box that had Feragamo or Prada printed on the lid?
Here’s the video where I first saw the egg carton solution:
Atomic Floozy Adventures 
And Brent will be forever marked with egg jokes
Nice- I’m too stingy to buy the storage I need. Everytime I go to I just use it to buy more models instead….
Cheers,
Pete.
I’ve got several complete WH40K armies stashed away in egg cartons and old rifle cases! The stuff I have magnetized, I store in brownie tins, they are non-stick with a raised-snap on lid, they’ve got 3-3.5 inches of clearance, so all but the most mysterious mini’s fit!
I’ve been using 80 figure Chessex boxes. Unfortunately, I only have space for two more of these, so I’m going to have to come up with something else. I’ve used my trusty Exacto knife, foam, and plastic boxes to make similar storage units for my Civil War ironclads. My Greeks and Arthurians (known as Sub-Roman Britons when I converted them because nobody made them back in those dark ages), are stored in old brief cases filled with foam. The Turks and Maniots ore in toiletries kits stuffed with sheet foam. My Foreign Legion figures are standing around in a plastic box, some figures are in a little drawer unit, like your Sterilite drawers. Finally, about 40 figures painted in the past year or so are sitting on a precariously balanced plastic box lid on my chest of drawers. Egg cartons? I’m not too sure about that, since our eggs come in tri-fold plastic cartons, rather than papier-mache cartons.