After a tough week, hobbying has been a welcome and necessary escape for me. As I waited for more things for the diorama to arrive, I decided to focus on something that I started painting and never got very far with. I think it was meant to be done between a display project and something else but I just completely lost my momentum on it and couldn’t pick it back up for quite some time. Thankfully, this Raider was fairly easy and enjoyable to paint once I got going on her again. While it wasn’t difficult or complex, I am proud of her facepaint/tattoo which is not really inspired by the games so much as orcs in the Hobbit movies. There’s something about someone who paints a diagonal line down their face that makes you question their sanity a bit which is perfect for a raider! I’ve got quite a few raiders to paint so if you like her, there will be plenty more to come.
The other thing I wanted to discuss is my mishap with miniature storage this week. I basically have my Fallout minis and Lord of the Rings/Hobbit minis which are painted for gaming separate from my display pieces which desperately need a display case to be homed in. That is a problem for another day though. I dug through my gaming pieces which are mostly kept in a Citadel Battle Case. I like how compact the hard case that I have is. Its been easy to store in a closet but I can still keep plenty of miniatures in it. However, I have had some real issues with it and I’ve finally had enough.
I was digging around in the case to find some Hobbit minis I painted about 3-4 years ago in preparation for the diorama I’m starting and I was disappointed to find that some of the stuff I painted has been damaged. At least one sword was bent pretty good which shouldn’t be a surprise since it sticks out above the foam protection. Its kind of hard to see in the picture below but hopefully you can spot it.
One problem with these foam cases is that anything taller than your standard miniature (or even a standard miniature with a sword straight up in the air, is not safe from being damaged like this. That’s not great, especially with how GW makes minis these days. But the other annoyance is that because the rows of foam are not attached to the bottom of the tray, miniatures can rub against each other accidentally. I believe that is how the paint on some of these wargs got chipped off. Also, every time you lift one of the foam trays out, miniatures shift around and tend to get underneath the foam which is annoying and you feel like you have to “fix” the minis and put them back in their places. Forget about having any metal miniatures in this case. They are even worse in this regard because they’re heavier and I had to buy a separate foam tray from Pirate Labs for metal minis. The foam rows do allow bigger minis to fit in there okay but only if they aren’t too tall. Personally, I feel like this is a bad design by Games Workshop and if I remember correctly, they said you can put tanks and things like that in these cases. I would highly recommend NOT doing that because anything that pokes out on the top, could get damaged easily.
So all this is to say, I’m going to get a new miniature case of some kind because this isn’t working for me. I’ve had this case for quite a few years now and I guess I can’t complain too much but I am still a bit annoyed that I can’t trust it to keep things safe. I’d love to do the magnet thing that seems to be the most popular way to store minis these days but Fallout bases do not work the way Games Workshop ones do. They’re solid resin and I can’t be bothered to drill out much of the base just to be able to store them. I think Battle Foam seems to have better foam options that will keep my minis safe and should make them easier to keep track of too. Of course, if there’s interest, I’ll be happy to share my thoughts once I actually buy one in the next couple of weeks but for now, I’m going to be careful with my GW case to ensure no further damage occurs.
That’s enough grumbling from me for this time though. I’ve started working on the next diorama so you can look forward to seeing the first bits of that project next week.
Kuribo's Painting 
Great looking Raider mate, and I agree about the facepaint/tattoo.
I had a case like that. It and I did not get along so it went on eBay. I still have not found a replacement so I suppose it is a good thing I only game at home. That said, I would like to hear you choose as a replacement.
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Cheers, mate! I will have to try some other facepaint/tattoos on the remaining raiders to see if I can maintain the same feeling across the minis.
I haven’t been happy with this case for a while but the damage caused to miniatures is the last straw. Its funny because I bought the case in the event I ever wanted to play outside of my house and I haven’t done it once. I do like the case as a way to store all of the minis in one place though. I’ll definitely follow up on here once I get a new case and hopefully I’ll like it better than this Citadel one.
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I sometimes think you have a stash of blog titles and then you decide what to paint 😁
It seems like miniature storage only works if you never touch it again.
Raider looking good, looking forward to seeing more of them.
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Haha, I don’t put that much thought into these titles. I just sit down and write one. Half the time, I don’t even think the titles I use are that good though I was proud of this one.
Its hard to find the perfect miniature storage solution for sure though truthfully, until this damage happened, the Citadel case had been fine so I don’t want to be too hard or unfair to it. I just hope to find something that protects the minis even better, if that’s possible.
I will see if I can’t get some more raiders done in the near future then too!
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Nice work on the Raider. As for Foam cases and inserts have you checked out KRcases.com? I’ve found them to be fantastic but of course it also depends on the figures you are aiming to store too.
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Thanks, mate and I will give KRcases a look! I’ve heard of them and I’m definitely trying to consider all of the options out there to find the best one for me before I make a purchase so I’m glad you mentioned it.
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Nice mini, Jeff – I think the haircut is scarier than the tattoo! 🙂 I buy adhesive magnetic rubber sheet and find that ideal for flat bases and use it on all my minis. I’ve also never used the foam insert cases, since I still have soft plastic figures and they wouldn’t stand a chance in them!
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Haha, thank you, John! Its certainly not a haircut that just anybody can pull off! I didn’t know they made magnets like that. I could see that being the key to making a magnetic storage system work. I’ll dig into that a little further and see if I think that could be a good option. I’m glad you mentioned it!
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Excellent work on the raider Jeff, has a real haggard look to her, as if was surviving really worth it !
As for the storage dilemma, will be interesting to see what way you go, and can see why you would want a change, not a fan of those open rows, as models have a tendency to move, when in transit, hope the damage is easily fixable.
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I tried to get that across with the painting but I’d say the sculpt made her look a bit rough too which was in my favor.
That is exactly the problem with GW’s design. They oversell the flexibility of those open rows too I think. The case is really only good for infantry. Bigger minis just don’t work in their case and they sell quite a lot of them so its a bit of a headscratcher. I’ll follow up whenever I get the new case and can share my thoughts on it.
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Great model mate, really captured the feel of Fall Out in it.
As for cases I have also heard KRcases are good like TIM suggests.
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Thank you, mate! I’ll give KRcases a look based on your recommendation.
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Nice job😀. It’s true that a facial tattoo denotes a certain life style; tattoo artist, inmate, or raider.
I use magnets for my storage. For miniatures without a magnetic base I get the flex steel from Litko and stick it on the base bottom and have the storage tub lined with sheet magnet. For what’s it worth.
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I’m glad it isn’t just me who thinks that about the tattoo. I didn’t know that Litko made something like that. I’ll give it a look as I think the magnetic option probably is better than foam overall. Thanks for mentioning it, Stew.
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The Raider is looking pretty good. Which takes me back to the first time I walked into a Raider base in Fallout….gruesome! As for storage, my method (magnet tape plus washers) is pretty good at preventing scratches….but it might not be for everyone. At the end of this post, I have a picture and talk more about what I used: https://doubledowndice.wordpress.com/2020/03/16/dwarf-tokens/
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The Raiders might be fellow humans but nobody said they’re nice! Thank you for sharing your storage method as well. I know that it can be really economic to use magnets in plastic tubs and it is certainly something worth considering!
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Ooo, great painting on a nice mini! I love the earthy colours and the rust on her weapon and armour, she looks like a real survivor! And nice work on painting all those damn straps, those always drive me up the wall 🙂
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I reckon the Raiders are tougher and meaner than most people and that’s how they’ve survived as long as they have. She does have a lot of straps and they were time consuming to paint like you mentioned. I guess people had to find a use for belts in the post apocalypse one way or another 🙂
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She looks great, well done. Face paint (and scarring for that matter) is so hard to get to work well at this scale so I like how understated you’ve made it.
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Thanks, mate! I’m glad to hear you like her 🙂
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I’m with John on that haircut mate, but maybe being bald I’m just jealous!! I’m glad I don’t have the added problem of things getting damaged moving them around, its bad enough warring about all the cat fur settling on mine!
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Many of us have less hair on our heads than we’d like and that includes me! It is really nice not to have to worry about durability with dioramas. I’m appreciating that with the one I’m working on right now. I’m working with some things that would very hard to do if I had to make it more durable. That’s all I can say for now though 🙂
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👍🏻🤓
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