MOAB 2015, figure cases and finishing off the Reaper Bones Valkyrie

A good shopping week this week with a number of bargains to be had at the Bring and Buy stall at MOAB 2015.  But first a figure transport case.

Slide out trays

When I took El Torres to Canberra at the beginning of the year I transported the figure inside and old baby milk powder tin.  Quite a robust transport method but pretty daggy and hard to get the figure in and out safely.  As mentioned last week I started making a decent figure transport case.

The case is made out of 9mm (sides and top) and 12mm ply with some 3mm ply as the removable sliding side.  For strength I used 18mm square pine in each of the corners and glued and screwed the ply into the pine blocks.  This way there is something solid to hold the box together.

Slide side 'lid'

There are two slide out trays that the figure bases will be attached to (via screws) and then these trays slide into slots so they are held securely.  There is also a removable dividing wall so if I’m transporting two figures anything breaking off one figure won’t hit the other.  Also if I’m transporting something huge I can by removing the dividing wall.

The removable side slides into slots so that way I don’t have any hinges/clasps/etc that will catch on anything else.  The whole thing is painted with enamel paint on the outside and estapol varnish on the inside.  Finally a carry handle was attached.  The handle was a discount find from Ikea many years ago.  Now that I’ve got that out of my system I can stop wasting time building boxes that I will use once a year.

Reaper Bones Valkyrie

I also finished off my Valkyrie.  I could do a bit more but there are a few casting faults on the figure (esp in the arms) so I think I’m done.  Still struggling to shade metallics esp when they aren’t chainmail.

















As usual I went to MOAB for the Bring and Buy store.  After 30 minutes in the sun the store opened and the great unwashed mass descended.  I was looking for 54mm figures (or busts/etc - little chance there), maybe some 1/35 military figures and anything else that looked good.  However no 30+ year old boardgames are allowed anymore.  The cupboards are full.

I made out like a bandit.  On to the swag bag…

* Malifaux rules and 25 d6 dice - $2

Never going to play, just wanted to have a read.  Plus it came with dice.  Can’t walk past that at $2.  Or to put another way, I got 25 dice for $2.

* German machine gun team - $6

Just to add the collection.  Doubt I’ll use all of the figures but some may be used in a 1/35 diorama one day.  Never been opened.

* German flak panzer IV - $15

Since I did my Panzer II a year plus ago I’ve been wanting to do another 1/35 vehicle.  I’ve also been reading a number of old Military Modelling magazines and have skilled up quite a bit on technique so want to try another large piece.  So this was a great find as it saves me money as I don’t have to buy a full price kit.  I even had someone else ask if they could have it from me :)  Pays to line up for 30mins in the sun.  Never been opened.

* Jagpanzer IV - $12

It was raining Panzer IV variants at MOAB this year.  Again saves me buying a full price one later.  Never been opened.

* Plaster pots - $5

Nice looking pots (Hirst molds I’m pretty sure) which I purchased for 54mm scenery.  Symmetrical shapes are hard to get right by hand.

* Urmuth, scars of war - $15

I normally go over the bring and buy a number of times, just in case.  Really glad I did it this time as just before leaving I came across this.  54mm figure from Andrea. Oh yeah.

* Grondar Firebeard - $15

In the same area on the second hand table as Urmuth, another 54mm Andrea figure.  Again early glad I picked over the scraps this year.

So after such I good haul at the Bring and Buy I didn’t buy anything from the retail stores.  Now that I don’t do 28mm games much any more there isn’t that need to keep buying extra units for armies, etc.  Kind of feel a bit rude about not buying anything to be honest.

The quality of the items at the Bring and Buy store was better than previous years.  The usual huge amounts of 40K and Warhammer although I suspect there will be more Warhammer fantasy over the next few years as people start to dump their collections. Heard many complaints about the Age of Sigmar killing off Warhammer fantasy.  There was less mouldy old boardgames (sad face) and crummy 28mm scenery.  That’s right people, black spray painted foam “buildings” can be done by anyone, so your pieces aren’t going to sell at $20 each.  Lot of magazines too this year.  There was more 1/35 figures there but I had enough.  I didn’t really need more Germans.

It’s also interesting to see the trends of games go through retail and into the second hand store.  Years ago the Bring and Buy was full of LotR figures.  This year was the first scatterings of X-wing.  Like sands through the hourglass…