Hey guys,
What's your preferred method of ship transportation? I've essentially been wrapping mine in plastic bags and that's just not very... elegant. I've seen plastic cases with little compartments online but I don't know how protective those are, and I'm not sure they'd fit my Falcon or Slave I. I've also seen those nice cases with the foam inserts, are they worth the expense?
My preferred method is individually on top of velvet cushions each carried by four specially trained ballet dancers in golden flowing robes while chanting gregorian music.
But that is a bit costly, so individual compartments have to do. It's not as if I'm going to juggle them about after all.
I have a set of KR Multicase foam trays for most of my ships (I didnt plan ahead as I keep buying and have now run out of space) which I used to drag ALL of to my friend's house to play, but now I only keep a few ships (maybe three squad lists worth for each faction) in a smaller plastic case that I can fit inside a messenger bag with my ship and upgrade cards. For me, the cost of the foam trays was worth it at the time (it was maybe $150 I think?) to safely store all my ships, particularly my Huge ships. The foam trays are without a doubt the safest for the ships, but given all the foam its not the most compact.
The plastic cases (I got mine from Home Depot) work fine for me. I keep my small ships on the bases and pegs and put them in the compartments laying down on their backs (ie with the Xwing engines down and the guns pointed up) which helps keep them from flopping around. The cases I have are customizable so I can make compartments big enough for the large ships like the Falcon and Decimator, which with their size I dont worry as much about them moving a bit in the compartments.
This game is young, and a lot of it's players are new to miniatures wargaming.
Putting painted miniatures in hard plastic cells to rattle around for years WILL result in paint rubbing and chipping off. Maybe not in the year or two that some people have had them in there, but in five or six years, yeah, you're going to have a LOT of paint touch-ups o do.
Foam is the way to go. and IMO KR Multicase provides the best foam.
Well, I think my question is answered. KR Foam it is. Thanks, guys!
Slightly modified version of this: http://imgur.com/a/zlgTu
I had a plastic case that came with the original Reaper Miniatures kickstarter a few years ago, got some upholstery foam from a home supplies shop, and a craft knife, made my own. Probably not actually cheaper than just buying it, but I find it more satisfying.
Toss them in a box and go.
KR for the win. Not the cheapest options, but the foam is soft and protective.
Battle Foam also has a great selection of custom foam trays for X-Wing Minis. So decent package deals as well. Not the cheapest but pretty solid quality.
I've been using Battle Foam and custom trays. Can get so much more in there and they are well protected.
Apparently, some of my ships seem to prefer being on the boat.
I've been using Feldherr for my foam storage, and it's working very nicely. The "Hard Case with Shoulder Strap" holds everything from Waves 1-6 nicely, but I need to look at another case to hold Waves 7 and 8, and my Epic ships.
Sir willybald boxes
Sir willybald boxes
This. His micro Hangers are legit. Fun little project to make too. I then store the boxes in Plano 36 series trays.
The only downside is I need a good 30 minutes to get each new expansion properly set up in my carry case. I also use clear adhesive "book covers" over the dial faces to protect them from rubbing. It's quite the ordeal, and I have been known to buy expansions and let them sit a few weeks until I can get around to fiddling with it.
I've been using Feldherr for my foam storage, and it's working very nicely. The "Hard Case with Shoulder Strap" holds everything from Waves 1-6 nicely, but I need to look at another case to hold Waves 7 and 8, and my Epic ships.
I am not in a hurry as I need to wait until Ghost comes out as no one has foam for that yet. 
I have modified the layout, but the base design has remained the same:
The toolbox is from Home Depot, and was $25 on sale. I now have 4 sheets of foam in it (2 1'', 1 1.5'' and 1 2''). Each foam sheet was like $7 from my FLGS. To the left of the foam, I've actually changed it out to be 4 card boxes - all of which I've gotten from OP kits. One holds all of my Imp/Scum pilot cards, one holds all of my Imp dials and cardboard inserts, one holds all of my scum dials, cardboard inserts, and all of the mission tokens, and the final one holds all of my rebel pilots.
The black binder is still there - it is a side loader for all of the upgrade cards. Though I hear they now make a mini card version of it. Now that the cardboard bases are stored elsewhere, the space right above the lamba holds 4 large bases, prox mines and all the cardboard inserts (stacked 2 high). The manuals are in the same location as before, though it's getting kind of tight with all of the new stuff coming out.
On the top, I've put back the original large bin on the left side of the box, and I've made dividers for 3 of the bins, allowing the top row to hold focus, evade, ion, stress, shields, and extra munitions (in that order). The left side bin holds the asteroids/debris clouds in the top half, and my dice and damage decks in the bottom half. I've cleared out the top half of the right side bin (who needs that many bases anyways) and it now holds the small and large pegs (in little cardboard bins like those for the dials), along with seismics charges, proton bombs, cluster mines, and then my single cloak token and weapons disabled token, along with a small baggie of crit tokens and number tokens. My TLs are still in the same location, though I've gotten rid of the foam and just grab whatever locks I want. All of these changes have opened up 5 bins in the middle of the box. 2 of which hold all of the rebel cardboard inserts, and 3 of which hold all of the rebel dials. Finally, the templates still live in the front section, along with the conners net token, which is just a smidge too large to fit anywhere else.
When I play the same list repeatedly, I also keep the pilot/upgrade cards in the front slot for easy access. In general though, if I know what I'm playing, it only takes about 5 minutes to pull it all together, but probably more like 10 minutes to tear it all apart. And with the number of changes I've made over the years (wow... it really has been that long), I think I'm due for some updated pictures. I'll see about posting those at some point.
During a tourney, I grab one of the side bins and all of my stuff fits in it for easy carrying from table to table. Though I'm not sure a large base + several smaller ships would fit.
I use pluck foam (Battlefoam Sword bag) and reused some of the original packaging.
I chop up the 'clam' base that the ships were sitting in, pull out some foam and stick the now cut up ship packaging into the gap I made.
This way they stay snug and don't move around. Important if you ever want to paint up some of your ships.
Also better than getting any of the pre-cut / custom trays
I too subscribe to the Micro Hangers method. Way more space efficient than any foam method.
I find foam containers incredibly too expensive for pre-painted minis. I don't see the need for them.
I use a Plano box and it fits a lot.
Stanley cases, with the plastic from the retail package cut up to fit within the little boxes. Z-95s can go 3 deep in the smallest box. I use a cut up corner from the retail package to create shelves.
I've got an inquiry to a foam factory for a slab of foam, and will custom cut it as needed, still to fit within the hard plastic shells, overkill is the only way!
I use the Plano double sided box, I lined the sides with adhesive backed black felt (99cents, 12"x12", @local craft shop). I keep my huge ships in a rigid plastic tool box with felt lining. The clear-panel outside compartments hold all my dials & tiles for easy find n grab....All for transport.
I have another single sided box for all tokens, dice and pieces with room to hold 3 squads for tournaments. All cards are in binders, btw.
I like displaying them in a shelf when at home.
Edited by dewbie420I live on the other side of the world, so choice is rather limited for me. Nevertheless, here is my observation so far:
Plano 5231: This is by far the most popular plano case for X-Wing players in my area. It's durable, cheap, and the bottom compartment can contain large (not huge!) ships. I reckon even the ghost will fit without any problems. You might see quite a number of this case in use at your FLGS.
Cons: capacity, although decent, will not be sufficient. If you plan to own only 1 of each expansion, you probably need 3-4 of this boxes not including storage for huge ships. They have the double sided version, which is basically 2 5231s clamped into 1 bigger case but man they look ugly and seemingly inconvenient to carry. You'd be better off buying spare 5231s, but maybe that's just me. You might want to consider buying foam or other means of padding to protect your minis in the long run.
Stanley 014725: This case gives your minis the best presentation they can ever had, provided that you are okay with its yellow / black color combo. Cut the blisters that protected your minis in its original packaging and make it fit inside the yellow boxes and voila! decent protection and striking look at the same time. Plus, the small compartments are removable and interchangeable, meaning if you buy more than one of this cases you can arrange such that the small ships are arranged together for even better presentation. They also have a bigger brother (014710R) to contain your huge ships.
Cons: Size. It's bulkier than the plano and actually might fit less ships depending how you store the ships due to its fixed-size compartment system. The larger compartment fits 2 K-Wings / YT-2400 just nice, but you need to jerjerrod a few compartments to make way for Falcon / Slave 1/ Deci. Also Lambdas won't fit since the case is rather shallow. I'm a purveyor of storage efficiency and this case just doesn't shout efficiency at all. Still, you will find this as a nice option if you aren't somebody that's stuck on the other side of the world as an expat (that's me by the way).
KR/Battlefoam/Feldherr: These three are foams. There are other brands too but they are the most popular and people swear by it. As with all foams, they all provide good protection and you will feel like Paul Heaver everytime you open your collection. Battlefoam offers you a nice customization option to ensure that what you're buying is worth every penny of your money. They're also understandably the most expensive and they are US based. Feldherr is the cheapest and I like the fact that their precut foams are pretty good (how they make room for a lil bit of everything nicely). They seem to be German based.
Cons: Expensive. Plus, unless you're very careful in your purchase planning they won't scale with your fleet as they increase in size. Feldherr and Battlefoam have cheaper cardboard box option to hold the foams, so this will help you to save some while compromising the overall look. Good if you're driving a car to FLGS or the kind of player that doesn't transport minis often. or mix with other options to carry your squads
Sir Willibald's Cardstock Boxes: I wish I can make use of this. Sadly my art scores were a flat D since kindergarten. IMO Sir Willi has made the best alternative to all storage options out there and all minis fit snugly in his boxes. Talk about storage efficiency! Needless to say his boxes will cater to your needs as your collection increases.
Cons: Were you doing ok in art class and willing to spend some time cutting & glueing the boxes? I tried doing this myself but you need to know what it takes to make a good box. Mine turned out like a diamond instead of square boxes.
Plano 1374: This is the holy grail of storage for me. It has four 3750 series boxes, which has a lot of removable dividers for all your needs. You can fit about 3 large ships plus tons of small ships/tokens/dials/bases/templates on each of these boxes. But the best thing is that you can fit 2 huge ships inside 1374's top compartment (Raider and Assault Carrier in my case). I love the fact that I can fit all my collections in a single box, and still able to bring just 1 3750 series boxes to my FLGS / tournament. If you collect only 1 of each expansions then this is the best case for you. Though you will still need to consider buying a cut foam to protect your minis in the long run.
Cons: Not as pricy as the foam storage options, but again it's not available everywhere. I am so hellbent on finding this case in my country, and finally had the help of a kind traveller to bring this back from US.
Well, that's about it I guess. I hope this helps 
For foam, I have to admit to liking Feldherr the best (And I've tried both KR and Battlefoam). I got a couple of different cases from Amazon just before Worlds last year and I have been storing my collection in them ever since. I tried to find a link to the specific ones I bought but it appears those particular load outs are currently sold out.
When I go to play I usually just toss a list or two into a Plano 3700 series box (3-28 I think I bought it at Wal-Mart), which also holds all my movement templates, Range Ruler, laser, Obstacles, and Damage deck. I have yet to find a ship that doesn't fit in it. All my tokens and dice are in a separate plastic organizer, and both of these just go in my backpack.