Hello Guys
Today I will show you a little step by
step guide for how to make a little box to bring safely your
miniatures :
I already have got a pretty large box,
but what I need now is a smaller box, that's easier to carry it if I
have to travel by public transport, by train and especially as hand
luggage on the plane.
So all you have to do is inform about
the average size of hand luggage.
In my case I took the size of Ryanair
hand luggage (usually the company that has the more limited size for
hand luggage)
- maximum size 55 * 40 * 20 cm
- maximum weight of 10 kg (beware, some
companies have as maximum 6 kg as permitted weight, but in this case
there is no problem, the wood is light but sturdy and the box will
not weigh more than 1.5 kg and then we are able to put materials up
to 4.5 kg)
I studied for my little box the
following dimensions:
cm 34 (l) * 26 (h) * 20 (w) (30 (h) cm
including the handle and pegs)
having a useful space inside: cm 32 (l) * 21 (h) * 18 (w)
Then I went to a hobby center to buy
wood and material contained in the following list: (the convenience
of going to the hobby and do-it-yourself centers is that they can cut
the wood in less than 10 minutes and it's cheaper to)
- WOOD:
1x base: cm 32 x 19 x 1
1x ceiling: cm 32 x 18 x 1
1x back: cm 34 x 26 x 1
1x shelf: cm 32 x 18 x 0,5
1x lid: cm 32 x 25 x 0,5
2x side: cm 19 x 26 x 1
2 rods for binaries and lid handle : cm
100 x 0,5 x 0,5
- HANDLE
- SCREWS
- NAILS FOR WOOD
- PEGS
- VINYL GLUE
- VARNISH FOR WOOD (ACRYLIC)
- BRUSH LARGE SIZE
In addition to these materials you will
need:
-Cutter
-Ruler
-Screwdriver (or an electric
screwdriver, in this case I prefer a normal screwdriver so I can
control the direction of the screw)
-A pencil
-A hand drill (the one you use to make
the holes on the thumbnails is fine)
-Tip-hand drill 2 mm
-hammer
-Tongs or pliers (to cut the nails for
wood if they are too long)
-A piece of cardboard or a carpet where
a position to work if like me you do not have a table big enough to
work.
-Sandpaper Grit 240
1 - DRILL PANELS TO GOT GUIDES FOR THE
SCREWS:
First, we take all the panels and begin
to understand how we mount our box:
See the
NOT PROFESSIONAL drawing as reference
once you understand the layout of the
sides and which surfaces will fit in with the other, going to mark
with a pencil the points that we need to drill on both sides.
Let's do a second check that our signs
are correct and that all panels fit together perfectly .
This makes easy the operations of
construction of the box, so that the screws come without effort into
the guide holes already giving good support with the panels, also
allow you to avoid mistakes during assembly and ensure that the
panels are not too phase shifted finished mounting.
pierce also the ceiling for the screws
of the handle
2 - POSITIONING GUIDE TO INTERNAL SIDE
PANELS :
we take the two side panels and line
them with each other, so that they create a single panel.
The side support is vertical.
Cut two sticks of the same size by the
little rod (in my case I cut two sticks of length cm)
calculate the margins from side to
side, the distance from the base (calculating that we have to insert
our hand if we want to pull off the panel and it can also be useful
as a compartment for documents or small miniature blister) and the
distance between a stick and the other.
The gap should be the thickness of the
panel shelf for miniatures, in my case 5 mm
We put a bit of vinyl glue along the
entire length of the stick, just right a wire
Support the two sticks, being very
careful not to mistake the positioning and maintain the correct
margins.
We wait just 10 minutes for the glue to
take hold and begin to put the nails from wood for durability of the
rails.
Please note the size of the nails
should be less than the sum of the thicknesses of the stick and the
side panel (in my case less than 1.5 cm and I used nails with a
maximum length of 1 cm)
An advice when you place the nails, try
to keep a little margin from the edge, thus preventing the wood from
splitting in two along the grain.
At this point, your result should be
this:
Now we proceed to cut the sticks in the
middle to separate the two panels
So here ready two side panels with the
guides for the shelf for miniatures.
3 - ASSEMBLY OF PEGS ON BASE:
take 4 pegs and the base.
With a pencil, we mark the 4 points
where we will fix the pins of the pergs.
Note that you will need to take care of pegs positioning, so as to prevent the fixing screws of the two
panels.
As you can see by the below picture
this operation can also be done later, but now I prefer to advise you
to do it now so you will avoid to offend the structure and stability
of the box with a wrong hammer beat.
And also we can be more sure that the
pins are on the same level.
Usually the nails of the feet have a
length of 20 mm, with a tongs, I cut them with a length of 8 mm,
because the thickness of my base is 10 mm.
Take always care about the dimensions.
4 - FITTING THE SIDE PANELS:
Take the base and the two side panels.
We put a bit of vinyl glue along the
entire length of the part that matches the base.
Here the games are very simple having
already pilot holes in surfaces, so let's tighten the screws, first
on one side and then the other.
Now that the side panels are mounted at
the base, we can position the guides for the removable lid of the
box.
Take
the our rod and cut two long stick.
Note that this lengt must be less at
least 2 cm of the distance between the upper guide for the miniatures
shelf and the upper edge of the side panel.
Let's put a bit of vinyl glue on the
stick freshly cut and we place it in the inner side, so that it
matches with the outer edge of our side panel (the edge to be taken
as a reference is that one of the lid panel side, pay attention to
make no mistakes).
We put a little bit of vinyl glue, wait
10 minutes and then we can put the two nails to make it more stable.
We do the same with the other stick on
the opposite side, always placing the stick in the inner side of the
side panel.
For precautions on this procedure I
invite you to see again the step 2.
Now cut, from the rod, 4 smaller pieces
of the same length.
The length in this case must be less
than the distance between the inner side of the base and the lower
guide for the shelf panel.
Put a bit of vinyl glue on a small
stick (the first will be the small external stick) and place it so
that it fits perfectly with the outer edge of our side panel and with
the base.
After the usual 10 minutes we can put a
single central nail.
Now we put a bit of vinyl glue in
another small stick ( we call it small internal stick), place it
internally just supporting on the base, and the distance between the
small external stick and the small internal stick will be the
thickness of our lid.
You can helped in this process, placing
the lid on the external guides, put the small internal stick being
careful not to get the lid with the glue, and wait for the glue to
set.
At this point we can remove the lid and
permanently fix the stick with a nail.
In this case to avoid any problems with
sliding lid and make it easier, you should maintain a tiny margin in
the distance between the small internal stick and the external one,
but that is not greater than 1 mm.
We do the same with the other sticks on
the opposite side, always placing the sticks on the inner of box.
5 - ASSEMBLY THE HANDLE, THE CEILING
PANEL AND THE BACK PANEL:
Now we can proceed with the assembly of
the handle.
Before take the ceiling panel and
tighten the two screw without the handle for the moment, right so
that the tip comes out from the opposite side and allows us to hook
the handle.
Hook the handle and tighten the screws
to secure handle to the ceiling of our box.
After this operation we can proceed
with the setting of the ceiling to the box.
As always put a bit of glue on the part
that contacts the other panel.
And tighten the screws.
Note that the 4 already fixed panel
(base, the two side and the ceiling) will be at the same level on the
side where we should put the back.
Put a bit of vinyl glue on the part
that contacts the other panels and tighten the screws.
As you can see we are now at a good
point in our box!
6 - PREPARATION OF MINIATURE SHELF:
Using wood, we will have some problems
with the blue tac (or pattafix) as if the wood is rough to remove
bluetac you will struggle a lot. Let me explain how I solve this
problem.
Take the varnish for the wood (I
preferred the acrylic, but you can use any kind of varnish you
prefer), put the piece of cardboard to protect the surrounding
environment and spend a few brush coat of varnish (with water-based
varnish I had to spend 4 coats of paint diluted with water to achieve
my needs, but the timing required between coats were really short,
not more than 40 minutes, always depends on the dilution of the
varnish).
This operation, however simple that it
takes some time, for drying and for the passage from one hand to
another.
After waiting a half day, to dry
(always check the timing of drying in the instructions of choosen
varnish) and checking with the palm of your hand if the surface is
dry, you can do the test with blue tac and miniatures.
And also try to see the flow of the
shelf onto the rails.
And this is the shelf inside our box.
And now the last step, the Lid
7 - LID:
The Lid story is simple, all you have
to do is put a handle that allows us to got firm grip on the lid when
we remove it.
The solutions are many, but the one I
prefer is to use a piece of wood that has the same thickness of the
lid guides, to make sure not to go out of my maximum dimensions.
In my case I took four stick with same
size by the rod for the guide, then I glued them together with vinyl
glue, just to have greater surface to paste to the panel of the lid,
without the aid of nails.
And the games are made.
Here's your small woodbox for miniature..
Studying a good layout, you can also
create new alternatives, with different sizes and different uses, you
can build the box not only for models, but also for a small travel
painting station.
I hope that this small step by step was
useful and interesting.
In the next tutorial.
See Ya!
Cesare "Trevis_11" Trevisiol
Article and Pics by: Cesare "Trevis_11" Trevisiol
Translation by: Andrea "Kraan" Buratta and Cesare "Trevis_11" Trevisiol
not really nice as I usually don't turn on any lights to go out to smoke, and then I've got just put my hand over, before you feel that something was biting me.
he is unarmed but with a nice little mouse in hand. Norbit is considering whether to eat it or use it as a prey for something bigger, but I'll see during processing what it will happen.
I don't hide the fact that I'm trying to prepare this piece for the contest on Wamp..but I see it hard with my timing.
