Tutorial: how to make a woodbox for miniature

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)

( font : http://www.ryanair.com/it/termini-e-condizioni#regulations-cabinbaggage )

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