writes:
That first storage cabinet was a pretty simple project... and I had some magnetic basing material left over... and I had some 15mm fantasy figures that needed a good home...
So I went back to Target
Where, to my horror, I discovered that they no longer stocked the brand of cabinet I'd used for my first project!
This rather perturbed me, as Litko had just gone to the trouble of making a custom size for me, and I had quite a bit of leftover material - was it all going to go to waste?
I checked around and couldn't find any store that carried the EMPlast product line - so I gave in and purchased the Akro Mils-brand 26-Drawer Storage Center.
The "rugged, heavy-duty frame" of the new cabinet was much sturdier than the other cabinet, with an actual "back" instead of open space. The drawers didn't rock in place, had larger "handles," and the cabinet had a better design for stacking (with feet that slid into the top of the next cabinet). However, I wasn't sure I would like the so-called "unbreakable drawers" - made of soft plastic, not as clear as the previous cabinet.
But the very good news is that the drawers were roughly the same dimensions as the other cabinet, so I could use the same Litko pre-cut magnetic material!
More Good News... and Bad News
A quick inspection of the larger drawers of this new cabinet showed a welcome improvement - no "spikes" in the middle of the drawers! (OK, technically there are still "spikes," but they go downwards instead of upwards...) That means the drawers have perfectly flat bottoms.
But alas, the small drawers all have the "spike" facing upwards! Fortunately, it's a much tinier bump than the other cabinet - so I decided to just stick the magnetic basing material right over them and hope for the best...
There are some guides (for optional dividers, which you can punch out of the cabinet's back) that intrude into the drawer space. For the large drawers they were in a convenient location, but for the small drawers the magnetic sheet had to be "forced" around them. (Alternately, I could have tried "shaving off" the guides...)
Concerns
One of my concerns was that the bend-ability of the drawers might cause the figures to come loose from the magnetic sheet - but in playing with (er, testing) the drawers, the figures don't fall off.
Another concern was that with a height of 38mm on the small drawers (versus 54mm on the large drawers), whether taller 15mm scale figures such as standardbearers would fit. Fortunately, I found that I had few "tall" figures, and could fit all of them in the deeper drawers.
The Finished Cabinet
Voila! Once again, for minimal effort, I've ended up with a magnet-lined storage cabinet to save my figures from dust and mishap.
