Help with vehicle counter organization, Plano 3701?

[Sparafucil3]

I've got some dense advice on how to collapse your vehicles more agressively. I reckon, what you would bet to get into 4 trays, could be "pocketed" in your pants:

von Marwitz

I could easily fit my whole kit into an ashtray. The thought has crossed my mind. — jim

 

[Gordon]

I could easily fit my whole kit into an ashtray. The thought has crossed my mind. — jim

Kindling Allowed? Very rare.

 

[Sparafucil3]

Kindling Allowed? Very rare.

I have tested this with erratacized counters. Testing confirmed my hypothesis. -- jim

 

[PabloGS]

After having gone through several reorganizations and resortings, my sense is that the counter organization you implement is a reflection of your own self and circumstances.

That is my mantra when I get nightmares about trying to improve my British vehicles system, or what to do with TPPs and HASLs, or if I should label the trays and order AFVs by note, if I should clip, whether to leave counter trays half punched in the boxes, where to import from RAACO boxes, etc.. etc..

 

[Ric of The LBC]

After having gone through several reorganizations and resortings, my sense is that the counter organization you implement is a reflection of your own self and circumstances.

That is my mantra when I get nightmares about trying to improve my British vehicles system, or what to do with TPPs and HASLs, or if I should label the trays and order AFVs by note, if I should clip, whether to leave counter trays half punched in the boxes, where to import from RAACO boxes, etc.. etc..

Note on the British ACs. If you do a search on ASL Archive for each specific armored car, you'll find a handful of scenarios out of the over 9000 in the archive. That led me, when deciding on how to store them: Not to worry and put them in two Plano slots. Chances of every need them is not worth the anguish. My $.02

 

[zgrose]

Note on the British ACs. If you do a search on ASL Archive for each specific armored car, you'll find a handful of scenarios out of the over 9000 in the archive. That led me, when deciding on how to store them: Not to worry and put them in two Plano slots. Chances of every need them is not worth the anguish. My $.02

This is the way

 

[Ric of The LBC]

Well, Ok, maybe a few more now that I checked. 

 

[ScottRomanowski]

Having a guide like that inside the lid is key. Besides helping you, it lets others quickly find your counters.

 

[DerekMc]

Another way to organize vehicle counters. Each vehicle and ordnance type in small ziplock bags organized by Chapter H# in card sleeve sheets placed in color coded 3 ring binders.

The major benefit is it's easy to find the counter you are looking for. While you look up the Chapter H# you can read the entry and learn what you need. The bad part is that the 3 ring binders take up a bit of space and it's time consuming to set up.

 

[Gordon]

I did all my vehicles and guns in a very similar way.

 

[Fort]

Thanks to Bishop and the guy that created these files, who's name I can't remember, I am in the process of compacting my kit. When done, I think I should get the whole thing into two of the trays that fit 4 inside a raaco handybox.

 

[fenyan]

The AFV storage is quite lovely!

 

[TopT]

Once I get the trays 3D printed, I am doing the same. My whole kit inside of 2 Handy Boxes.

 

[von Marwitz]

Thanks to Bishop and the guy that created these files, who's name I can't remember, I am in the process of compacting my kit. When done, I think I should get the whole thing into two of the trays that fit 4 inside a raaco handybox.

I like it. I like it...

Two questions:

While the 1/2" trays are fine, because one can reach down to the bottom unit with tweezers, this is not the case for the 5/8" trays. Why? Isn't it troublesome to get out the bottom one or two 5/8" counters?

Are there some stubs (the correct English expression eludes me...) at the bottom of the trays so that they stack nicely and not shift laterally?

Third question:

How much is the cost to fill one Assorter with those trays?


Cheers,
von Marwitz

 

[Sparafucil3]

While the 1/2" trays are fine, because one can reach down to the bottom unit with tweezers, this is not the case for the 5/8" trays. Why? Isn't it troublesome to get out the bottom one or two 5/8" counters?

There are holes in the bottom allowing you to push a finger up into the space and lift out everything.

Are there some stubs (the correct English expression eludes me...) at the bottom of the trays so that they stack nicely and not shift laterally?

No feet on the trays. Feet is probably more common to use there although stubs works too, just not as well. Still, overall I give the Oberst an A- on his English (or should I be giving this grade to his Adjutant?)

Third question:

How much is the cost to fill one Assorter with those trays?

That depends on how much you're willing to pay for the printer After that, the costs are relatively cheap. You can farm that chore out to someone else but then you are paying for their printers -- jim

 

[von Marwitz]

There are holes in the bottom allowing you to push a finger up into the space and lift out everything.

Hm. This somehow defeats the purpose IMHO. I think, the 5/8" trays could be improved by making them akin to the 1/2" ones.

No feet on the trays. Feet is probably more common to use there although stubs works too, just not as well. Still, overall I give the Oberst an A- on his English (or should I be giving this grade to his Adjutant?)

Adding feet would be another significant improvement. I don't know much - in fact hardly anything - about 3D-printing, but I seem to recall that this is also a technical problem.

As for the language - even the ruling British crown is of the house of Hanover. So you could say, that the British are ruled by Germans, but prefer not to be reminded of it. The same goes for Lord Louis Mountbatten - the last vice-roy of India. The British 'adapted' the name of Battenberg to the more agreeable form of Mountbatten. So maybe, there was some backlash language-wise with regard to the Oberst. Possibly, some of his kin might even be called 'Marwise' off the continent. On the other hand, the Oberst has the shocking habit to drop a 'u', where it - by all means - is due. Upon my honor...

That depends on how much you're willing to pay for the printer After that, the costs are relatively cheap. You can farm that chore out to someone else but then you are paying for their printers -- jim

Since I don't know what things I should be 3D-printing besides those trays, I would probably farm that chore out. Either to some company doing such a service. Or to a friend, innocently unsuspecting of how much of a chore this would be, who has been so careless to offer this to me.
In either case, I don't have a clue how much cost to expect for roughly a "double" ASL-kit of the core modules.

von Marwitz

 

[Sparafucil3]

As for the language - even the ruling British crown is of the house of Hanover. So you could say, that the British are ruled by Germans, but prefer not to be reminded of it. The same goes for Lord Louis Mountbatten - the last vice-roy of India. The British 'adapted' the name of Battenberg to the more agreeable form of Mountbatten. So maybe, there was some backlash language-wise with regard to the Oberst. Possibly, some of his kin might even be called 'Marwise' off the continent. On the other hand, the Oberst has the shocking habit to drop a 'u', where it - by all means - is due. Upon my honor...

We filthy colonials told the crown to piss off. I think the court is out on whether that was wise or not. But we did mug the kings language, beating into submission and butchering it whenever and wherever we could.

Since I don't know what things I should be 3D-printing besides those trays, I would probably farm that chore out. Either to some company doing such a service. Or to a friend, innocently unsuspecting of how much of a chore this would be, who has been so careless to offer this to me.
In either case, I don't have a clue how much cost to expect for roughly a "double" ASL-kit of the core modules.

So I have a ~$500 printer. Printing those Infantry trays shown in Forts photo takes me about 120 minutes. Fort has a much more expensive (and modern) printer which can print them in about 15 minutes (each). From that, it is simple math. If you can find a service, I would imagine they would cost you between $5 and $15 per tray. A service likely has a printer farm and can print 10+ in the space of time I can print 1. If you had the printer (and time), each tray costs about $.50 to $.75 each in material. All costs are rough of course. I am not sure how VAT would affect the pricing. -- jim

 

[Philippe D.]

Adding feet would be another significant improvement. I don't know much - in fact hardly anything - about 3D-printing, but I seem to recall that this is also a technical problem.

The standard 3D printers, even relatively fancy ones, can only print in one material at a time, and cannot print a model with a large overhang - they work by depositing layer after layer of material, first on the printing bed, then on previous layers.

So, a rectangular box with a flat bottom is a nice thing to print, but the same box with feet in the bottom corners is a nightmare, because they turn the flat bottom into a huge overhang that will not print.

Some even-fancier printers can use more than one material in a single print, and you can then use a special, water-soluble material to fill in the bottom below the overhang; but this is way more trouble than it's worth, IMHO (plus, my printer is a fancy one, but not that fancy). Better to just give up on the feet, or just glue some below the inserts after printing.

 

[Philippe D.]

Are there some stubs (the correct English expression eludes me...) at the bottom of the trays so that they stack nicely and not shift laterally?

If you look closely at Fort's pictures, you will see that the individual inserts are way larger than the standard Raaco insert - shallower, at least the 5/8", but larger in both horizontal directions. I'd say that two should fit into an assorter, so there is much less need to prevent lateral shifting.

But removing a single insert from the stack may be difficult; the whole system looks great and is nice to store and organize counters, but maybe not so nice to grab a counter during play.

 

[Gordon]

Theoretically you could add a large number of sacrificial supports that are small/thin enough to allow them to be cut/scraped off after the print but that may waste a lot of material and be a pain to clean up.