The DRPA Hobby Case: Hands-On Preview

The devil works hard, but Duncan Rhodes works harder. See what he – and the folks at TableTop Tech – have been up to recently in our DRPA Hobby Case: Hands-On Preview!

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The DRPA Hobby Case: Hands-On Preview – Summary

Exciting times lie ahead for the good folks at the Duncan Rhodes Painting Academy and TableTop Tech, that much is certain. Whilst there are certainly some improvements to be made on the case (that, I’ve had on the highest of authorities, are already being worked on!), this embryonic larval version of the DRPA Hobby Case is already taking the shape of something quite exciting.

This is definitely one to watch.

The DRPA Hobby Case: Hands-On Preview – Introduction

We’re massive fans of all things Duncan Rhodes over here at FauxHammer.com: I’ve made it no secret that, like many readers, Duncan’s famous YouTube videos from his time with Taller de juegos (working, of course, with the brilliant Roger Yates) basically taught me how to paint. I was lucky enough to Interview both Dunc and Trans Atlantis Games’ Peter Buxton last year, and we’ve always been huge fans of both Dunc’s iconic painting videos and the DRPA’s Two Thin Coats paints (and, whilst we missed a review of Wave 2, eagerly await the arrival of Wave 3).

Naturally, then, our interest was piqued when, at UKGE this year, Duncan and Co. announced that they had partnered with gaming gear wizards TableTop Tech to create the DRPA Hobby Case.

diferente a many of the cases that we’ve looked at here at FauxHammer.com, the DRPA Hobby Case is designed to be both a transportation device for your army, but also your painting supplies – specifically, your DRPA Two Thin Coats Paints dropper bottles, touting custom inserts designed to fit these bottles. With an array of interchangeable modules, designed to hold either your paints, your brushes, your miniatures, or any combination of each, the case is designed to be tailored to your needs.

So, let’s dive right in!

Note that the guys at TTT have not only provided us with an affiliate link, but that you can get 10% off with the code FAUXHAMMER. They also provided the case that we use in this review for the purpose of us doing this write-up, and for feeding back to them with any ideas we had about how the design could be improved. As such, this is something of a prototype, but both they, and we at FauxHammer, are keen to show this piece of kit off to you at this early stage so you can see some of the exciting developments currently taking place in the hobby.

The DRPA Hobby Case: Hands-On Preview – The Case

The folks at TableTop Tech were kind enough top send us absolutely heaps and heaps of stuff for the purpose of this preview. Here it all is, listed out:

Paint Holders:

1. 6 x Two Thin Coats MechiMax Modules (Holds up to 72 TTC Paints)

Infantry Squad Holders:

1. 25mm MechiMax Module (Holds up to 12 x 25mm Miniatures – Guardsmen, MESBG Infantry, Light Infantry etc…)
2. 28.5mm MechiMax (Holds up to 10 x 28.5mm Miniatures such as many of GW’s Kill teams, Kasrkin, Striking Scorpions, Drukhari Scourges, new Tyranids etc…) 
3. 32mm MechiMax (Holds up to 10 x 32mm Miniatures such as GW Med. Infantry, Space Marines, Necrons, Chaos, Orks etc)
4. 40mm MechiMax (Holds up to 4 x 40mm Miniatures such as GW Character Model Size + Terminators, MESBG cavalry, etc…)

Vehicles & Large Creature Holders:

1.   3 x MechiMesh Modules (Mesh Panels designed for working with the OpenMechi System) 
2.   1 x Small Set of OpenMechi System (6 Clips, 12 Anchors) – for vehicles and large creatures

Mechi Singles (Holds 1 model, designed for use with MechiMesh):

1.   1 x 50mm Mechi Single (GW characters, Star Wars: Legion, Heavy Weapons Team, War Machine Large Models) 
2.   1 x 27mm Mechi Single (Star Wars: Legion Infantry, Conquest Infantry) 
3.   1 x 35mm Mechi Single (Marvel: Crisis Protocol)
4.   1 x 30mm Mechi Single (A Song of Ice & Fire, War Machine Small Models) 
5. 1 x 55mm Mechi Single (Conquest Cavalry/Beasts, Corvus Belli: Infinity large format Miniatures)

Oval Bases:

1. 60mm Oval Monster Module (Turn-Lock Format, suits light Cavalry unit types, holds up to 5)
2. 75mm Oval Single (Turn-Lock Format, suits med. Cavalry/Bikes)
3. 90mm Oval Single (Turn-Lock Format, suits Large Cavalry/Bikes)

Additional components:

1. Detachable Vertical Brush Holder (compatible with most brands; Citadel, El pintor del ejército, Artis Opus, Chronicle Cards Kolinsky Sable/Wolf Bristle brushes etc…)

It’s a mountain of stuff. Here it all is:

So, what is all this?

The DRPA Hobby Case comes in two versions: a “Standard Edition” and an “Ultimate Edition”. The case we’ve kindly been sent for the purpose of this preview is the Ultimate Edition – hence all the extra bits and pieces. The case is currently available for pre-order, and this pre-order launch period kicked off at the start of UKGE 2024.

We’ll be using all these different bits and pieces throughout this article as we take a good, in-depth look at this case and see how it stacks up – especially compared to the other cases we’ve looked at over the years.

We’re excited about this one, so let’s crack on.

The Look

So, here it is: the DRPA Hobby Case.

With the front emblazoned with the Sir Coates mascot and monogrammed with “DRPA” and “Duncan Rhodes Painting Academy”, there’s absolutely no hiding your allegiance with this case. If you so wish to, you’ll be displaying the colours of House DRPA wherever you go – though this is an optional feature, and you don’t have to have this engraving if you do not wish to

. Other than the obvious (and very intentional) branding, the case is fairly subtle and stylish in its design.

Design is important. Aesthetics are important. As I’ve said in previous reviews, you don’t always necessarily want to telegraph just what it is you have in your case: whether this is because you don’t want people knowing you have £1,000 worth of tiny plastic soldiers on your person, you just don’t want everyone to know that you’re a massive geek, or you just don’t want to look like you’re carrying some hideous box down the street with you as you make your way to your FLGS. Thankfully, the DRPA Hobby Case is just that – a fairly inconspicuous, nondescript black case.

The case is well-reinforced. Whilst it’s not completely clear from a lot of the pictures here, but a lot of the plastic parts of the DRPA case (the handle, most of the inserts) are all 3D printed. It’s kind of fitting for this website, perhaps, given the pedigree that Ross has earned over on the YouTube for his commentary on 3D printers. I for one was extremely surprised by the robustness of the components – it would take either quite the whack or a deliberate effort to break a lot of these components. In addition to this, the exterior space is made of much firmer metal and plastic, which will help ensure that any external impacts are kept well away from your paints, tools, brushes, and miniatures.

Because of the metal bits, the case itself has some heft to it – but not in a bad sense. It’s a comforting weight: it gives the carrier the reassuring feel that the contents of the case are safe and secure from all but the worst external impacts, which is just what you want when you’re carrying around your latest – and perhaps most-prized – project.

We did note, however, that one side of the case isn’t as well-protected as the other: the front plate, with the Sir Coates image on it, is aluminium: by default, the rear of the case, however, is just the underside of the swappable modules that you can insert into the case to store your stuff. We’ve already included this in our feedback to the folks at TTT and have suggested adding an alternate, swappable plate here.

There is a reason for this absence of built-in aluminium plate, however. We’ll cover this later in the review, but if you can’t wait to see, skip to “As a Display Case” at the bottom.

The case is easy enough to get into. Simply twist the two knobs at the top and it’ll fold open, like so.

And what lies within? Well, that’s entirely up to you.

Wait, Where Does DRPA Come Into This?

Cracking open this particular case, we see the otro DRPA element. Aside from Sir Coates’ presence on the front of the case, included in the default loadout of the DRPA case are six DRPA Two Thin Coats-specific modules, each capable of holding 12 paints (that’s a total of 72 DRPA paints).

So, you won’t be able to fit every single DRPA paint into this case, but you’ll be able to get a good few of them in there. And, let’s be honest, unless you’re painting at the highest of high levels, you’re likely not going to need 72 paints for your next project – you’ll easily be able to swap out some of the modules for something else.

Note, however, that because the DRPA TTC paints are in those neat, thinner little dropper bottles, a lot of other similar dropper bottle paints won’t fit in these holders. However, over on the TTT website, you can pick up other holders that will be able to fit your paints of choice (but why wouldn’t you be using DRPA paints? They’re really good!).

But you might’ve just noticed something that’s definitely not paints in the image above. This is a crucial aspect of not just the DRPA case, but also of a lot of what the guys at TableTop Tech do.

Interchangeable Modules

So, you’re probably not going to need to take 72 DRPA Two Thin Coats paints next time you pop to a mate’s house for a painting session. You’re going to need somewhere to put whatever it is you’re painting for one, or perhaps if you’re heading off somewhere for a game, you’ll have no need for any painting supplies whatsoever.

TableTop Tech have you covered. Need to swap out the inserts in your case? Simply undo these screws on the top of the lid…

…slide the lid off…

…and you can swap out the inserts to your heart’s content.

Want to load up with more miniatures for your next game? That’s easy enough to do. Hobby evening with a couple of pals? Remove the inserts for your miniatures and re-insert your paint holders (or, perhaps, don’t – some of these inserts will fit different-shaped paint pots if you need them to).

Of course, no painting session will be complete without brushes. The bottom of the DRPA Hobby Case has a removable paintbrush holder, so you can store your favourite brushes safely both during transit and once you arrive at wherever it is you’re going.

With all these interchangeable modules, you’re likely wondering how they work. We’ve got you covered.

The Locking Mechanism

TableTop Tech is a family business, founded by Max Mitchell and his father Steven Mitchell. Together, they came up with a rather ingenious solution for ensuring that no part of your model is damaged during transit whilst secured in a TTT case. There are three different methods that you can use to secure your miniatures (or paints) depending on their size. They all use the same kind of methodology, with a few differences.

It all basically comes down to rubber. All of the points where your miniatures are in contact with a part of the case or the module are padded with rubber – either rings or buffers. These are used to prevent any damage to your paintwork, or the plastic of the model. It’s a great idea and works really well. Traditionally, a lot of the cases that we’ve looked at have had foam inserts. Whilst foam is absolutely fine, it does cause bits to snag: as I’ve mentioned already (and will likely mention again throughout this article) I’m currently anticipating a house move, so have been packing up my miniatures, utilising a lot of the cases we’ve previously reviewed on FauxHammer. The only gripe I’ve had with any of them has been how pointy, sticky-out bits have snagged on the foam – I lost one of Gorslav the Gravekeeper’s shoulder-spike things to some foam, which I was gutted about.

TableTop Tech’s system does not require any foam, and simply holds miniatures in place by their bases – there’s no danger of snagging things or bits breaking off, which is always a bonus when storing and transporting your miniatures. The first method is utilised in those sliding inserts we’ve already looked at. Each insert has a different number of slots depending on the size of the base/paint you want to insert. Below are a group of 10 Ardboyz on 32mm bases – 10 in total on one of the inserts.

All you do is simply put a model in each recess and move the little L-shaped lever down, as I’ve done in the images below.

What this does is shunt a little carbon fibre slide, which presses on a little rubber ring around the edge of each recess. This causes the ring to tighten around whatever is inserted into the module and hold it firmly in place – as you can see below.

There’s no movement here – these Ardboyz aren’t going anywhere.

Models with Different or No Bases

The same kind of methodology is used for models with larger or different shaped bases – expect you need to do a little bit more work to get them set up. Cavalry bases – typically ovals – or bases for larger miniatures come on separate “Mechi Singles”, as they’re called, and need to be attached to a Mesh Panel with screws, as you can see in the images below.

We actually fed back about the screws too: those we were sent extended just beyond the depth of the Mesh Panel and could snag on things – clothes, fingers – and the TTT guys have already addressed this, so it won’t be an issue with the full release.

These Mechi Singles work slightly differently to the other components, in that you need to twist the two raised knobs to close on the base and hold the miniature in place. Unfortunately, as mentioned, because I’m anticipating a house move shortly, the vast majority of my minis are packed away and I didn’t have anything that’d fit these to hand – but an earlier test I did on these a few weeks ago yielded the same results as the level-operated modules above: they’re firmly grasped, and no real danger of them falling out.

Finally, the third method: what if your miniatures don’t have bases?

The Open Mechi set has you covered. Simply screw the little clips onto one of the Mesh Panels…

…line it up with a little rubber buffer (which you’ll also need to screw in)…

…and you’ll be able to use the locking-in clips to hold any baseless model (Land Raiders, Rhinos, your other tanks) in place.

This is a clever little system, and, like all the other aspects of TableTop Tech’s DRPA Hobby Case, is designed to be customisable, so you can mount it wherever you like to on the Mesh Panel and potentially fit in one or two other bits around it.

In all, the TableTop Tech guys have thought of a solution for just about everything. Clever modules, customisable elements, and the ability to swap out everything with just about anything else gives owners of the DRPA Hobby Case the ability to customise it to fit whatever their needs are. The rubber-edged system also helps ensure that no damage will come to any of your models.

As a Display Case

So, remember we said that one of the bits of feedback we’d given to the guys at TTT was that we weren’t sure if having the rear of the case without an aluminium plate was a good idea? Well, they do currently have a reason for this – and, to be honest, it’s a pretty cool one.

See, you can set up the DRPA Hobby Case to act as a mobile display case for some miniatures.

The lack of an aluminium plate here is so that you can add a clear plastic window. Converting the case into a display case is easy, too: simply remove the lid plates (as we looked at above) and the paint/model inserts. Then, add the large plastic mesh plate by screwing it on to the built-in feet at the bottom of the case, add the plastic window, and add in the lid plate with the light attached. You’ll need to have the light’s power source plugged in for it to turn on, but this comes from a USB power supply, so won’t be difficult to find a plug for.

Ideally, your miniature will also be mounted in a suitably large Mechi component as well. Unfortunately, I didn’t have one of these (and I also don’t have any fully-painted models to hand, as they’re all currently encased in bubble wrap and in cardboard boxes, anticipating the next house move).

It’s a non-essential (but nonetheless quite fun) added function for the DRPA case. Just make sure you keep your plastic window well away from any pets in your house, so they can’t leave hairs all over it when you have your back turned for a minute. Note, however, that the display pack, along with the engraving you saw on the front of the case, are optional added extras you can choose to have with your case.

The DRPA Hobby Case: Hands-On Preview – What’s Next?

The DRPA Hobby Case can be pre-ordered over at TableTop Tech‘s website. As the guys at TableTop Tech have said, they’re still tweaking a few features, so the final case won’t be exactly like the one we received for this prototype preview. Based on some feedback I alone very humbly gave them, they’re already looking at both which screws they use for some of their attachments (and if screws are needed at all), as well as seeing if there are any ways modules not being used can be made easier to be stored.

As we mentioned at the top of this article, the case can be pre-ordered in two forms: the Standard Edition and the Ultimate Edition. The Standard Edition doesn’t come with quite as many modules, but has all the customisability you need for various paint loadouts and upgraded as needed. In addition to this, you can pre-order the DRPA Hobby Case with a number of different loadouts. Because the case has two sides, you can order different modules to suit the paints you like. TTT offer compatibility with Army Painter/Vallejo/AK Paints, Citadel Paint Pots, and Two Thin Coats, and are currently in the process of working on ProAcryl compatible modules – so they really do have something for everyone.

In addition to this, TTT have big plans: whilst the true “modularity” of the case sets Mechi apart from its competitors, we have it on good authority that more is yet to come. They have big plans to release more compatible modules, including Square Base MechiMax Modules for Warhammer: The Old World, an accessories module for clippers/scalpel/glue, a wet palette, a paint mixing station, and more. They’re also planning on including some good instructional materials for the case too, so you’ll be at no risk of feeling overwhelmed with all the goodies you get if you decide to buy.

Interested? You can see all the details on the DRPA Hobby Case’s landing page.

We’re really excited to see whatever form the final version takes, as we think it’ll be perfect for new to intermediate level painters looking to safely store and travel with your kit.

The DRPA Hobby Case: Hands-On Preview – Final Thoughts

It’s not perfect – but damn, it’s certainly off to a good start.

There’s a lot going on behind the scenes surrounding the DRPA Hobby Case – the good guys at TableTop Tech originally sent us their prototype so that we could feed back on it, and we have done – largely with a lot of the observations that we’ve noted in this interview here. We’ve been assured that various alternatives and implementations are being explored already, as the TableTop Tech folks are keen to make the DRPA Hobby Case the best case it can be for the itinerant painter and/or gamer.

This is definitely one to watch. As we’ve seen with just about anything Duncan Rhodes and his crew do, they’re hesitant to put their name on anything that doesn’t meet their exacting standards for quality – and already, at this alpha-build stage, the DRPA Hobby Case is certainly ticking a lot of boxes. We’re excited to see what comes next, and can’t wait to get our hands on the finished version.

Like what you’ve seen in this article? Remember that you can help both us and the guys at TableTop Tech out by using our affiliate link, and our 10% off code FAUXHAMMER.

Tenga en cuenta: This site uses affiliate links. Our Affiliate Partners are shown below
(Affiliate links will result in compensation to the site on qualifying purchases)

Haga clic en este enlace y compre sus cosas de hobby en Element Games para el Reino Unido y Europa para admitir FauxHammer.com - Use el código "FAUX2768"En la caja para obtener puntos de recompensa doble.

Nuestros afiliados / tiendas de hobby

• REINO UNIDO: Juegos de elementos, El puesto avanzado, Juegos Wayland, Lancer poderoso, Juego de duendes, Forbidden Planet, Suministros para escenarios de modelos, eBay, Amazonas
• EE. UU. / Canadá: MTechCave, GameKastle, eBay (EE. UU.), eBay (CA), Amazonas
• Alemania: Taschengelddieb
• Europa: eBay (DE), eBay (FR), eBay (ES), eBay (IT), Amazonas
• Australia: eBay, Amazonas
• Global: Juegos de RedGrass, Colores de guerra

• Impresoras 3D: Congelado 3D, Elegoo, Anycubic

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