3D-printed Warhammer 40k miniature case — fits every base size

By Rodrigo Krug · Last updated June 7, 2026

A practical, printer-friendly walkthrough for building a Warhammer 40k case that actually protects your army — from 25 mm scouts to 100 mm vehicles — without cardboard inserts, hot-glue hacks, or another trip to the hobby store.

Why Warhammer minis need a custom case

A finished 40k miniature is a layered object: a primer coat, three to five paint layers, washes, edge highlights, sometimes Contrast over basecoat, often a matte varnish on top. Every one of those layers is brittle on the millimetre scale, and every one chips the moment a bolter barrel rakes across a Terminator pauldron inside a generic foam tray. Off-the-shelf cases assume your models are uniform blobs; in reality, a Custodes Shield-Captain has a banner the width of a thumbnail and the thickness of paper, and a Necron Doomstalker has four legs that snap if you so much as breathe on them sideways.

A custom 3D-printed case solves all of that by carving a cavity that matches the actual silhouette of each model — not a rectangle, not a circle, but the exact projected outline of the painted miniature, with clearance for the bits that hang in the air. Generate the case in your browser from your STL, print it on your existing FDM, and the same machine that made the miniature now protects it.

Base size cheat sheet

Before you design anything, write down what's actually in your army. 40k base sizes have churned through three editions of consolidation, so here's the current working set for 10th edition:

• 25 mm round — legacy Guardsmen, older Cultists, some Grots. Mostly out of production but still legal.
• 32 mm round — the default infantry base: Tactical Marines, Necron Warriors, Tyranid Termagants, Sisters of Battle.
• 40 mm round — Terminators, Custodian Guard, Aggressors, Necron Lychguard, larger Tyranid Warriors.
• 60 mm round — Dreadnoughts, Helbrutes, Wraiths, smaller monstrous creatures.
• 80–100 mm oval / 170 mm oval — Knights, Rhinos, Land Raiders, Carnifexes, Magnus.

The cavity in your case needs roughly 1.5 mm of clearance around each base, plus vertical headroom equal to the model's tallest point — banner pole, antenna, raised claw — plus 2 mm. Skimp on that and the lid presses on a banner. Print it once, check the fit, iterate the STL — that's the whole loop.

Single-mini display cases vs army carriers

There are two distinct case formats and they're optimised for opposite goals. Pick the right one for the model in your hand or you'll print twice.

Display cases for character models

A display case is a clear-walled box for one hero model — your Primarch, your named Warlord, your Golden Demon entry. The print is the structural frame and the back wall; the front is acrylic or PETG sheet so the paint job is visible. You're optimising for visual presentation and dust seal, not for travel.

Army carriers for tournament hauls

An army carrier is a multi-tray stacked case that holds an entire 2000-point list. Each tray's cavity matches one model's silhouette, foam-padded underneath, with a labeled lid so you can pull the right tray without disturbing the others. You're optimising for shock absorption, lateral retention, and weight — most tournament players cap the whole rig at 4 kg so airline carry-on rules apply.

Resin vs FDM: print the case in FDM, full stop

This is the one decision people get wrong. Resin is brilliant for the miniatures themselves — the surface detail on a resin-printed Custodes is genuinely better than the GW plastic. But a case is a structural, drop-tested, often-flexed object, and cured photopolymer resin is a brittle solid that shatters under impact loads. A resin lid that survives one drop will craze on the second and crack on the third.

Print the case in PETG (best — tough, slightly flexible, doesn't embrittle in heat) or PLA+ (easier, fine if you don't leave the case in a hot car) at 0.2 mm layer height, three perimeters, 15 % gyroid infill. That gives you a wall that takes a 1.5 m drop onto concrete without splitting. For more on the slicer specifics see our companion guide on how to print miniature cases.

Sample case sizes for popular armies

Rough planning numbers for a 1000-point list. Real layouts depend on what specific units you run, but these are starting points — every footprint comes from real lists fed through the carve workflow described in our STL to printable case workflow guide.

Space Marines (Astartes)

Standard Intercessor company: 20 infantry on 32 mm, 5 Aggressors on 40 mm, one Dreadnought on 60 mm, one Captain on 40 mm. A 240 × 180 × 90 mm two-tray case handles the lot.

Necrons

Watch the antennae on Warriors and the legs on Doomstalkers. Plan for 110 mm vertical clearance and a foam-lined bottom — Necrons are top-heavy and rattle in shallow cavities.

Tyranids, Custodes, Death Guard

1. Tyranids — wide silhouettes (scything talons sweep past the base edge), so add 4 mm cavity tolerance, not 1.5 mm.
2. Custodes — small model count, oversized banners. One painter's case per Shield-Captain is reasonable.
3. Death Guard — sculpted rust and hanging tubes catch on lid edges. Round the cavity corners with a 2 mm fillet in the slicer.

Pro tips on padding and labels

The print is half the case. The other half is the soft layer that touches the paint — and a quick label system that means you never have to lift a Terminator to find the Captain.

• 2 mm EVA foam on the cavity floor for absolute units; self-adhesive felt on the walls for everything else.
• Lid liner in 5 mm low-density foam so banners don't print-press against the underside of the lid.
• Label the lid, not the trays — print a slot for a paper insert and you can swap army lists without re-printing anything.
• Silica gel pack in one corner if you live anywhere humid. Acrylic varnish hates moisture.

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