I'm really excited about this one. Inspired by Ethica's awesome custom HeroQuest box (http://www.yeoldeinn.com/hqforum/viewtopic.php?f=143&t=321), and with the help of my father, who is a professional woodworker (and conveniently lives three miles away from me), I decided to make my own. We're partway through right now, but we got a LOT done over the weekend and I have some in-progress pictures to show you all.
Although I really loved Ethica's box, I wanted to do something a little different. Specifically, while I loved the idea of having a stronger, more secure place to store my game, I didn't like the idea of throwing out my original cardboard game box with all the classic artwork (or trying to store it separately somehow). So, we conceived the idea of making the new box three levels instead of two. The inside of the lid, where Ethica has the figures stored, will instead contain the original game box, so that when you open the wooden lid, you are met with the HeroQuest graphics. Below that, the main section of the box will contain the Armory panel with the furniture pieces under it, and partitioned sections just like Ethica's for the quest books and cards. Below THAT, there will be a drawer which opens from the front, containing all the figures.
Here's a .pdf containing an early design of this concept, which we did not end up using, but which is perfectly doable if anyone wants to give it a go.
The reason we didn't use this is because we realized that once we made the box three levels, it was actually tall enough to look like a chest, so we altered the design to play that up.
This, basically, is what we did do:
We made minor changes to this design on the fly. The drawing shows two small drawers, which we changed back to one big drawer (long story), and one leather strap, which we are now planning to make into two evenly placed straps, so that I can carve the HQ logo into the lid between them. Otherwise, this is the design we went with.
We got to work with some 3/4 inch thick cedar planks leftover from when my dad had built a hope chest as a wedding present for my sister, and it turned out we had just enough.
Loving the chest idea, we ran to Rockler (a local woodworking store) to get some appropriate hardware. Here's a lock for the lid section:
This is what the hinges will look like:
We got two of these AWESOME pulls for the drawer:
And these fancy lift handles for the sides of the chest:
First we cut and assembled the pieces labeled B (sides) and C (front) in the drawing, as well as what we called C-1 (the back, which we had forgotten to draw, but which we thankfully had enough wood for anyway). We did these and all other joints using wood glue and clamps.
Next, we made the lid panel (F). We did not have a plank wide enough, so we had to join two together using a liberal application of clamps and wood glue:
While that was drying, we cut the other lid pieces (A and G), then assembled the lid, by which time it was getting dark and we had to pack it in for the day (we'd spent a LOT of time getting the hardware). I returned the next day to find my dad had gotten impatient and attached the lid to the box, even though we're eventually going to have to take those hinges back off again to finish. It was worth it to get a glimpse of what we're working towards:
I ran inside to get the original lid and geek out a little:
So next we wanted to make the drawer. We'd already cut the front, sides, and back for the drawer box, but we realized we needed to get the bottom of the chest on before we could assemble the drawer, since the thickness of the bottom affects how high the drawer front has to be mounted onto the drawer box. We were out of 3/4 inch cedar planks (which, by the way, smell exactly like a cigar box) but we came across an unused cedar fence board in the rafters of the garage. It was a different type of cedar, so it was lighter in color (fine for the bottom - it'll even out when we do the finishing anyway), and it's only a 1/2 inch thick, which is good because it leaves that much more clearance for the figures inside the drawer (we did a lot of agonizing to make sure the drawer was tall enough for the tallest HQ figures.) Anyway, the fence board needed to be cut into three and glued together in order to be wide enough to be our floor. This is what it looked like when done:
Once we had that in, we used it to mark where we needed to attach the drawer front to the sides, then made dado grooves in all the drawer pieces (no photos of that process, sorry) and assembled them together, along with a drawer bottom made of a sheet of matching cedar plywood we picked up.
While that was drying, we used that same sheet of plywood to cut the shelf for the center section, then built and glued in our partitions, adding rails to the front and the back to hold up the game board when the pieces get put in. It was at this point that I realized there was no way I was going to put felt in there and cover up all that beautiful wood. I had been planning to, but screw it. This looks awesome:
So we got the drawer done, but then it was getting dark again, so we had to call it. I put the lid back on and put the game pieces in just to get a look:
I know, that green ribbon is not an appropriate color for this chest, but I needed something to help me pop the armory panel up, since it fits so snugly that you can't get your fingers under it. My wife said she has a black cloth ribbon at work that I can replace this with, so hopefully she will bring me that today.
If there is any minor flaw with the design at this point, it's that the chest ended up being so darn big that the game board doesn't fit snugly when you lay it in there:
So it could slide around in there. I have ideas about fixing this by taking 1/4 inch off the partitions and rails in the exact shape of the board, so that it will sit in its own little notch, but I'm not married to it. We'll see what happens.
Also, the interior of the drawer is an issue:
I laid this out just for spacing. Obviously, those dividers I cut are much too wide. The figures shown here represent the core system, and the Kellar's Keep, Return of the Witch Lord, Against the Ogre Horde and Wizards of Morcar expansions. I don't yet have the Frozen Horror or Mage of the Mirror expansions, but it's clear that when I get them, there will not be enough room for the figures if I go with this layout. I have a few ideas (my favorite so far being to just get one big piece of foam core to cover the bottom, and cut slits in it for the figures to be pushed into like a ring in a jewelry box), but I'm open to any suggestions you might have. Ethica's solution is still on the table, but we'll see what I decide to do.
So that's all there is for now guys. I'll be spending time this week in between work sanding down the joints until they're smooth, carving the logo in the lid, distressing the wood for that "300-year-old chest" look, shellacking the whole thing, then attaching the hardware. I'll update with progress as it gets made. Thanks to Ethica for the idea, thanks to Dad for all the help, and thanks to everyone else for looking.
