Eaglemoss Binder Modification

NOTE:  You can click on most pictures to get a larger view of them.

I am a fan of most of Eaglemoss' Star Trek Starship collection.  Although I don't usually talk about them, I love the magazines that come with each of thier models.  They are informative and provide all sorts of insight about the in-universe and the real-world backgrounds of the ships.

If you become a subscriber to the collection, one of the early subscriber gifts is a free binder for you to store your magazines in.

I liked the binders.  They really come in handy for organizing those magazine.  And so, I've continued to buy them to house all of my magazines.  A problem arises though if you have bought into the Eaglemoss shuttle collections.

 

The shuttles in these sets are smaller than the standard issue Eaglemoss models.  And the magazines that come with these smaller sized shuttles are also a bit smaller.

Which means, you can't store the shuttle magazines in the binders.  I finally got tired of not having a place to put these, especially since with Set #3 coming, I would now be dealing with 12 of these little monsters.

After consulting with my co-workers, who happen to be librarians, we came up with the following solution.

I started with a fresh binder, and drilled out the securing bolts that were holding the top bracket in place.

You don't need to drill all the way through, just drill enough so that the top part of that bolt is ground away and falls off.  You can then use a screwdriver to push the bolt the rest of the way through.  I was then able lift off the top bracket.

I then did some measuring with one of the shuttle magazines and glued the top bracket further down in the binder.

DO NOT have the pegs installed when you glue it down and leave the secure flap open, otherwise, you might accidentally glue everything shut.

NOTE: Learn from my mistake and DO NOT use Gorilla Glue.  The stuff foams up and leaves a bit of a mess.  I'm not sure if a hot glue gun would have been a better option, or perhaps super glue would have been the best option.

07/07/2020 Editorial Update: At this time, my collection had grown to where I needed to make a second binder.  I used LOTS of super glue and then set the binder clip into the glue.  I then used some Testor's Model Cement and went around the outside edge of the clip.  Lastly, I set something REALLY heavy on top and let the whole thing and let the glue set for about two hours.  The final product seems to be holding fast and looks a lot less messy than the Gorilla Glue.

My final project wasn't as pretty as I had hoped, but it did achieve the goal I wanted.

And now my shuttle magazine are not falling out and onto the floor every-time I pull out thier binder.

As always, I hope you found this article useful and informative.  If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please feel free to comment below.

So for now, "Live long and prosper!!!"