All of the #45 boxes had various shortcomings, so many owners made their own boxes. Some older and more recent custom boxes are shown below. Some of the improvements you will notice are retention devices for all the little pieces and boxes that are large enough to store the assembled plane.
Tom Holloway constructed this box. Here's are some of his construction notes:
"I made a box like the old ones sold as "candle boxes." The sides are dovetailed, the bottom is a fielded panel set in a groove, and the top has a rabbet on three sides to slide into a similar groove--the front edge being low enough so that the top slides over it to open the box. The grooves, of course, were made with the #45 in question.
With outside dimensions of about 12"x12" by 7.5" high it is probably a little larger than necessary, but as those who have tried it can attest, one of the problems with the stock boxes so prized by c*llectors is that the plane must be knocked down to fit in the box. This is good for saving space on stock shelves, but not the ideal for a plane that one uses. I glued sticks around the inside of the bottom so that I can set the plane in it resting upright, with long rods installed, and still close the lid. To one side I made a little stand to hold the two (SW era) boxes of cutters upright and available. And there is space for the short rods, screwdriver, etc.
The sides are pine and the top and bottom a single board of poplar
each. In the top I took the cursive "Stanley 45" logo from the instruction
sheet and blew it up on a copier, traced it onto the board, and used a
woodburner to make it permanent, with the age-appropriate SW logo just
below it."