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More foam! More foam!


Sunday, I had a little… incident. I keep my Tau minis in foam trays in a milk crate on top of a bookshelf. It’s not the nicest transportation option, but it’s worked well enough for me so far. The only downside is that foam trays stack up to be taller than the crate, but aren’t wide enough to fill the crate. This means that one of them has to go in sideways along side the others. This time around, it was the tray for my one painted Devilfish, along with its drones. I pulled down the crate to make sure that the drones hadn’t made a break for it inside my car or at the gaming shop. Satisfied that everything was there, I put the tray back into the crate and put the crate back up on the shelf.

However, the foam trays are only half the story. With my two new Devilfish, my two painted Piranhas, and some additional Crisis Suits, I’d outgrown my foam trays. For a short term solution, I had the Devilfish in a slim cardboard box, and everything else in a small plastic tub. Said tub was balanced precariously in the crate, and when I put the crate back, it decided to take a tumble. It bounced off the top of my head and fell to the floor. Fortunately, the tub stayed closed, but I knew that all those minis falling six feet or so unpadded would not have come through undamaged, and I was right. Damages included:

  • Three broken Crisis Suit arms – two at the shoulder (the ball part of the ball-and-socket joint snapped right off the torso), and one at the elbow (where I’d cut it to reposition the arm)
  • One broken Gun Drone – both guns snapped right off of the body
  • One broken Shield Drone – one antenna snapped off at the joint between it and the plastic drone body
  • One broken flight base – the end broke off inside the Crisis Suit it was bearing

Fortunately, Zap-a-Gap CA+, much like time, cures all wounds, and the flight base nub was able to be drilled out and a new flight stand inserted. All in all, the incident took about 15 minutes from fall to completed repair, but it highlighted my need for more foam trays. Yesterday, I went to the gaming store near my workplace in search of more. The good news is that I was able to find some trays. The bad news, though, is that I barely managed to find the trays I needed, despite them having shelves and shelves of them.

Here’s my conundrum: there is no standardized foam tray size. Instead, you’ve got three competing brands, all with their own unique dimensions. First off, you have Sabol Designs foam, which measures 13 inches by 7.5 inches. This is what makes up most of the foam I have. I don’t have one of their Army Transport cases, but I’m all ready to go if I ever get one. Next, you’ve got GW’s own foam for their hardcases, which measures 14 inches by 10.5 inches. I have some of this as well, acquired (along with a large hardcase) when I bought my Chaos Marine minis several months ago. Last, but certainly not least, is Battlefoam, the newcomer to the field, who makes really nice foam. They’ll even custom-cut your foam! The only downside is that their trays measure 15.5 inches by 12 inches, and only fits their own cases. (Yes, I know that they make foam to fit the other two brands. That’s not the question here, though.)

The store I was at has decided to throw their lot in with Battlefoam, and as a result they have stacks and stacks of BF foam trays, along with the bags to go with them. The Sabol foam, what little was left, was relegated to one small shelf in the back. Now, I would love to go completely Battlefoam. They make a nice product, and I’d love to have some of their pre-cut Tau trays for my army. However, they also make an expensive product, and I’d easily be looking at $300 or more to get a case and the trays to fill it. That’s a bit initial outlay when I already have perfectly serviceable foam trays in need of a case. Sabol cases are getting harder and harder to find without going online, though. I’ve got a perfectly good GW case, but nothing else fits it, and all that’s available for that is generically-sized foam for troops.

In the end, I found my Sabol-sized trays and got my minis safely packed into them. I’m still lacking a case, and I feel that I’m eventually going to have to bite the bullet and go Battlefoam. I’m not looking forward to dropping the money on it, but if I’ve put all this time and effort into building and painting my Tau army, the least I could do is store it in a way where it won’t fall on my head and break.

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This entry was posted on January 26, 2010, 11:28 am and is filed under Warhammer 40K. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • A few comments. First, Sabol Designs pluck trays are not 7.75 x 13. They are 7.5 x 13. Not a huge amount if you think about it, but it can cause problems if you are using a Motor Pool or Division bag.

    Second, GW trays are actually a bit larger than 10x13.5, they are 10.5x14. Again, not a big deal, but you can lose out on more model storage.

    Finally, there is another manufacturer of laser cut foam, Outrider Hobbies. We currently offer FOAM CORPS trays sized for the Army Transport line. The standard troop trays may cost a little more than what the other guy is charging, but he only offers troop trays. Want anything else, you are going to have to order it custom, and pay twice the price. Outrider Hobbies offers custom cut trays for the same price as a pre-designed tray, $12-$16 depending on the thickness. And we are always adding to the line, and will soon be offering trays for other case lines as well.

    Anyways, check us out at http://www.outriderhobbies.com/store and please excuse the site. We're trying to get it updated.

    Thanks,
    Bryan Wade
    Outrider Hobbies
  • Thanks for the corrections; I was basing the numbers on what Battlefoam has listed on their site, so it's interesting to know that they're not 100% accurate.

    It's nice to see someone competing with Battlefoam in the laser-cut foam business, and especially with something that'll fit the Sabol cases. I'll definitely be taking a look at your products when I'm in the market for foam; finding custom-cut foam for the Tau would be really nice!
  • Yeah I am having problems with tau transportation myself. I have a make shift thing I made with foam, but I don't like it, and sometimes the suit weapons get caught on the foam. I am always looking for more ideas on how people transport their armies.
  • rathstar
    Hi,

    If you've got the army in sabol's trays, I'd just buy an empty case, they don't cost to much empty. I use the sabol case for my Dark Eldar & Undead armies and they work well.

    I've looked at the battlefoam cases, but like you I thought they were nice but very expensive.

    My Tau are in a case I'm finding it hard to find anywhere on the web, it's it has the same size trays as GW, but I can fit 5 trays in it. 4 Vehicles (2 Hammerheads and 2 Devilfish) go in the bottom tray (I cut through the tray and put thick bubble at the bottom of the case). One tray is cut to make 16 double spaced slots which holds all my broadsides and crisis suits, which leaves 3 trays for all my infantry.

    As you've got the sabol trays I suggest just going on-line to buy the case. I've used http://www.thewarstore.com/ before, delivery was quick (even though it was international postage for me).

    Rathstar
  • I have to say, I'm impressed by the War Store's prices on the empty Sabol cases, and I was very happy with my most recent order with them, so I may just have to give them a try. I'll just have to figure out what case(s) to get; right now, I have roughly 20 inches of foam, and more that I might yet need.
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