[Cypher871]

Last year I decided to bite the bullet and plough some of my hard earned cash into what I hoped would be an investment that would not only protect my models but allow me to pack up my entire army into the smallest available space. I did a lot of homework! Having used my own home made solutions, and having tried systems like GW's and KR Multicase already I finally decided to give Battlefoam a go.

This was no quick and easy decision, I am sure many of you will be aware of the cost of Battlefoam, but once committed I threw myself into designing my own trays.

In the interests of impartiality I have to say that the experience was a rather bitter-sweet affair. The initial ordering was easy...I wanted a PACK1520 (at the point I ordered, the 1520XL wasn't yet available).

The actual tray design took me a good month or so. I didn't want any of the 'off the peg' trays so everything had to be planned to maximise the available space.

The website has a 'Custom tray creator' which I found useful for the rank and file Marines but is limited as it uses fixed geometrical shapes and won't allow you to specify your own bespoke sizes. This meant a lot of messing around and overlapping shapes to create the sizes I wanted.

There are also templates for common vehicles and large creatures but I think they waste space so decided to make my own. I actually went the extra mile. I traced all my vehicle's and unique models as carefully as possible then created card cut-outs of the tracings and dropped them over my models to make sure the fit was perfect.

I kept the cut-out shapes and used them to arrange my models on a blank piece of paper which I then photographed.

Once I had collected together all the information it became very apparent that the 1520, big as it was (22" of foam trays) just wasn't going to house all my kit. I made the decision to buy an additional PACK720 which would give me an extra 12" of vertical space. At this point I sent everything off and waited for confirmation...and waited...and waited.

Battlefoams biggest problem from my point of view is their speed of customer contact. It took several cajoling emails to elicit a response from them but eventually the ball got rolling. From this point it took 2 months for the order to be completed, but I was is no hurry, I would rather wait and have the product made correctly than rushed.

There were occasions where I had to email them information, and again the same deathly slow response times following several promptings! The last thing anyone not in the US should also consider is how much import tax you will be liable for. I ended paying an extra £40 in tax!

Anyway, both bags arrived mid-November and I eagerly unpacked them. The wait was definitely worth it. The bags are tough and sturdy, good quality through and through with no collapse.

The foam trays are equally of impressive quality and all my work paid off with perfect fits for my models. Plenty of storage for books and paper and on the 720, dice! Stitching is top notch and the handles are comfortable. The Handle on the 1520 is not as good as that on the 720, but the new 1520XL has the same handle as the 720 so no problems there.

As far as I am aware the PACK1520 has now been superseded by the PACK1520XL swapping the 2 level design and carry straps for a single compartment and trolley. The 720 remains as it is. The following photo's show both the cases in all their glory!

So to summarise...

Pro's Excellent quality, top notch product.

Con's Expensive and slowwwww customer service!

I hope this has been informative!!! k:

 

[PoweredbyCoffee]

Excellent review, Cypher. As you know I have been interested in feedback on Battlefoam (in another thread).

Couple questions for you..

1) Looks like you used the custom tray creator for your rank and file. I LOVE this little tool but it is a pitty (at least for Necrons) that they don't offer more standard sizes (such as for the Heavy Destroyer). I noticed a lot of red boxes in your image which usually indicates that you violated the padding requirements. Did BF have an issue with this?

2) Did they have any issue with the way you wanted your models arranged on each tray?

Thanks again for the great review.

 

[Cypher871]

Hi PBC, first off, I am glad you found the review helpful.

The Custom Tray Creator has both a grid and a padding boundary that can be switched on or off. Each square on the grid represents 1 quarter of 1 inch squared.

You can create custom sizes with a little bit of playing around with the existing shapes to make the size you want, though the annoying lack of a zoom facility is frustrating.

For example. imagine you want to create a square 3/4" x 3/4". The smallest square available from the list is 1/2" x 1/2", with the next smallest square being 1" x 1" - no good for our purposes.

However, if you look at the rectangles you will find one available that is 1/4" x 3/4". By putting 3 of these side by side you have instantly made yourself a 3/4" x 3/4" square. Yes it is a ball-ache to do it but with a bit of patience you can create what you need.

The shape will be red because there is no gap between the individual shapes, however, BF look at the overall footprint of the shape.

Here is some information I got straight from BF...

In regards to your question about tray thickness, we can only cut trays in an inch or half inch thickness or multiples of these. In regards to rectangles and squares you can create them in quarter of an inch measurements.

We always leave a half inch border around the trays so the integrity of the tray stays intact. Also we always leave at least a quarter of an inch between shapes and its even smart to leave a little more room if you’re dealing with large shapes.

Finally, we alot a quarter of an inch for the bottom of trays and that applies to all trays. For example a one inch troop tray is really 1.25” thick.

If you look at the shapes I produced for my Devastator and Assault troop tray you will notice that the ten rectangles down the outer left and right sides of the tray are 2" x 1.25". These were made by overlapping two 2" x 1" rectangles and leaving the bottom one showing a 1/4". The staff at BF count the number of squares used horizontally and vertically to determine the required size.



In answer to your second question, I had no issues at all. So long as you leave a quarter inch between shapes and don't breach the half inch tray boundary you can pretty much arrange stuff as you like.

If you are wanting to create a tray allowing your models to remain upright it's perfectly do-able you will just need to make sure you select a tray deep enough for the job and then either draw round each individual model (not recommended for rank and file) or use an average size rectangle or square you are happy will accommodate the models.

Personally (and this is only my opinion) I would opt to lay the models down as there is less chance of breaking off the flimsy Gauss guns on the Necron warriors.

Cheers.

Cypher

 

[docgeo]

Hey All,

I just picked some up as did one of my soldiers and we love them. They really are the best thing out there. The customer service was excellent!! We both had to order urs on the phone since we are stationed in a small base in Iraq. It took about two weeks to get and was worth every penny!!


Doc

 

[Alexious]

Excellent review.... it appears you have put quite a lot of time into it. Well done.

 

[Kelann08]

Just a little FYI - the "make your own tray" feature has been upgraded substantially since this review. Its quite effective now. If you really want custom slots for special characters and such, you'll still have to do what Cypher did but there's a lot more choices now.

Great review!

 

[LTP]

I have the PACK 1520 and 216 and I think they are awesome. I have been using them for about 2 years now and I have had no complaints . Great review!

 

[KhainiteAssassin]

this has just reinforced my want to custom order a 1520 pack, but I think ill grab the pluck foam from my Local Hobby Store, then order custom cut outs later for myself and use the pluck foam for the extentions after.

 

[Tyr852]

I have the pluck foam 720 and it's fantastic , the pluck foam stays together well enough ,a single row of it doesn't rip apart even with large vehicles pressed against it. Just be sure to use a knife when cutting to maintain the structure.

Only very small issues I had was the height of the trays for myself and my CSM's (in particular zerkers) as laying them down wasn't enough space in the 1" tray. The fix was using 2 x 1" tray with the other as a topper that was hollow and doing 2X2 holes so they all stood up in the bottom tray in the end it wastes about 10 troop slots (70 vs 80 slots) but they are much more fit and less prone to spikey bit / things snapping least for my army and less space is wasted then using a 2" tray as the model can go out around the foam edges inside and still have a small base footprint.

The other similar issue was that even the deepest one won't protect a defiler or demon prince with wings (which is totally understandable those are very tall models) also a landraider with spikes on the top will poke out (again chaos) , my current solution to that is I bought an empty pack plus and just use a in a 3" tray in there not an ideal fix but I neither is constantly fixing broken wings / spikes.

 

[CubanNecktie]

I started with the Sword Bag which is not a PACK system, but instead uses the SD tray size. I recently picked up the 1520 and plan on the GO for local travel.

An interesting sidenote, since I am a fan of cross-compatibility. If you place 2 SD trays length-wise they will fit in the PACK system. They have a slight overhang, but the bags seal up without incident.

More versatility I say! Battlefoam is the king of bags hands down. The fact that all their product videos are in front of army camo just makes me feel like a badass for owning two of the bags.