Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

okay, I have been staring at the foam trays and im starting to lose it.

Pluck foam seems to me to be unstable, liable to tear and lose whatever shape I make out of it, so I want to ask before I buy any, Is it worth it?

I ave an Army Transport bag from sabol designs thats empty, I intend to hold my IG with a MAYBE a few vehicles, but definately about 120 odd infantry and about 10-12 HW bases, and then 50 odd marines and terminaydors

will pluckfoam work for me, and how reliable is it?

Pluckfoam will work for you, but make sure you only pluck what you need. Planning is key, and there are tools out there for helping you. Or hAlping, whichever.

I would recommend, if you've got the coin for it, battlefoam trays precut (your design or theirs). They have sizes to fit in your big iirc.

From my personal experience with two sabol bags and the BF 1520, I can say that generally if your pluckfoam tears often, then you're probably making the walls too thin. I try to keep my pluck at least two units wide. It's important to plan out what you're going to do with the foam first, and be prepared to make it fairly universal. One of my battlefoam sheets I've set up so that I can put Ogryn, GKT, or HWS in, depending on which army I'm running. For your particular situation, Sabol has a precut sheet designed for infantry that is quite durable. I recommend that.

Before you pluck the pluck foam, plan out what you're going to do. Striate your areas so it's strong. The biggest pitfall to pluck foam is that the entire mass is simply attached to the walls. Over time the tray may get weaker.

If you want high-quality pluck foam, Portable Warfare makes great pluck foam for a great price.

If you're looking to simply store several standard IG infantry with almost no pokey/spiky appendages, you can get the precut infantry trays from Battlefoam; be sure to get it in the right size - Battlefoam has standard "SD" trays and it's own odd sizes as well.

Okay, and what if i go down to my FLGS. I know the SD trays are deisnged to be top loading, but Im wondering if I just get GW trays, if they are 13" along one side, and just slide them in, horizontally, then stand the bag up when I'm finished.

Or is it the best reccomended solution to just order online? I kinda... really... umm.. raped my wallet so... XD

thanks for the help so far (Ps, if i glued the relevant pluck-foam sections together, so the inside portions not facing the models, would that increase stability? I am worried about rapid wear and tear.....)

Pluck foam is okay in a fairly rigid case. In a soft case it will fail much more rapidly.

That said, all the good suppliers of foam and cases (battlefoam, kaiser rushforth, etc) have a good range of custom cut foam so you shouldn't need much pluck.

Okay, never mind, the images do pluckfoam no justice, its way more stable than i thought it'd be.

Now, anything i need to know when 'plucking'? (i assume i precut said pluckfoam)

The problem with Battlefoam is that their SD trays only go to 1.5" thick. You want any thicker for tall critters and/or vehicles and you're pretty much SOL unless you get SD foam.

Okay, aparantly the stuff i bought is calibrated for Flames of War.. not a big deal.. its just dissapinting that the foam in the middle isnt held down to its backing. Any tips for solidifying it? I am surprised with its durability, but at the same time my worst fear came true...

Again, thanks for the input.

Breotan: well, thanks for telling me about that. my FLGS didnt have the right stuff and i was tempted to order from BF, good to know.

Just hot glue it to the back.

That's what I did with my p&p foam trays. I also glued a thicker piece of card to the bottom (220gsm) to add rigidity.

I made up two custom trays for my GK vehicles.
One holds 4 rhinos, the other holds two Land raiders.
(I have a Battlehive case - it's a shorter case than a battlefoam or Sabol, but holds 11" of trays (and almost my entire GK army of 4500pts - stormraven doesn't fit).

I personally hate pluck foam. I'm planning on a BF purchase soon (this month barring procrastination because I've been sick for going on 3 weeks now)

I don't know what all these people are talking about with these pluck foam horror stories. I bought an Army Transport back in... 2001-2? I have never had a thing wrong with it. Never had any foam "fail" (whatever that means or entails). The worst I have had is some of the remaining walls come loose from the bottom foam. A little elmer's wood glue and they never come loose again.

Structurally speaking, I have had NOTHING bad. No degradation over time, no flaking, chipping, tearing, warping, nothing. I have the original Army Transport. It's soft-sided like all the others. It has had my Eldar army, which you all know is rife with spindly, weedy models and parts, and there has never been any issue with breakage. Bear in mind that they stay permanently in that case. That's where I store them.

As if there needs to be any more added here, this case FREQUENTLY finds itself acting as a foundation for a stack of other stuff. Not always game-related and not always lightweight.



Ghidorah

If you have and use pluckfoam, superglue is your friend.
Your pluck squares won't come apart if they're glued!

I like to squirt some superglue in the gaps between the pieces, then shoot it with some accellerator.
LOL It smokes a little, even!

You can do the same for attaching the walls to the bottom. Squirt some superglue in there and, if you're in a hurry, "accellerate" it.

Gluing the foam walls together means you can go with narrower walls, since it's more secure.


Eric

tried superglue.... either mine is botched, or its not working.... more on that... in a notehr thread over at P&M

for foam gluing you're best using a urathane glue like gorilla glue. it'll pnetrate the porous surface well and bind it perminantly. i can see superglue melting the foam and making it work but only good superglue like origional super glue, not the watered down stuff you get as generic superglue that's much cheaper (for a reason) it is great to make minis with bad for foam. do your self a favor and buy some gorilla glue

LOL Coincidentally, my superglue of choice *is* Gorilla Glue (expensive!) brand.
To be fair, though, I've had much success with other brands, as well.


Eric

ea, gorilla super glue will basically melt foam together pricey but effective for sure. but the urithane will instead of melting it get into the pores and expand causing a really good hold. I use it to join sound proofing foam and it really is the best thing I've found

PVA Glue will work perfectly for putting foam back together

Or, should you want, a hot glue gun will make it stick permanently.