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Hey all just have a quick question which do you guys prefer plick and pluck foam or just cutting out the foam with a knife.

i need to make some trays for my new bretonnian army and was wondering which people preferred as i heard some bad stuff about the pick and pluck stuff

steve

Pick 'n'pluck just takes a little time to get the trays done, I have never really seen what people are down on it for. With a little planning you can fit more stuff in a PnP tray than custom type stuff IMHO.

I should say that I do use a knife on it as well (to tear off exactly where I want it torn).

people told me that the plick and pluck falls apart but i am thinking that with things like knights and lances, all at different heights, it might be the way to go.

steve

Depends on where you get the foam i went with blu foam the bottom is very thick and they make up to 4" thick here is the direct link http://www.portablewarfare.com/

the blufoam is nice but the tray sizes do not match my case. I got a odd size case so whichever i go with i will have to cut out the size or pluck it out

steve

you can try battle foam

Foam Factory

You can get the thin solid sheets too for backing, or go get something like 'Funky Foam' at a hobby lobby. A little glue, make it how you want it, and dear gods soooo much cheaper.

The probem you will run into with using pluck foam (like the stuff you get from foam factory for custom sheets is the sides of the tray. If the sides of the tray are pluck rather than regular foam, the tray will break down with regular use. You would be well adivsed to make sides and bottom for these trays out of EVA foam.

EVA foam is the dense foam that most mini transport companies use for the bottoms of their foam trays. It's also what is sold at Hobby Lobby as "funky foam" in 2mm and 3mm thicknesses. I've used the 3mm alot for the bases of trays. I imagine either size would be fine for sides.

Here's a link to some of the cases and trays I've been making. It might give you some ideas. Some of my trays are pluck and pull. Note that these are either made from sheets that come with an edge of regular foam, are very small, or are made to not be removed from the case often.
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/362407.page

Here's my most recent cavalry tray. It's actually just eggshell foam cut and given a funky foam bottom.

Using the funky foam for sides is a great idea that I thought I added. Thinking and typing not meshing well

I originally asked why they didn't do that when someone first showed me what they had done, which was gluing the pluck pieces around the edge together.

It felt good to be on the giving end of a D'OH! moment for a change.

I use these cases: http://www.feldherr.net/us

I have been extremely happy with them - it is pick-n-pluck. On a side note, my apartment burned down 3 months ago, and all of my minis were in a room that took a lot of smoke, heat and water damage but the Feldherr cases kept everything packed up in pristine condition.

I've been told pluckfoam is a terrible thing that falls apart and collapses.

I've been told by others that its the best thing since sliced bread. (not fond of pre-sliced bread mind, prefer the stuff we bake ourselves, get lovely thick chunks)

Now, that said, after having handled pluck foam, gotta say, the stuff holds up well. There are some batches of pluck foam that didn't go over so well and even when using a knife to define the plucks you still get tearing, but a bit of PVA glue and you are set. Then there is the fact that the plucks you pull out, and the foam you get from metal and resin kits, can be glued into a metal case with PVA glue to create other custom cases. Sure, my hkador army box isn't the best, but it does the job at a mere $5 (cost of glue and the metal box)

I'll add that I use KR multicases and foam for storage and their metal cases for transport to venues, plus the obligatory its great and cheap.

poda_t has it right I have kept a Basilisk box full of the plucked foam and it is dead handy for filling space/packing.

I've never seen/bought foam that has pluck sides, that sounds backwards to me.

One more thing. If you only need one tray of calvary and it will be the bottom layer of your case that need not be removed, just use a big sheet of pluck over a layer of EVA. You don't even need to glue the EVA and pluck together.

notprop wrote:
I've never seen/bought foam that has pluck sides, that sounds backwards to me.

Pluck foam with pluck sides is very common outside of miniature wargamers. It's used for cases where the foam is not intended to be removed. In applications where the foam is used as a tray that has to be stacked and handled outside a case (miniatures) pluck sided foam is not used.