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Heya Dakka-ers, I've got a bit of a wondering, and if this isn't the area to post the question in...well, I suppose someone'll move it.

Anyway!


I've been looking at getting a decent case for my IG (and soon BA) and stumbled on KR Multicase's website. I dig the look of their cases, the high quality ones that are reminiscent of gun cases, and the fact that I can get custom foam trays for whatever I want to transport makes the whole deal worthwhile.

But, as we most things on the internet asking for buttloads of money in exchange for something I've never seen, I'm leery. So, has anyone on Dakka purchased something from these guys? Used their cases? The foam trays? Figured if anywhere has a reliably varied set of opinions it's Dakka and generally you guys never steer me wrong.

I have 7 of their card cases (plus the double backpack) and 1 of their aluminium cases, so yes I quite like them.

I got the Ali one first but soon decided the card ones were more than sufficient for the job. The foam is soft but not too limp, which IMO is better for painted models and with the rigidity coming from the cases gives excellent protection.

I have started to get the custom cut options for my IG and really like them as a budget way of storing the larger models in the range.

If you are concerned and are looking at making a big purchase you might want to consider buying a basic card case before you leap into the big purchase. I don't think you will be disappointed but it might be worth considering.

I have a Kaiser 2 for my Eldar (bag and 2 card cases) and it's great. It's got a couple of custom trays for the tanks and they are very well cut. Only bad thing about them is their website makes it tough to know what you actually want, but they're coming out with a new feature soon where you put in the models you want to transport and it will tell you what foam to get.

All in all, I think it's a fantastic product, and relatively cheap for an army transport system.

I use KR exclusively , but I don't have anything similar to what you want to carry so can't offer anything more than that.

I was looking over their different types and was even entertaining one of the smaller ones. But I figured if I'm spending the money, might as well get what I want than get something too small and have to order something later.

Looks like they're coming from the UK, so I assume the shipping to the states would be insane. Anyone have any experience with payment-to-delivery times?

They've got a factory in the Midwest, so shippings not an issue. All prices on the site include shipping, actually.

The black "aluminum" takes scratches pretty easily, so if you don't want it to look ragged, you need to take very good care of it. Also, if the plastic corner bits break, the case might suffer a fatal (for your miniatures) integrity failure.

You did not ask for anyone to list alternates that they like better, so I will not. Here is something you need to consider before buying, though:
What kind of protection do you want for your models?

KR makes hard sided cases and super-soft foam. All of the protection for your models is in the case, and not really in the foam. As the foam is so soft, it's more forgiving when cramming a model into a space not cut out to fit it. If your model's a bit too big, has a protrusion of some sort, etc., the foam is soft and pliable enough to wedge your model in there. In most cases, this does not cause damage.
On the other hand, if you -like many others- like to store your models on shelves in the trays, you're in for trouble. The soft "mushy" nature of these trays means that you have little to no support or protection in this manner. You'd have to store the trays on your shelves in cases.
KR does sell cardboard cases that I understand work well for this.

A firmer foam, cut to fit each model/model type specifically will keep the models from bouncing around as well as the KR foam, but will also offer protection for the models in and of itself. If storing models on shelves in the trays, these trays will hold up better than KR trays and won't give in to the forces of gravity, like KR will.

In the end, your needs and desires will determine if KR is for you. I like to be able to just grab the trays I need (stored on shelves or stacked on the floor/table/etc.), drop them into my case(s) and go. This works for me both, when packing up to go and when packing up to come home.
As such, KR does not meet my needs, personally. You will find, though, that there are plenty of fans on here for whom it works perfectly.

Eric

I personally think the foam is a touch soft, but the card boxes are quite durable.

I have their backpack with two KR cases inside it, and a cardboard case or two on the side. I absolutely love their system, even if their website is a pain in the butt to navigate. The foam is soft and cushions your minis well. I can just grab any two cases I have, put em in the backpack, and roll out. The price is cheaper than some of their competitors and the product fits all my needs.

Also, free shipping is lovely.

+1 for KR, I use their foam inside cardboard boxes of my own choosing, and it's fantastic.

I have several of the Carboard type cases and like the foam softness over other case foams , others seem to me too hard and unforgiving

I use KR for all my armies - affordable and the cardboard cases are more than durable enough for my needs.

I have an aluminum double, triple and then the six. I absolutely love the cases for what they do. The six, although heavy, is probably my favorite. It comes with 6 of the cardboard carrying cases, with foam obviously, that if you just buy them (I remember I could, but for the life of me I cant find it now on the website) you can just interchange them.

@MM: If you have an alternative, I'd be open to a suggestion. KR was just some of the nicer ones I'd found.

The backpack is worth then eh? It seemed sort of, small, in comparison to the giant ones I was thinking of getting. Generally I'm going to be moving anywhere from 4-6 Russes, 50-60 infantry, a Valk, and some HWT's, it seemed like the custom foam A for IG was a good choice.

Only because you asked.
..and I apologize in advance, as this is about to become yet another "KR vs BF" thread. LOL
I like Battlefoam. It's expensive, but you can get your trays custom cut to fit your models precisely. No worries about them breaking in transit because, if they did, then (a) it's your fault for not packing them properly or (b) something very large landed on the case... VERY large.
The foam is firm and protective, so you can stack your trays (I've had at least a dozen of varying sizes, full, all stacked with NO problems) and the sides won't bow & your models won't get damaged.

It all comes down to preference. If you want firm foam & for your protection to be spread between foam & case, and for the foam trays to be able to be stacked atop each other, go with BF. If you want soft foam & for the protection to be in the cases, and don't care if the trays won't stack atop each other well if they're not in boxes, go with KR.

Eric

@MM - just to correct one impression you have given there, if you choose to you can stack KR on top of each other quite happily with no problem. Why you would choose to do so when they come with card boxes I can not say.

Re Frankenberrys actual requirement; you will get a Valk and 4 tanks plus about 20 troops in their IG set B, leaving the rest to fit in another case. Both cases will then slip into a double backpack with room to spare.

Apologies I'm not a salesman by the way but I basically have this very set up for my army so am well familiar with what you appear to be looking for.

Thanks for the alternate, MM. I've seen BF advertised, just never thought to check there oddly enough. It's nice to know though, that BF foam is a bit heavier duty, I'll have to check out their setups.

No apologies needed, I prefer to have someone tell me their honest opinion about this stuff, I'm going to be throwing money at it after all.

KR's website is pretty horrid actually, it doesn't give you any information on what foam trays you would need for what cases and it isn't specific about what certain things hold. But you're saying the 'B' will hold about half of what I plan on transporting, so double it up. Cases doubled as well? Or is there a case that can hold two 'B's?

I have a ton of KR cases- both cardboard and aluminum- and am very happy with them. I find them to offer sufficient protection at a reasonable price. Their website isn't the most user friendly thing in the world, but they are very helpful if you email them with any questions or problems.

A basic card case will hold 3 standard trays. Obviously vehicles will take up more room and LR chassis' will need a double thick tray. So for example I have a case for my IG that has a double thickness pick 'n pluck tray and a standard infantry tray.

Moving on to larger vehicles like the Valk, that will need a triple thickness tray but has enough room around it to fit the other models. But that triple thick tray will fill the case.

So that IG set B case will hold half of you force and the rest will easily fit in another case in whatever combination of trays best suit you. So that would be two cases worth of foam leaving you only to decide whether to go for card or aluminium cases and if you go card what if any bag you would want to hold them in.

I'm not sure that is any clearer for you mate but might help you to understand the way the system/website is set up.

My final bit of advice would to call them. If their US base is half as helpful as their UK one the they'll have you sorted in no time.

 Frankenberry wrote:
KR's website is pretty horrid actually, it doesn't give you any information on what foam trays you would need for what cases and it isn't specific about what certain things hold. But you're saying the 'B' will hold about half of what I plan on transporting, so double it up. Cases doubled as well? Or is there a case that can hold two 'B's?

This is one of the main reasons I didn't go with KR. I was looking into what I'd need to store my Tyranids, and after about 30 minutes looking through various pages on their website, it had pissed me off enough to go check out Battlefoam.

@notprop: Thanks for the advice, man, it helped quite a bit actually. I was looking at like three different IG foam sets and only one case. Would have been fubar if I'd just ordered them, lol. I'll give them a call when I get a day off, might see what they've got to say.

@-Loki-: Yeah, I've been on the site on and off today, trying to complete an order or at least get one to a point where I understood what I'd put in my cart. So far? I've had to restart twice, but again, the products look great so I might suck it up and deal with the crappy website.

You can always just email them with the list of models you're looking to store. From what I've heard, they're pretty good at telling you what trays and case you'd want.

KR will take your lost of models and suggest a set of trays and boxes. Just email them. There's a new system on their site that's either live already or due soon, to do all that for you.

I have 7 cardboard boxes, carried in a backpack and Kaiser 1, and a aluminium 2 case.
The foam is great for odd-shaped models, as you just tear it apart, to let spears or banners in.
The trays fit in any of their cases. I upgraded from a pair of boxes to the alu case, and gradually filled the then-empty boxes as required.
The backpack takes my whole set of kit. Templates, dice, rulebooks, etc. The one thing that I can't make fit in the pockets is the collectors-edition of the BRB.

The coardboard boxes are supposed to be stacked, and once you work out how to track what's in each box, you just take the ones you want. It's why the Kaiser bags all carry amounts of boxes. You're not supposed to take the foam out of the trays for storage.

The main thing to work out when ordering of the depth and width of the trays. They work with 1/3 depth, and 1/4 depth, and various levels of that.
So, a vehicle tray might be 2/3 of a box deep, so you can fit another tray 1/3 on top.
That's all worked against width, either a full-box, half or quarter-widths.
It sounds difficult, and they seem to refure to refer to the trays i fractions, just measurements.

 Frankenberry wrote:
I've had to restart twice, but again, the products look great so I might suck it up and deal with the crappy website.

When I was making my case for Confrontation I printed out a bunch of the tray size guides so I could visually see which models would go where, and kept a running list of what I needed as I went. I found it easier to work it out myself than use the tools on their site.

 Riquende wrote:

 Frankenberry wrote:
I've had to restart twice, but again, the products look great so I might suck it up and deal with the crappy website.

When I was making my case for Confrontation I printed out a bunch of the tray size guides so I could visually see which models would go where, and kept a running list of what I needed as I went. I found it easier to work it out myself than use the tools on their site.

Work out a list of your models.
Look at the pre-build tray sets, and cross off everything that will hold.
If there's anything in that set you'll never use (sentinel trays, etc), work out the size of that part, and see what you can fit in its place.
I started with the most awkward models (Valkyrie, Wave Serpent), and built around them.
Troops trays come in all sizes. Fill any gaps with them.
If you can afford to early on, look at the aluminium cases first, if you think you'll ever want them. You can save a lot by buying a filled case, compared to upgrading from cardboard.

Skinnereal does raise a good point KR trays are easy to modify as well.

When confronted with a FoW tray (I bought the wrong one d'oh!) and a load of Churchill and Challenger tanks too long for standard spaces it was a simple case of cutting the dividers and hot gluing them into new positions.

I suspect this is true of all types of foam tray to be fair?

+1 for KR.
i use them exclusively, i have 5 at present and am looking at ordering more.
the website at the moment isnt the best but if like me you arent sure what will fit your force just email them. i emailed yesterday asking for some suggestions for some of the more odd vehicles in my forces and they came back this morning with a list of suggestions.
to give you an idea i have a large plastic box i store airsoft stuff in and it weighs an awful lot, last week i drpped this on a KR card box with a medusa and manticore in and both tanks survived with no damage.
i honestly cant sing the companies praises enough and next time im in colchester im tempted to drop in and see the factory

notprop wrote:@MM - just to correct one impression you have given there, if you choose to you can stack KR on top of each other quite happily with no problem. Why you would choose to do so when they come with card boxes I can not say.

Two reasons, really.
1) They'd take up less space without the boxes. The cardboard may not be extremely thick, but the presence of the boxes can make a difference on whether or not I can get another tray on that shelf [which leads us to the second answer]
2) [And most important for me] I like to store my models in the trays on a shelf, so that I can just "Grab and go" with only the trays I need. I don't want to have to reorganize which trays I put together in which boxes in order to not bring extra models I don't need. This is not easily done with the KR set up. Sorry. I tried to make it clear earlier that this was my main motivation.

Frankenberry wrote:KR's website is pretty horrid actually, it doesn't give you any information on what foam trays you would need for what cases and it isn't specific about what certain things hold. But you're saying the 'B' will hold about half of what I plan on transporting, so double it up. Cases doubled as well? Or is there a case that can hold two 'B's?

In KR's favor, if you send them a list of models with any special needs, they'll tell you exactly what you need to buy & price it out for you.
Before going with BF, I looked into KR. In the end, price often holds the greatest sway over my buying decisions, so I was looking at my options. After about an hour on the site, I got fed up with it and emailed them the list.
What I got back was shocking, to say the least.
Due to the way I have my DE army set up (Raiders, etc. are all permanently pinned to resin bases with thin brass rod), it would take more trays than normal for my army. In the end -and, I apologize, this was 2 or 3 years ago, right after the new DE came out- it would've taken a CRAPLOAD of trays for my army (around 4K points at that time, but I was buying enough foam for the 7K or so I had planned), with an end price to match. When I did the math on BF, it was actually less than half of the cost that KR quoted me.

In the end, I ended up needing to buy more BF foam, but that was my own fault. Rather than make trays for All my models, I went with their "premade" trays for most, without thinking of my needs. I ended up not having enough space for my Heavy Weapon Warriors & sgt's, or for my models that were in alternate poses or bases.

-Loki- wrote:

 Frankenberry wrote:
This is one of the main reasons I didn't go with KR. I was looking into what I'd need to store my Tyranids, and after about 30 minutes looking through various pages on their website, it had pissed me off enough to go check out Battlefoam.

This was my experience, as well, as I said above. I cannot tell you how impressed I was with their swift replies to my email, though. I gave them a HUGE DE list with my specific necessities, and I got a list back from them the following business day.
As it turns out, I'm glad I went with BF, as I didn't realize at the time that KR used "mushy" foam (which I hate), but I'll never knock their customer service.

Eric

 MagickalMemories wrote:

2) [And most important for me] I like to store my models in the trays on a shelf, so that I can just "Grab and go" with only the trays I need. I don't want to have to reorganize which trays I put together in which boxes in order to not bring extra models I don't need. This is not easily done with the KR set up. Sorry. I tried to make it clear earlier that this was my main motivation

It's not supposed to be done with the KR setup, the parts that you grab and go are the boxes themselves. I understand that what you've got works for you, and at the end of the day we'll all have slightly varying needs, but this is the part of it that, for me, is brilliant. I have 3 boxes currently - 2 of them hold all my commonly used Confrontation stuff, 3 armies in each. The 3rd has both of my Uncharted Seas fleets. I've been planning a 4th to hold my Dropzone Commander stuff, and a potential 5th using their 6mm trays for my Epic. I have the Kaiser 2 bag, so I can just drop in whatever boxes are relevant for the game I'm about to play. Messing about with individual trays would be a massive, massive pain for me.