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RiTides wrote:Pelican cases! I agree that these are safe for airline travel, having used and packed them for my previous job with lots of fragile items.

However, these things are basically bomb proof!!! NOT what I want to lug around my small toy soldiers in!

That said, if I really had to ship something, or even check it in, I'd feel safer using one of those. However, I would never do that with miniatures (or a laptop)... I'd always carry it on.

Sorry for the rambling post... but yet, pelican cases are "true" airline / shipping protection, but so much overkill (not to mention cumbersome and inconvenient... basically the opposite of BF's main features!) for any other purpose of housing minis!

But it's a good point, and worth noting if anyone is seriously considering checking a bag full of minis.

I guess it just depends on whuch battlefoam bag your comparing to which pelican case, really.

Granted, pelican cases CAN be cumbersome (but then again that PACK 1520 isnt exactly something you fit in your pocket either), if you have those huge very expensive monstrosities, but the cases I use from pelican are hardly more cumbersome than a typical hard case made by anyone else (GW, battlehive II by crystalcaste, gun cases from wally world, etc).

Perhaps I am indeed paranoid about the protection of my minis, but I couldnt imagine prolonged travel without an actual piece of mind, carry-on or otherwise. This is the pelican case I use for my armies for the past 7 years (the best investment I have ever made for my minis. $150 after shipping):

Pelican 1610


For one of my other armies I also use these Vaultz cases for everyday transportation locally. They are made for documents as file storage but I find them very suitable to hold the battlefoam of the 15"x12" variety almost perfectly. The cost? Typically around $25 but retail for about $40. Not as hardcore as pelican cases but are a nice compromise in price without sacrificing too much protection.



I do agree that carry on is the way to go. Sadly, I have too much crap to lug around when visiting friends and playing miniature wargames for that to be a realistic option (in my case) more often than not.




Automatically Appended Next Post:

LastManOnEarth wrote:Sounds like a Challenge in the making.

BattleFoam Grand Tour 2010:

Pack a 1520 fully loaded with a pro painted army. Send it as checked luggage from AZ to LA. Demo at FLGSs in LA area. Next stop: San Francisco. Portland. Seattle. Denver. Minneapolis. And so on.

Videotape the bag coming off the luggage belt and videotape the figure inspection once unpacked.

At the end of the tour, draw a name from everyone who attended a demo as the winner of the bag and army.

And then we call all STFU about whether the case stands up to baggage handlers or not.

Wonderful idea. 5 major international airports. LAS, LAX, Sea-Tac, MSP, PHX (Vegas, LA, Seattle, Minneapolis, Phoenix respectively)

Video tape each unloading and unpacking on the spot of its arrival at each baggage claim.

Good promotion which would settle any reasonable disputes of the veracity of the product once and for all. The haters will continue to hate of course, but... what can you do? Plus whoever does it gets to visit some really cool game shops in really cool places. I see no drawback, only good publicity.

That Pelican is pretty much the twin of the SKB I have, about the same price as well (retail). Although a bit pricey per cubic inch of storage, this style of case is going to be the best protection you can realisticly get and will out last pretty much any other option out there.

I see, a rolling model pelican case would be more doable... and the dimensions on that one are smaller than what I'd originally suspected for their small rolling cases (we used the monster ones at my work) which makes it more portable.

Have you flown (or even better, often flown) with that case Hellfury? My only concern would be if the minis aren't tight enough in the foam... i.e. the case is fine, but the minis get bounced around inside. But I guess you just have to pluck carefully.

I'm certainly NOT volunteering my army for the continental tour although it is a good idea!

It'd be nice if Battlefoam has the ability to make custom foam trays for cases outside of the standard mini case formats they offer. Don't know if it'd be possible or practical though. I know at least for mine the outter corners would have to be radiused for the trays to fit correctly.

Or is someone could confirm some hard case that has the right dimensions to properly fit some Battlefoam trays...

RiTides wrote:I see, a rolling model pelican case would be more doable... and the dimensions on that one are smaller than what I'd originally suspected for their small rolling cases (we used the monster ones at my work) which makes it more portable.

Have you flown (or even better, often flown) with that case Hellfury? My only concern would be if the minis aren't tight enough in the foam... i.e. the case is fine, but the minis get bounced around inside. But I guess you just have to pluck carefully.

For the past three years I have logged just shy of 40 flights carrying models in the case. At first I used my own custom cut foam that was tedious to do but worked quite well until Battlefoam came onto the scene and now I use their foam. I bought the pelican case without foam inside because pick and pluck is epic fail.

The way I see it, if the case can stand up to a nuclear attack, it wont matter if the model inst fairly snug in the foam as the momentum of it jumbling around inside will break the model. Romeo was on target when he suggests making enough room for the model to move just a little bit inside the foam (making removing and replacing the model in the foam easy without forcing it).

The only thing I worry about happening to this case is theft or being lost. Not once during the last three years have any models been busted. I feel a lot safer now using this case now that I have battlefoam inside.

Wow, that's a lot of flights!

Good idea to buy the case without foam and use BF- seems like the best of both worlds

Great videos - haven't read all the coments but I will say this has spurred me to buy a 432

I already have some battlefoam trays for storage at home and I know these are top notch but some custom cut or army specific trays would be reat for my nids, my trygon took alot of love to paint well and I would hate for it to be broken

Oh and sure there pricey but I (and most dakka posters I would bet) have thousands of pounds of models so its not alot when compared to that