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So Dakka Dakka I had an idea and I turn to you all for help.

The idea is to make a custom transport for my minis using a old guitar gig bag.

The idea is to wrap the minis in plastic wrap as snuggly as possible. Then spray the crap out of the case. Cut the top out with a knife and lift the minis free.

Hopefully the foam will mold around the minis making a fantastic way to transport the minis.

So what I need help with is a non toxic safe to use soft squishy foam, that I can spray, use a gun, pour out etc. Any ideas?

( Sorry I forget to mention any medium other then foam such as gel, rubber anything, forget to add to original post. )

This sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. Good luck getting those minis out.

I would rather just buy sheets of foam and cut them to shape. You can get they for pretty cheap from craft stores, or the off cuts from sofa/bed manufacturers.

One problem I forsee with this idea is that ANY weak spots on the minis will be crushed by the foam as it expands.

Another is actually cutting a decently straight top off of the foam without damaging the miniatures themselves.

Then there's the whole issue of bases being encased in the foam, which will also expand into all of the crevases of the miniature locking your mini into the foam (and then having to cut it out anyway).

You'd definately be better off cutting holes into sheets of foam instead. Safer and easier in the long run.

This is what the plastic wrap is for. I have a rather thick plastic wrap that is used for moving. It creates a barrier away from the bases banners chainswords ect. But I am very open to suggestions other then actual foam. I suppose that wrapping the mini around several times, to make it thicker better seperation.
Negative comments aside any ideas to help make this method work.

Is there a safe product to use?

The spray foam is not a "soft" foam, it has no give to it. Might as well use cardboard or something or plastic.

Also, isn't there a decent amount of heat generated while the foam is expanding? Can the minis handle close contact?

Plastic wrap (including several layers of the stuff you're talking about) is unlikely to prevent the foam from pushing into every crevace on the model. That stuff will provide enough pressure while expanding to go where it wants (I have even seen it push out pieces of wood that were nailed together).

Negative comments aside, I don't know that there is a method that would make this work in any way that would be worth trying.

As for a "safe" product to use, spray foam insulation is all the same. It's not going to harm the models but if it does manage to get into contact with them it sticks like no tommorow. The heat generated is pretty minimal VonTed, so that's not much of an issue. The issue is trying to keep it from completely encasing the mini, including all the little crevaces.
The best bet for this would be the "low expansion" kind of foam. HOWEVER, that stuff expands far far less than the regular which is both a blessing and a curse for your purposes;
a) it expands much much less with much less pressure than the regular expanding foam, meaning it won't exert as much pressure and MAY stay out of the crevaces
b) as a result of it expanding so much less you will need a LOT more of it, upping the cost significantly

If you use regular expanding foam and were to first make semi-form fitting boxes for each miniature then it may work. But again, at that point you're better off (time and money) to just cut out the areas from standard foam.

I wish there were something better to suggest or more positive words, but I cannot see it working at all as you expect it to Diogenesethedog.

What do you plan to do about the space between the mini's? How do you plan to get the kinfe in to cut the foam there?

In additions to all the reasons above, there are many easier options avaliable

I have no idea how much your foam costs, but pluck-foam is usually $13.00 per tray... Plan properly, and you can recycle the plucked parts into new trays for bigger stuff. I converted three lunch tins into small army cases, damn good ones too, using this recycled foam.....

Rorschach9 wrote:
Plastic wrap (including several layers of the stuff you're talking about) is unlikely to prevent the foam from pushing into every crevace on the model. That stuff will provide enough pressure while expanding to go where it wants (I have even seen it push out pieces of wood that were nailed together).

Negative comments aside, I don't know that there is a method that would make this work in any way that would be worth trying.

As for a "safe" product to use, spray foam insulation is all the same. It's not going to harm the models but if it does manage to get into contact with them it sticks like no tommorow. The heat generated is pretty minimal VonTed, so that's not much of an issue. The issue is trying to keep it from completely encasing the mini, including all the little crevaces.
The best bet for this would be the "low expansion" kind of foam. HOWEVER, that stuff expands far far less than the regular which is both a blessing and a curse for your purposes;
a) it expands much much less with much less pressure than the regular expanding foam, meaning it won't exert as much pressure and MAY stay out of the crevaces
b) as a result of it expanding so much less you will need a LOT more of it, upping the cost significantly

If you use regular expanding foam and were to first make semi-form fitting boxes for each miniature then it may work. But again, at that point you're better off (time and money) to just cut out the areas from standard foam.

I wish there were something better to suggest or more positive words, but I cannot see it working at all as you expect it to Diogenesethedog.

Hey thanks so..the idea is bust. No other medium would work?

Its a neat idea and can easily be tested for like 3 bucks so why not give it a try on a spare model.

Please post a pic when done so everyone can avoid making the same mistake!

Expanding foam sounds like a disaster in the making. Just cut sheet foam, man!

plain old pluck foam sheets can also be switched out. If you go for expanding foam, it seems pretty permanent, if your army changed you would lose all the effort you put into the case.

I think the theory has some merit, but the theory to reality may not be worth the headache.

I would like to see your results also.

Nooooo!!!!!
You'll need a Jedi to rescue your miniatures!

 doktor_g wrote:
Nooooo!!!!!
You'll need a Jedi to rescue your miniatures!

I'd been wondering how long it would take for this to pop up....

 JohnnyHell wrote:
Please post a pic when done so everyone can avoid making the same mistake!

Expanding foam sounds like a disaster in the making. Just cut sheet foam, man!

I agree that the idea of expanding foam clearly is wrong. But I'm not looking for expanding foam.

I am looking for a medium that is soft enough to transport minis. Squishy. That can be made to shape.

However foam was mentioned as an option.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
What about a gel? Something that won't stick to the minis?

there's Pluckfoam.... i think that's what was meant. And the stuff from that.... uhh...... can't remember the company name at 1:00 AM, but they do custom foam inserts to hold your stuff

That temperpedic bed material would be awesome as a protectant for transports, too bad it's probably absurdly expensive and heavy.

 TheLionOfTheForest wrote:
That temperpedic bed material would be awesome as a protectant for transports, too bad it's probably absurdly expensive and heavy.

What about a gel or rubber material?


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 doktor_g wrote:
Nooooo!!!!!
You'll need a Jedi to rescue your miniatures!

A few important things to note that seem to have been ignored.

1. The medium does not have to be foam(can be anything ,gel ect

2. The plastic wrap I plan to separate the mold from the mini, is extremely thick. I suspect more then a few milometers thick when wrapped. This will eliminate lil bits getting hung up

3. The minis do not have to be completely submerged In the medium.

4. This is not being applied to a whole army.

5. It is far to easy for people to trash an Idea. Yet it is difficult for them to add to it, improve it.

6.Just because someone says it wont work does not make it true. So why not come up with an original idea rather then repeating someone else?

I think your best bet is getting the sheet foam from Michaels craft stores. It's fairly cheap, not the softest foam but should be adequate and you can cut it to fit your models. It's probably the cheapest and least labor intensive process. I did a similar project using a bankers box and all the packing foam sheets that came with my last computer. The box can hold close to 200 figures, 6 bikes, 1 attack bike,2 dreads and 3 tanks.

 TheLionOfTheForest wrote:
I think your best bet is getting the sheet foam from Michaels craft stores. It's fairly cheap, not the softest foam but should be adequate and you can cut it to fit your models. It's probably the cheapest and least labor intensive process. I did a similar project using a bankers box and all the packing foam sheets that came with my last computer. The box can hold close to 200 figures, 6 bikes, 1 attack bike,2 dreads and 3 tanks.

This is not what I'm trying to do.

Diogenesethedog wrote:

A few important things to note that seem to have been ignored.

1. The medium does not have to be foam(can be anything ,gel ect

You asked about spray foam, as the title says. Only later did you change that.

2. The plastic wrap I plan to separate the mold from the mini, is extremely thick. I suspect more then a few milometers thick when wrapped. This will eliminate lil bits getting hung up

You'd think that, yes. It all depends on how much pressure the product you use ends up applying to the surface. Plastic wrap stretches, no matter how thick you try to make it.

5. It is far to easy for people to trash an Idea. Yet it is difficult for them to add to it, improve it.

6.Just because someone says it wont work does not make it true. So why not come up with an original idea rather then repeating someone else?

Trash the idea? Not really. Just giving you a heads up that what you ORIGINALLY asked about would not work the way you think it will; Constructive critisism.

Any "other medium" that you can use that is not simply cutting out foam sheets .. well who knows. Maybe you can get some liquid rubber or something along those lines .. anything that flows freely and then hardens/stiffens which I imagine you'll have to research to find. However the cost and time vs. protective value compared to foam sheets likely makes it so that it's not worth doing.

That being said, it appears you want others to do the research for you while you sit back and lash out at those who know what will or will not work. I gave my advice. Good luck to you.

What about that can of spray rubber that you always see on TV? I know they sell it at Walmart. That stuff looks nigh indestructible and it would fit into what it sounds like you are trying to do.

Anything can be done for cheap, it just depends on the effort and time you want to put in. You can buy really cheap foam sheets and just cut everything yourself, spend a little more and get pluck foam from one the many foam tray suppliers (Bonus as it usually fits with their bags), get premade foam trays or finally the most expensive get custom cut foam.

It all depends on how much you want to spend and how much time you have. Me? I rather sepend time painting and modeling so I just bought some premade trays and some pluck foam and it works for me.

As for other options, it depends.

Anything that willmould to a shape may be hard to work with, not only is tyhe moulding process difficult to seperate in the halves, most of that stuff ends up being a solid when it's set. I like foam because it's firm enough to hold my minis in place, but it still has some give. The spaces are also genaric so I don't have to put the same mininin the same place each time. If you ahve a large number of mini's and each one has a specific slot you'll have to spend some time, everything, you want to pack them up as you look for that correct slot. That's not hard with a GK paladin list but an Ork horde list? Have fun spending 2 hours packing the army

As for a gel, it would have to be a semi sold gel. A liquid gel in a bag or container might have to much movement and may harm the small bits on the end of models, there's also not guarentee that they will stay in place. Even the semi solid stuff may not hold them right. Gel will also be heavy, it's not something you can stack.

No offense ment but there are a good amount of products out there to store your mini's and alot of companies. They have most likely thought of different ideas but have stuck with foeam for a reason: It's light and easy to work with. Why try to reinvent the wheel, when it works just fine?

Ok, answering the original query, yes, there are soft expanding 2 part foams available often used for packing of delicate and heavy objects. What you are looking for is a low density foam such as this: http://www.uline.com/BL_7708/Instapak-Quick-Room-Temperature
Or this: http://www.monstermakers.com/category/soft-expanding-polyurethane-foam/

Also to abate the foam from going into every nook, besides wrapping the pieces for the initial expansion, you want to place another general layer of plastic sheet separating the foam from the miniatures. So basically you want to layer foam, sheet, miniatures, sheet, foam, close the case once initial expansion has started but before it cures. The biggest challenge is to pour the right amount based on volume so that it fills enough but does not expand to bursting the case or crushing the miniatures.

This, however, is not exactly cheap.

My best suggestion for generic packing and transport of miniatures without cutting out areas for the figures is something called egg shell foam. It has a regular pattern of raised bulges and dips that miniatures can be easily and safely nestled into. It can also be had pretty cheaply.

commissarbob wrote:
Ok, answering the original query, yes, there are soft expanding 2 part foams available often used for packing of delicate and heavy objects. What you are looking for is a low density foam such as this: http://www.uline.com/BL_7708/Instapak-Quick-Room-Temperature
Or this: http://www.monstermakers.com/category/soft-expanding-polyurethane-foam/

The first option show here has several drawbacks. First, of course, is price, which is quite high.

Second, this process is designed for a single, irregularly shaped object. It might work well for a single tank, but isn't going to work very well for a group of infantry, I suspect.

Finally, but possibly most importantly, these bags can rupture. The resulting foam will cling to surfaces pretty tenaciously. This system might be fine, but I have received shipments with this type of shaped foam clinging to the product inside.

You would be investing in a foam packing system which costs a lot more than the alternatives, may not work, and could ruin your models. For people shipping large, fragile, very expensive things (like a vase), it might be worth the costs, but given the existing commercial alternatives for miniature transport, I wouldn't bother.

If you really are determined to use something other than premade foam, you might try using the tiny foam beads used to fill bean bags. Put in a layer of foam beads, then lay a layer of cover (so that the beads don't get all over your minis), then fill with more foam beads. Of course, the beads will go EVERYWHERE when you open the case. Maybe you could use a hot glue gun to create two 'pillows' of foam beads within the guitar case, attaching one to the bottom and the other to the top? It still seems like too much trouble for me.

What if the OP took a ideally sized plastic bin, placed mini sized blocks inside of it at regular intervals, sprayed around it, and then cut it in half? That way he wouldn't be cutting around his minis and could use the blocks as the storage space. I've never worked with spray foam but I don't see why this wouldn't work, unless spray foam is just a terrible medium to work with

I have worked with many expanding foams in my day, and the only one that will work for this would be too expensive to be worth it. Buy pluck foam.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

BrotherVord wrote:
What if the OP took a ideally sized plastic bin, placed mini sized blocks inside of it at regular intervals, sprayed around it, and then cut it in half? That way he wouldn't be cutting around his minis and could use the blocks as the storage space. I've never worked with spray foam but I don't see why this wouldn't work, unless spray foam is just a terrible medium to work with

It's usually toxic, and unless it's super dense, will not cut very cleanly.

I like the idea of keeping them in a guitar case. That way you can look cool and wink at girls, and no one will ever suspect that you're on your way to play with little soldiers.

With regards to the foam idea. I can see the thinking behind it, but as others have said it might not go quite a smoothly as you are planing. I've tried cutting things out of moulds before (to make an easy 2 part mould)... It was a lot harder than I had anticipated, and basically didn't work at all. You be better off looking at the techniques people actually use for making 2 part moulds, as they would likely serve you better. I would also be weary of keeping anything in foam that hasn't been tried and tested. Some foams will deteriorate over time and they turn into a sticky gunky powder stuff that won't wash off.