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Does anyone have experience with Pirate Lab's miniature foam? They seem to mostly do card cases, but they have a small line of cheap miniature foam. Is the foam is any good, how does it compare to KR or Battle Foam? I have a lot of minis with fragile, pointy bits, so I had figured that KR's soft foam would be better, is Pirate Lab's foam similar to KR or harder like Battle Foam?

I wouldn't say those are terribly cheap. At around $10 a pop, stack 3-4 and you'd be at the cost of a KR case with the box included or a similar Feldherr product (which are generally in the low $40's) etc.

Tabletop Tyrant on eBay used to have cheap foam, not sure if they're still around (and they shipped from the UK).

The versions sold by Miniature Market are cheaper as well if I recall - their whole in-house product I think.

They're not as cheap as miniature market (unless you compare the shorter trays, which I would), but are less than KR or Feldherr.

But what I most care about is having soft pluck foam. KR doesn't seem to have pluck foam and I don't know if the other foams are similarly soft.

Again, many of my models have fragile, pointy bits and I don't glaze them very often (painting is a continuous process). So I don't know what foam is best for them.

Pluck foam in general tends to be more rough than foam like KR uses (which is extremely soft compared to other brands I've seen). Not sure if the softer foam is conducive to laser-cutting or whatever they do to cut pluck foam. Can't think of a good suggestion, sorry!

I just have never understood why 1in thick, 2 in, etc.. is the SAME price?

Math tells me that there is (approx) twice the amount of foam in a 2 inch tray as in a 1inch.. but same price.

I am FINE with that, understand, I just dont understand the WHY

 Eipi10 wrote:
Does anyone have experience with Pirate Lab's miniature foam? They seem to mostly do card cases, but they have a small line of cheap miniature foam. Is the foam is any good, how does it compare to KR or Battle Foam? I have a lot of minis with fragile, pointy bits, so I had figured that KR's soft foam would be better, is Pirate Lab's foam similar to KR or harder like Battle Foam?

I use Pirate Lab foam in my BF cases. Fits them great and at a better price point for generic trays. The foam is similar to that of BF.

Regarding soft pluck foam, I tend to think it'd have some structural issues. Pluck foam can get that way even with harder foam, IME. FWIW, I'm a fan of Pirate Lab's 'snip' foam. Requires a little more work than pluck foam, but I thing it's more rigid and stable.

 gorgon wrote:
I use Pirate Lab foam in my BF cases. Fits them great and at a better price point for generic trays. The foam is similar to that of BF.

Regarding soft pluck foam, I tend to think it'd have some structural issues. Pluck foam can get that way even with harder foam, IME. FWIW, I'm a fan of Pirate Lab's 'snip' foam. Requires a little more work than pluck foam, but I thing it's more rigid and stable.

Is snip form good for basic troop models? I have a lot of admech, for example, and I don't know 25 or 32 mm bases will line up well with the 15 mm squares in the snip foam. It looks like it is intended for very irregularity shaped models.

Also, I know BF is harder than KR foam, but is it hard enough to chaff the paint off (unglazed) models? I have heard of that happening in GW cases, but the might just a myth form anti-GW bias.

 porkuslime wrote:
I just have never understood why 1in thick, 2 in, etc.. is the SAME price?

Math tells me that there is (approx) twice the amount of foam in a 2 inch tray as in a 1inch.. but same price.

I am FINE with that, understand, I just dont understand the WHY

I suspect it has something to do with manufacturing. To make the 1 inch trays, the might just take a 2 inch tray and cut off the top part, for example. Chances are the material is so cheap that most of the cost goes into molds, labor, and electricity instead of materials. Modern manufacturing is weird.

 Eipi10 wrote:

 gorgon wrote:
I use Pirate Lab foam in my BF cases. Fits them great and at a better price point for generic trays. The foam is similar to that of BF.

Regarding soft pluck foam, I tend to think it'd have some structural issues. Pluck foam can get that way even with harder foam, IME. FWIW, I'm a fan of Pirate Lab's 'snip' foam. Requires a little more work than pluck foam, but I thing it's more rigid and stable.

Is snip form good for basic troop models? I have a lot of admech, for example, and I don't know 25 or 32 mm bases will line up well with the 15 mm squares in the snip foam. It looks like it is intended for very irregularity shaped models.

Also, I know BF is harder than KR foam, but is it hard enough to chaff the paint off (unglazed) models? I have heard of that happening in GW cases, but the might just a myth form anti-GW bias.

Not sure that I'd use the snip stuff for small models, as it could be awkward like you said. I've used it for trays dedicated to larger models...vehicles, monsters, and stuff. I love it for those.

 gorgon wrote:
Not sure that I'd use the snip stuff for small models, as it could be awkward like you said. I've used it for trays dedicated to larger models...vehicles, monsters, and stuff. I love it for those.

Good to know. I've heard bad things about custom trays for large models, customizing them yourself is probably the way to go.