Space Hulk Battlefoam trays

[Goresmack]

Being the space hulk fanboy I am I picked up a couple of the Space Hulk pre-cut foam trays from Battlefoam and thought I might give a mini-review to anybody on the fence. There are two kinds of trays one for the models the other is the same size but with two big squares cut in it (totally useless).

The trays themselves are sturdy and Battlefoam clearly paid attention to the model when they cut them, that being their selling point, I would hope so. The trays are roughly the size of the SH box at half the height, hence the second tray offered. The second tray doesn't really work as well as I would have wanted and it seems a little tricky to get all the tiles, bitz, and bobs in those two squares so I don't generally use it. The model tray runs $15 and is well worth having to protect those ultra-pretty, and ultra-fragile, models.

The price is right on there trays, but the shipping charge isn't, for 4 trays I paid about $10 shipping, which I think is a lot to ship foam. There was an awfully long wait for them as well, over 2.5 weeks (and a week waiting for the charge to even get posted to my card), so that sucked.

All in all, if you love your Space Hulk and find that you cart it around a lot like I do it's worth the $15 for the model tray even after the wait.

[URL="http://battlefoam.com/catalog.php?category=66"]Battlefoam Space Hulk Trays[/URL]

-Goresmack

[robertsjf]

There are two kinds of trays one for the models the other is the same size but with two big squares cut in it (totally useless).

The price is right on there trays, but the shipping charge isn't, for 4 trays I paid about $10 shipping, which I think is a lot to ship foam. There was an awfully long wait for them as well, over 2.5 weeks (and a week waiting for the charge to even get posted to my card), so that sucked.

I actually cut the middle divider off of the gameboard tray, makes it less of a square peg, round hole type of endeavor.

As far as the shipping, I think it was based more off of the volume than weight....

[oni]

I'm going to suggest that you watch this...

[URL="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NuCHnZUBW4"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NuCHnZUBW4[/URL]

[Goresmack]

I'm going to suggest that you watch this...

[URL="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NuCHnZUBW4"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NuCHnZUBW4[/URL]

It's great that they where nice enough to make a little video on how to put everything away, but it strikes me as silly to spend and extra $10 for what a handful of rubber bands and a couple of sandwich bags can do. Not to mention when he gets to the "and we're gonna sprinkle these on" in reference to the plastic door holders makes me wonder how much time did they put into the design and that they are just trying to milk that cash out of my wallet. Not that I could have come up with something better, mind you.

I certainly don't think these guy made a bad product over all but that tray is silly.

-Goresmack

[oni]

I'm not sure how much design can really be put into the bottom tray, but they claim it's a good amount. I've seen another one from a BF competitor that uses multiple cut outs to separate most of the tiles and such... it doesn't hold everything, not even close. So I have to assume BF did some amount of research and development.

I have the set, and like the bottom tray even if it is superfluous. It keeps things packed tightly together.

[Uncle Fester]

I got the BF Space Hulk set as a present & spent about 3 hours trying to make it work with the incorrect amount of beer. (not enuf) The next night after watching the Utube article & having the correct amount of beer (enuf) it worked a treat! Now I can't get the miniatures to fit... Must be the incorrect amount of beer...

Regards UF

[Goresmack]

I had to modify a couple of pockets for the models, particularly the sarg. They do fit though with just a little foam trimming and about 8.5 beers.

[Kirkanos]

I'll watch that YouTube vid with interest as I had loads of bits leftover trying to put the pieces in the gameboard tray

[Alrik_40000]

Let me just get this out in the open: I'm here to talk about how disappointed I am in the Space Hulk trays. This is gonna get long, so bear with me.

I ordered my trays and waited almost a month to get them, so I spent all that time worrying about my $100 Terminators (which were the only reason I ordered Space Hulk at all).

When the trays finally arrived, I noticed immediately that the tray in the package and the one in the photo they included looked different. When I tried to put my 'Nids and Termies in, I had varied results. Some of the models fit great and some went in okay, but many of the Terminators would not fit into the slots without practically being forced in, which runs the risk of breaking off some of the delicate iconography. Also, both trays would not hold everything and still fit into the box. Needless to say, after spending $35 to get this and waiting a month for them, they didn't exactly meet my expectation.

I have heard nothing but glowing reviews of Battlefoam's products and legendary customer service on many of the 40k podcasts, like DLT and 40k Radio. So I sent them an email. I was nothing but complimentary, telling them all the good stuff I had heard about them, and then asking them if it was possible my trays were defective and if they would exchange them. I waited about a week for a response.

Then Week 2 came and went. And week 3, also.

After three weeks without any response, I was a little upset. I then sent them an email saying that I was now disappointed in both the trays and the customer service. I got a response back that they try to answer all emails (if you're interested in keeping your customers you should be answering ALL of them ) , that they had done extensive r&d on them, and made them the best they could (even though the tray in the included picture looked like it had been cut better than mine) , and that if I wanted to, I could send the trays back for a full refund.

No attempts to fix my problem, no possibility of any error on their part. The person who responed was polite enough, but they basically said "Hey, too bad. Want your money back?"

I am going to keep the trays and trim them up, as Gore has done. In my mind though, if you're selling "custom-cut" foam, then it should fit the models pretty much perfectly. If not, then it's not much better than using pull and pluck.

No glowing endorsement of Battlefoam from me. Big thumbs down.

[Goresmack]

I hear ya, Alrik_40000, it's frustrating and disappointing to have craptastic products and costumer service. Sadly, the story of Battlefoam's lack luster products doesn't end there, I have returned a entire kit for my 5000 points of Warriors of Chaos because, as you mentioned, custom cut doesn't seem to really mean you get custom cut.

Needless to say I feel your pain and I don't suggest Battlefoam to anybody, it's too bad they where the alternative to Sabol's pick-n-pluck and fall-apart trays.

-Gore