After seeing a youtube video by Romeo at Battlefoam, I knew I had to have one. So, after a quick phonecall out to Phoenix, I had one on the way!
First of all, why? Why did I need Battlefoam? Well, if you ever saw my Army Sabol Division case, you would instantly know why. The thing was a loose fitting miss match of ill looking pluck foam trays. Half the trays were falling apart and I rarely got them all to fit correctly in the bag twice in a row. Worse yet, the trays bounced inside the tray, sometimes standing up the models, then getting them broken under the other trays. When I saw Romeo's movie on youtube, I knew he had the answer.
Battlefoam 1520 Case with custom space marine loadout:
He has a couple of different ways to help you. The most simple way, and the way that helped me, was to give me a pretty much custom load of trays in my new case for my large space marine army. He asked me in particular if I had any major needs, then filled my case with trays that would meet my needs. He did not actually have to cut any trays for me, but he could have! That is what is fantastic about Battlefoam.com.
You read right! If you have a weird shaped model, they will custom cut your trays to fit it! No more need to pluck foam and have your tray fall apart. Instead, you will get a sturdy tray with a hole cut in it that is perfect to fit any model you want.
That was not a huge deal for me, but the coolest part was the branding for my trays. They laser inscribed Blood Angels into most of my trays, and also gave me some thin foam dividers with my Jawaballs! logo and Blood Angels on them. You can see them in the video.
The first video I am posting is of me receiving my new transport and opening the box. I will also be uploading a video about how my army fits into my new case in a couple of days. I am finishing my army up for my trip to Bolscon and will show a tray by tray breakdown.
I only have two cons to the transport. It would not be a fair review without expressing them. The first is that the slots in the trays were pretty tight for my marines. If you have standard bolter marines on GW bases, they will fit fine, but my marines are mostly assault marines, with their arms flailing about holding swords and guns, on thick Scenic Resin Bases and in short, did not fit into any of the standard trays I received. But this was easily solved with a quick phone call to Romeo! I should have explained to him the girth of my models and he would have suggested thicker trays with "Assault Marine" slots cut into them. So I make that suggestion to you! Be sure to ask for larger slots to fit your assault marines. In fact, I suggest you go to his website and print out his "Custom Tray" form and make sure you have filled it out for ANY and all models in your army. The pro to my con is that if you have a model problem, Romeo has a solution. Just take the time to fill out your investment and communicate what you need!
The other con I have is minor. The 1520 is a huge, modular pack. It can be divided into two parts if you choose to only play with a smaller part of your army, or carried as a whole if you need to bring it all! The bottom and larger of the two parts has backpack straps, which are a nice touch... but the "backpack" feature is a little clunky and tight, especially for larger dudes like me. Once I had it on my back I needed help to get it off! It was actually sorta claustrophobic, and I would hate to have to travel and walk across a huge airport carrying it on my back. I would suggest the addition of shoulder straps to both parts of the case, or at least connector parts that shoulder straps can be snapped onto if the user desires. The actual straps can be put on as desired, and removed and stored inside the case when not in use.
So there you go! Over all, the Battlefoam.com 1520 army transport gets a huge Jawa-nod. If you have been eyeballing them, I suggest you go ahead and take the plunge. You will be 100% satisfied. It is a sturdy and attractive army transport solution, and will definitely stand out in that boring sea of black.
Oh, in addition, Romeo made the statement that the transports meet airline regulations for carry on luggage. This was important to me since a major reason I bought this transport was to take it to Bolscon! I called jetblue, my airline, and gave them the exact dimensions of the transport to make sure I would have no problem bringing them on the plane, and Romeo was right! A+
This review is only partial since I think that in this case, the videos will do all the talking. Be looking soon for part two of this review, once my army is finished and the transport is packed up.
Go buy a Battlefoam transport!
Don't forget to tell them Jawaballs sent you! Hey may even throw you a little bone.
Jawaballs
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