Here is the final project for my case #1. I am not sure if it is a pitiful thing, or a proud thing that it is going to take 3 of these to hold my Rock Island & Golden State 85'ers. In this configuration, the case will hold up to 10, 85' cars. But, after trying the foams I recently received opted to go fully with the 1/4" Volara foam for the 85ers. It just worked better IMHO. I am still planning to use the charcoal foams in some of the freight cases I think. But, this final product is the Plano 3701 case, with 1/4" Volara foam lining the bottom of the compartments. Then strategically placed small blocks of Volara in the lid to hold the cars secure when the lid is closed. Also, cut pads to secure the bottom and the tops of the cars. It is basically to prevent them from shifting during transport or tossing them around. The cars are fully protected, and it is very easy to remove the cars from this foam as well. Careful placing the foam pads not to interfere with roof details. Note with the shorter RPO and baggage car, it left me a small compartment to partition off to hold spare details.. This worked well, and now onto a couple more for the rest of my consist, then move onto locomotives, and freight cases. This case, and foam set up cost depending on what you find the cases for, including the foam from $5-$8 to make. I hope these senseless foam and stowage ramblings are helping, and giving some ideas for your equipment.
Looks nice and not pitiful at all!! BTW, what's Volara foam? EDIT: never mind. I see it was mentioned in your other thread.
I haven't updated this thread in awhile. But then again, I been having a fight with the common cold and haven't done a whole lot with my revamped stowage cases. But I did some work today on it. I am not sure if I said that I have pretty much abandoned the open cell "Charcoal" foam for my N scale stuff. It is a fine foam, but just too difficult to deal with on small pieces like I am working with. I am still using small pieces of it for end cushions for the cars, but for the primary padding, I went completely with the closed cell Volara foam. In one of my latest cases, I used both 1/4" and 1/8" Volara. The 1/4" is lining the bottom of the case, and the 1/8" is padding the compartments, and the dividers in-between the cars. This is actualy a very old Plano box. Not sure of the model of it, but it is the equal to the commonly known 3700 like I have mentioned in this thread. It is 14" wide, by 9" by 2" deep. Has 4 sections just over 2 " ea. Perfect for two rows of N scale cars. This set up can hold up to 32, 40' cars. In the picture, I have it loaded with mostly 40' cars, but a few 50'ers in there. with the 1/8" foam separators, the cars fit snug to keep them from flopping around, but loose enough for easy removal. Not shown in the picture, I use small 1"X1/2" blocks of the Charcoal foam that I stick in-between the car ends to keep their couplers from banging into each other as well. Also, I have not yet put foam stoppers on the lid, but not sure yet if I even need that.
Here's a controversial comment... not because I don't think you storage solutions are bad... actually I really like what you're doing. Do any of your storage solutions pass the "butterfingers" test? You know... the one where you accidentally drop the case from the layout onto a hard surface several feet below? I'm a bit concerned about the ability of the 'Volara' foam to absorb such a shock without passing substantial destructive forces on the rollingstock or locomotives. What keeps me using the DeLuxe boxes is the amount of shock resistance the 'pick and pluck' charcoal foam inserts is able to provide... though... I think they could be even better with a translucent plastic shell like the Plano cases.
I have done exactly that but not on purpose I can assure you. I dropped a Plano tray with 32 Atlas 90 ton hoppers in it onto a concrete floor from a height of about 40 inches. My cars were not fully secure as shown in the posts here as there was no padding between the cars nor between the tops of the cars and the tray lid. Outside of having to replace the trucks that became separated back on the cars there was no damage to either the tray or its contents.
That is a good question, and one that I have too.. I have been tempted to give it a shot, but just haven't mustured up the gonads it is going to take to do that test, hahhah.. I might take most the cars out but leave a row in it just to see how it does. I think it will do pretty good, mainly because I do believe in making where the cars do not move. I think most of the damage would be the cars or contents crashing into the sides, or each other. The cars never touch the plastic of the box, so any shock would have to transmit through the foam itself. I think this foam would absorb much of the shock. It is actually the same type foam used in sports equipment as well. Football pads, hockey pads, and other protective equipment. I do try to place pads stragtically to put pressures on flat surfaces of the items, and not on the details. I think that would help too. The charcoal foam does have more flex to it, to absorb shock, but the trade off is letting the car move along with the foam when it compresses as well. Just a theroy. I do love the charcoal foam too, and use it on the ends of the boxes. I only stopped using it as the primary cushion due to it's difficulty in cutting into small nests with thin sides. It gets unstable, and just a hassle to work with. I really do want to do a drop test on the cases tho, and sooner or later I will and post those results. I do like the DI boxes to, and don't want to take away their contribution to the hobby. But, I just like the plastic boxes better. It is a phycological thing knowing I actually got a plastic case out of it, rather than a cardboard box. The only real benefit is the fact that the sizes are specifically designed to fit N scale equipment. But, I have found the Plano boxes as seen in the pics do very well too without allot of wasted space. Also, the cost is cheaper than the DI cardboard boxes too, unless you buy the cases retail, then they are close to the same price as the DI box. As far as cost break down. The Plano 3700, and the 3701 price varies from $5-$8 depending on where it's bought. The Volara foam typically runs around $3 per linear foot (48" X 12") in both 1/4" and 1/8". So, we are talking price in the neighborhood of $6-$9 per box vs. about $8-$10 for the DI? Dunno.. Kinda veered from your question, and your question I can't answer totally yet, but from what I have seen, I do think the Volara will do very well in the opps test, if placed in the case with some forethought. Good question..
I would like to add one more observation in using different types of foams, which also led to my choosing the Volara. Volara being a "closed cell" type of foam. The Open cell types which the charcoal foam falls into. I myself have torn off details from time to time, due to them snagging on the foam when trying to remove it from the foam. If your careful of course, it limits that risk, but, I have still done it every so often. It can also happen with the closed cell Volara, but, it is not as big of a risk and the closed cells of the foam tend not to reach out and grab your beloved car by the handrails, or brake wheel like the open cell foams have done with me on occasion..
CRASH TEST RESULTS Ok Joe... You inspire me.... I went ahead and bit the bullet and did a drop test on my case shown above with the frieght cars. Good and bad news.. But the good does override the bad considering what "could" have happened if the cars were not protected at all. 1st test: 4 foot flat drop. I dropped my case on a hardwood floor from 4', flat impact on the bottom of the case. Result was good. Only ONE car out of all the cars in the case showed any tramma. The only thing that happened, is one axle popped out of the truck. No "real" damage. Just popped the axle back in place on that one car. All other cars show no ill effects at all. 2nd test: 4 foot drop on corner of case. I then dropped my case on the same hardwood floor from 4 foot up, straight down on one corner of the case. Now this one, there was some turmoil in the case. About 8 of the cars, the trucks popped off. No "real" damage, only the hassle to round up the bolster pins to put the trucks back on. One of the flat cars spun in it's spot and was upside down, and the gondola with the scrap load spun and was on it's side. No other damage to any other cars, no "Real" damage on any of them... All that said, keep in mind that this particular case, I never have put the pads on the lid. I actually forgot about that until after the test. I think the results would have been even better if I had the lid pads in place. I am not ready yet to try that with my locomotive cases, especially the steam locomotives with their details. I will wait for a real world test of that, (heaven forbid) lol.. But this does give me some comfort in knowing at least damage if any should be minimized...
One more test was just done and this one was by a true accident. On this one, I am not so sure the cardboard DI box would fare so well. My teenage daughter just did a "real world" "real time" test on the Plano case. I had it sitting on the couch for the meantime, and did not put it back in the aluminum case I got to hold them. (My bad). My daughter came bopping in, and plummited herself onto the couch as she typically does. I damn near swallowed my tounge, and yelled "Baby, one of my train cases was right there.." She rocked over, and pulled my case out from under her rear, held it out and said, "Oh sorry, here Daddy.."... Upon inspection, NOTHING happened to the case, or cars inside. It was simply slightly warmer. Don't think a cardboard box would have been so pleasant..
Tudor... what can I say... That took a great deal of intestinal fortitude to accomplish. Your resolve to prove this storage solution has merit is commendable... but please... don't continue to purposely torture your trains. I hope your model 'crash test dummies' were not your most valuable rolling stock. I already feel guilty enough having encouraged you to make the sacrifice you've already made. I'm sure in future... you will let us know of any other real world "KIDZILLA" or "Butterfinger" crash tests'. I do feel a better storage solution can be made than the currently available retail items. My biggest 'issue' with the currently available items is the CARDBOARD box. Seriously... why would we remove the models from a specially made plastic box with meticulously created plastic or foam lined nests to put them into a cardboard box? The only rational reason (IMHO) was for transporting... and we know that there is a great deal of damage potential in doing so. Sure... the ease of 'taking out and putting away' without having to 'fumble around' with individual boxes saves time and effort... but if the risk of catastrophe is just as great... were not going to solve the biggest problem. That "Kidzilla Crush" test is a good example of why the DI boxes are still risky... and should be improved. If Plano, Sterlite, Newell/Rubbermaid or other mainstream plastic container manufacturers makes a perfect inexpensive substitute for the DI cardboard box... I'll be looking for it... and going to use it. Let's face it.... there is NO WAY to prevent all types of castastrophic events. We can always find inventive ways to destroy our stuff unintentionally. BTW TUDOR... Thanks for your sacrifice.
I appreciate the appreciation of the test. But, if I thought it would have been catastrophic, I wouldn't have attempted it. But I have been doing enough research and development, I had faith in the solution enough to give it a shot. I was very optimistic. All the cars in that case were some of my favorite freight, including much of my Rock Island cars, some fairly rare. If they are the most valuable? Not so much I don't think. They all were micro trains, and Intermountain with the exception of a few of the later released Atlas 11k gal tank cars, all of which have fairly delicate details etc. All the cars do have nice added on details, and not just the cast on details. I thought since those are the type of details on our good stock that we are most concerned with due to their being delicate, I just thought those are the ones I wanted to test. Fortunately, it turned out as I had hoped.
I would never have done that... Yikes!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't think the auto manufacturers would still be in business if they used real people to do their safety tests... well maybe some convicted axe murderers would be okay to use. Oh...yeah... thinking of axe murderers... perhaps we could conduct a locomotive crash test using my Model Power locomotives.
hahah.. I can imagine all of us would have a list of names for the auto manufacure crash tests, lol.. Hmm.. I do have a couple MP Pacifics that I learned to hate.. Maybe I will do a crash test with those. I don't think I could do any more damage that MP did with them..
