The Feldherr foam trays are really great. Their only downside is that it's not very easy to store them. I bought a bunch of plastic containers, but it's very hard to find a box that fits the trays perfectly. Either it doesn't fit or there's room to spare, resulting in wasted shelf space. Especially the plastic containers are usually designed to be stackable, meaning they are wider at the top than at the bottom -- more wasted space.
Luckily Feldherr just came out with new storage boxes designed to fit their trays perfectly. I promptly ordered a bunch to see how they work out.
Initial Impressions
The boxes arrive flat packed. They have nice "metallic crate" -style printing, which quite frankly I could live without as my hobby room looks like a workshop/warehouse anyway. If you store your mini cases in your living room bookcase, these don't look quite so out of place as plain brown cardboard.
The cardboard is not superthick. Don't think you'll be able to use your cases as makeshift stools or something. They fold together pretty easily once you figure it out (no instructions provided). I was unsure whether were supposed to be glued or stapled together in the assembled position, but in the end I just folded them up. It seems that trays are easier to put in and take out that way.
There is also a separate plastic handle. You don't have to put it in if you don't like it, but it does help keep the lid closed even if you don't plan on carrying them around like a cardboard suitcase.
In Use
Currently there is only one size of box available, medium. This leads me to believe other sizes are planned, which would be pretty good. The current size can take four fullsize 25mm trays plus a separate 10mm bottom to protect the top. All fine and dandy. But if you use 30mm trays in the mix, you'll be able to fit only three trays nicely and end up with some wasted space. You can actually fit two 60mm cavalry trays because there's fewer bottom pieces. I wish they had gone for a slightly taller box, maybe 125mm so you fit four 30mm trays in one box.
There is a small place on the box to write what's in it, but it gets lost in the gray background printing pretty easily. I'll probably put some white stick-on labels there.
Verdict
These box are definitely worth the introductory price of roughly five euros each. I promptly ordered twenty more boxes before the offer expires. The full price is a bit stiff, especially if you need a big pile of them. Let's hope they offer volume discount packs in the future. Also, a slightly bigger box size would be nice.
Sucks!
