N gauge foam storage? Ten Commandments supply difficulties

[jamespetts]

For years, I have successfully used the Ten Commandments N gauge foam storage slots with 4l Really Useful boxes (2x 9 slots can fit in one box) for my N gauge rolling stock.

However, Ten Commandments have been out of this for a long time, and, on e-mailing the proprietor, I now understand that the person who does the cutting may retire and that these may no longer be available.

Does anyone know of any good alternatives for a 4l Really Useful Box?

[ntpntpntp]

Look on ebay and amazon for foam block with pre-cut cubes that you remove to create suitable slots.

I bought this a few months ago
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/350791783132?var=620124029173

[Newportnobby]

These folk might be able to assist. They did a roaring trade at our show.

Trainsporters.com

[crewearpley40]

These folk might be able to assist. They did a roaring trade at our show.

Trainsporters.com

Mark is a very approachable knowledgeable and modeller friendly person with a wonderful collection and I have purchased a couple of trainsporters boxes at a good price ! And I know others who will recommend

[GlenEglise]

I was using John Burnham but my recent emails went unreplied.

I have seen Trainsporters but feel they are over engineered and overpriced.

GE

[me00rjb]

I believe Jon Burman, JB's Model World (chev625 on ebay) also supplied Ten Commandments. I also use Jon's trays extensively and am in need of more. I too have not had a reply for some months now. I have been told he has some health troubles, so I hope everything is OK, but that's at least secondhand information,  so take it with a pinch of salt.

Hopefully they become available again, it would be a really sad loss if his products were to disappear; there's nothing else on the market that I am aware of that comes close in terms of value and flexibility. If he is thinking of retiring, I wonder if there is any possibility of selling the tooling, or letting another party manage manufacture and distribution on his behalf?

[Steven B]

KR Multicase make foam lined trays that fit in a stout cardboard box with a decent handle.

The Trainsporter cases are not over engineered in my opinion - they're well engineered. The laser cut wood support for the top layer means access8ng the bottom layer is simple, with no risk of models falling out. I've had the JB Models foam come unstuck in the past leading to a scattering of models on the floor.

As for price, think of what you paid for your models. Are they not worth spending the price of half a loco to keep them safe?

[Bob Tidbury]

I live not far from Jon and I went to see him a couple of months ago  he is very poorly and told me he had cancelled all the shows he was booked at this year he is thinking of closing down J Bs Model World ,I told him he will be missed at shows  and that Trainsporters  were now going to some of the shows he used to do .
He told me that he knew and has been talking to Mark and wished him good luck as its very doubtful J Bs will continue trading .
I wished Jon the best and hope that he recovers enough to continue .
Bob

[Newportnobby]

I have half a dozen of Jon's boxes/liners and find them hugely useful, although the foam has a penchant for chomping on NEM couplings so I put all such in polythene liners before placing them in the foam. Whether Jon continues to trade or not I wish him well in recovering.
Thanks for the info, Bob.

[GlenEglise]

I have found a company that supplies similar boxes called Weston Boxes and also a company called Easy Foam that supplies to pre-cut inserts.

By marrying the two this may be a solution.

I do not know if these are the companies that John used but it perhaps is a way forward to obtain boxes at a reasonable price.

GE

[jamespetts]

Thank you all!

Trainsporters sadly does not seem to do anything suitable for the 4l boxes (which I already have and have standardised on) and N gauge, their only N gauge product being for the 11l box. KR Multicase also do not appear to make anything to fit into 4l Really Useful Boxes.

Is this the Easyfoam to which Glen referred?

Has anyone had any experience of obtaining customised products from any of these suppliers? For consistency, I should very much like something that works in the same way as my existing 9 slot foam inserts.

Thank you all again.

[Steven B]

If you want something to fit your existing box size, then getting foam custom cut is an option. I used Potterton Pacs a few years ago.

I started making my own foam trays to fit the Westons Boxes - two trays per box using 2mm greyboard with foam glued on top. Cutting the foam and card was taking too long so I threw some cash at the problem and got the carboard trays laser cut, and likewise with the foam inserts.

In hindsight I should have found a slightly deeper box or had the card bases cut such that the models sat on the wheel tread rather than flanges as they're a little but squashed.

The foam inserts were roughly A4 in size, cut in either 7 or 10 slots depending on orientation. Cost for the foam was about £6-8 each depending on quantity. This was in 2019 though!

[Newportnobby]

I have half a dozen of Jon's boxes/liners and find them hugely useful

The JB Modelworld foam liners are just slightly larger than A4 by approx 5mm on each side

[Jeebee]

a timely query

I was planning to buy a lot more of 10 Commandments to fill an Ikea Alex set of drawers - and be able to easily remove trays to carry away in the Really Useful Boxes when necessary.

Another option is Fieldherr - i received some wagons posted in one of their boxes and it is very good and sturdy. But another pricey option.

A cheaper option might be to source flat foam sheet and lengths of rectangular section and glue them together to suit your needs. Instead of the wastage of removing material to create the shape you want.

Pick and Pluck foam is a very expensive way to do it for a regular shape that we need - makes more sense for complex shapes.

I'd like a stiff card or thin mdf tray with slots for rails for stock storage in drawers. I'm sure it would be straight forward to make my own but my finger in the air calculation was that the Ten Commandments ones were just about the right price for time/effort trade off.

Best wishes to Jon for his health

[GlenEglise]

Thank you all!



Is this the Easyfoam to which Glen referred?

Yes indeed.

GE