Packaging
It basically came in a large box. The case can't be folded down for shipping due to it's construction, more on that later. Since the box is so large, I definitely can see why the shipping is high ( I used to work shipping large mainframes and other computer stuff) due to the "over sized" measurements. There was no padding, but since it is a bag with foam in there , there really does not need to be any. It had a little tag on the top of the carry handle with the other Battlefoam bags and a company description and contact info on it. That was about he size of a business card .
Case Construction
Well from my initial poke and prod session I can say with out any doubt that this bag is built a hell of a lot better than the Sabol cases. No question, the Zippers are of the heavy duty stuff you would find on Very high end Camping or out door gear from Northface, or Mountain Smith, Kelty or the like. Big time reinforced, big zipper pulls, and huge zipper teeth, Top class!
The Condura fabric the bag is mad of is also of a very high quality. OD green , with just the BF logo and case size on the front stitched. Other than that there are no other markings on it.
One of the big features/issues with the bag is that the walls are rigid. They have some plastic reinforcement bound in to them , so the bag is rigid which is a big plus for keeping things inside safe. It would be very hard to stab or have a object penetrate the bag once it is zipped up.
There are several pockets on the both the inside and the outside of the bag, all are large enough for any of the prestige sized FW books ( the larger sized books like Apoc, IA Apoc, Apoc reloaded). So it would be no problem carring Most of the books and codexs if needed.
The 1520 has two sections, the larger bottom , which is a front loader, and the top section which is a top loader. The two sections are also able to separate, which is kinda cool, One option I would like to see is a second top section that is the same size as the lower one. Yeas the bag would be absolutely a monster in size but I really need some thing this big. The lower section also has the back pack style straps on it. I did not get a chance to really look at them carefully so I will leave that for a later review.
If I was going to give the bag by it self a rating it would be a 9.5 or 10 out of 10. There are a couple things that I would like to see , but for most users the bag is beyond what they will ever need and a truly great piece of kit.
Foam
For me I got basically all custom foam made. The density is fairly high , but still flexible. I would have like to see it more rigid, but since the bag is basically M1a2 Abrams solid, I guess I can accept the flexibility. Basically it is the squishy guts to the bag being an exoskeleton. The Custom Dread Drop pod case was spot on from my descriptions and tracings. It ended up even better than I would have hoped. The big square in the picture if you are wondering is for extra Dread weapons from FW or GW, since I have like 10+ dreads. These drop pods, if you don't have one, dwarf the GW ones , so I was very pleased with it.
The Foam for the 2 Super heavies is pretty good too. The only concern is that the sponcens are very snug on the sides of the foam. If you are like me and put your sponcens in the middle of the 3 locations this could be an issue, I might rotate one of the wholes 180deg so that one would not have to worry about them hitting each other threw the foam.
Now for the real reason I got the bag, the foam for the Titan I've been working on. There are a couple stipulations right now for the titan to fit the huge bag:
1. Has to be able to separate at the waist, not a real big deal since 90% of the Reavers I'm willing to bet do
2. The Weapons have to be removable. This could be a sticking point for some. I had the for-thought to magnetise all of my weapons with super big and strong magnets, this took some work with a rather large 1" wide bit to counter sink all the magnets that are about as big as a Kenedy .50 coin. I did this since I want to add a second Tri-laser instead of the Gatling blaster.
3. I had to magnetise the Foot bases since they were over 6" in diameter which is the max depth of the foam.
Some of these conditions may be remedied with the Super long sized "T-Hawk" bag to be coming out later this year, but I thing the Weapon issue will still be there since there lenght is pretty big.
The upper half foam is spot on. Every thing fits, and the Battlefoam guys threw in a foam divider to separate the to main weapons since they have to be stacked in the same slot. I got the "Warp Runners Reaver Titan" added to the tray as a nice little touch.
At first glance the leg tray Looked awesome too, but when I put in the legs, I was a bit miffed. i don't know if the Fax got messed up or what, but it's kinda like the hole that was cut was stretched out top to bottom... there is about 1-2.5" extra space at the top of the hips.
You can kinda see it in the picture below. They included a bit of a foam wedge so that the legs were resting on it , but I'm still worried about the excess space for movement , the legs are very fragile. I made a call and was told that they cut it to my traces, but it just seems way to big and I will have to check the original traces. I'm a bit disappointed with this , but I don't have time to wait another 3-4 weeks for another piece to be cut, since I needed it this weekend. I will just have to put a rag or some bubble wrap in for the time being to limit the movement. I would have liked a bit better response to my inquiry last night about it to.
Over allI would say that I have mixed feeling about the 1520. The bag is by far the best Bag on the market. There is no question for me on it.
9.75of 10
The majority of the Foam was cut excellent with out any issues, since all of the foam was custom made for some really big models. As I stated I really only had issues with the lower leg section of the foam, which rightly so was a very odd shape and huge, right at the limits of what could be cut to fit.
8.5 of 10 over all, would have like to a bit more rigid and flip the 2 storm/banes so they both don't face the same way.
5 of 10 on the leg foam , I'm really concerned with it since this bad boy cost me some big bucks and a lot of time to build. The responses I got on the phone inquiring about it were also not very satisfactory to me. I will have to look at my tracings that I sent and may revise the rating on it which will also bump the over all rating on the foam up, depending on the out come. If the tracings were really that off, my bad and I'll eat the $30 to get a better one cut.
10 of 10 on the Cobra logo on the foam topper Kick Ass and huge, but only 1 of the 5 toppers was cut that way so that was kinda odd to me, why not all 5?
I ordered the foam by total depth but not all the trays will fit in the bag, so if you order a bag order the foam by what fits in the bottom then the top section, not the total, since there is a chance that they will not fit....
Over all I'd say it's a good investment, it's a very steep investment though. If you are looking for a cheap quicky transport this is not it. It is more like a Benz or a BMW. I would recommend it to most people but , for many right now the Cost is high enough to be prohibitive. At $330 ( that is with shipping) most would balk, and continue with the older stand bys. Custom trays I think run $30 which is also kinda high , considering that you can get a Double wide Armytransport tray for about $18-9. For those that no way wait till August. Battlefoam has announced a trade in system that will reduce the Steep entry curve. I don't know the pricing yet but it should be pretty decent, and I think that that should keep them crazy busy cutting foam for a long time.
I going to order some "normal" trays for Landraiders, and termies, along with a IG trays for my slowly growing IG army.
So in conclusion if you got the $$$ this is the best way to protech your investment hands down. It will take a bit of time to get , and there may be some issues getting the traces correct, but it's worth it.
8.5 of 10 due to cost and The Lower leg foam issue , both of which may be remedied shortly.
Highly recommend.
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