Kaiser Rushforth Sails Trays Review Part 1

[Capn Duff]

As mentioned in a couple of threads, Kaiser Rushforth have just released specific trays for Sails of Glory in their foam system.
This will be the first of two looks at the range as it is now, the first part will show the trays for the actual ship models only, I will deal with components shortly , I am waiting for some info from KR is why.

First let me say that I am a big fan of the KR range of cases with foam inserts and use their product for both WGF and WGS and have been waiting eagerly for SGN to be released.
This is not to say there is anything wrong with other manufactures, but in my personal experience this is the system I prefer.

For those who do not know KR they are a company, one of many now, that supplies a safe storage system for various models, be it GW figures and Tanks to X-Wing, Star Trek Attack Wing, FOW etc etc.
KR uses a Cardboard case as the outer protection, check out KR demoing these on u-tube if you wish, but I can attest they protect my WGF & WGS kit and I have had no damage except for a few pegs being rolling around.
Inside this case KR uses soft foam trays, a half Tray (Half of the Cardboard Case) is 190mm by 255mm with a depth of 32mm and a further soft foam bottom protector of approx 5-7mm as extra support.
A Single case can hold 6 of these half trays. Other game systems may have trays of different depths so you could have more or less trays depending, for us the SGN case will hold a max of 6 trays

KR release has 6 trays and we will look at first, Trays SG 4 and SG 5 and SG6, these hold our important ships.

Tray SG4 This can accommodate the following ships 3 x 3 deck 1st Rates (without base), 2 x 2 deck 3rd Rates and one 6th Rate Sloop


The tray is cut to size and all you do is pull out the inserts

SG4 - Inserts removed



As you can see, due to the size of the case/tray the sloop was the only ship that could be added to the tray once the big ships were provisioned for. If you need a number of trays and excess sloop positions you can trim off to hold ships chits or such or leave the insert in place.

SG4 with the ships inserted





As you can see it is a snug fit, with a little room for movement of the model , but as it is soft foam I believe there will be little movement during transportation. I cannot say for certain as I have not used yet at a show. I know the Three Deckers had a problem with weak Masts, but looking at mine in the case they did not look insecure, but you can either put cotton wool between the mast, or just trim down one of the inserts removed to fit between the masts for extra protection, you will have lots of these available.

The next tray is SG5, this tray accommodated 3 x 2 deck 3rd Rates, 3 x 5th Rates and one Sloop (Any mistake in the rating in the KR advert is likely to be my fault as I gave him the details, the 2nd rating is a mistake though and I will mention it to him)





As we are aware there are two sizes of frigate the 32 and 38/40 gun ships, the standard tray is for the 32 gun Frigate, but there is a small insert at the top of the cutout which can be removed to make the cut out bigger so as to accomodate the larger Frigate



SG5 with ships





Here the bottom row Frigate is one of the larger types and so has the extra insert removed, while the top row is the standard Frigate



This shows a half box in the sails arsenal, when inside the case they stack one on top of each as , like this



With it being soft foam with a soft foam base, is any spar was sticking out of the slot then it would just embed into the soft foam.
However I could not see any thing sticking out of the trays as shown here.

SG4




SG5





SG 4 with mast protectors for 1st Rates - this will not work though if you rig the ships





SG6 now added same as previous trays but has space for 6 Frigates, both types and 3 Sloops



I have started to rig a couple of my ships using Langtons Ratlines and nylon thread, the cutouts in the foam are enough not to interfere with these lines.
I have not put any pennants on the masts so I cannot comment on this but I will try soon to do so, I think there will be just enough room if not too wide for the main mast.

So there is the first trays.
Personally I am happy with the result, I would have liked the base to be with the ship but as we all know the pegs can be loose and I would prefer not to have the base rattling around the slot, just in case :)
The fact that there will be lots of Sloop slots unused cannot be helped due to the constriction of the tray sizes so as can be seen the maximum ships per tray has been produced.
In part two I shall show what to do with the mats, logs and ships bases.

If anyone has any questions ask away and I will do my best to answer and if I cant Ill ask KR for clarification.

Link to part two

http://www.sailsofglory.org/showthre...4924#post54924