Federation Commander

mjwest wrote: If you are going to just use Staples, you could scale down and use 5.5x8.5 page protectors in 5.5x8.5 binders. That is what I did, and these are just items that Staples carries. No mail orders required at all. Those are working out just great for me. (And, apparently, others, based on the above referenced thread.)

Thank you for the numbering explanation.

And yeah, I think I'll go with this. Sounds pretty handy.

I've been using the Rabco sheet protectors in standard D-Ring binders. They're a bit pricey, but they've been worth it.

Yeah, the Rabco sheet protectors look great, I'm just being stingy about how much I'm willing to spend on shipping.

ElizabethB wrote:Yeah, the Rabco sheet protectors look great, I'm just being stingy about how much I'm willing to spend on shipping.

Gotcha . I've been doing about 3 ships of the same number per pocket, which helps the protectors last longer.

I think someone else suggested 5 per, but 3 makes more sense and lets you group up ships according to class.

I've posted this before, but it bears reiterating.

I use the half sized (5.5 x 8.5 inch) sheet protectors and binders from Staples.
I keep each variant... yes, variant... in it s one protector, so there are 3 CA's in one protector, three CC's in another, 3 CA (middle years) in a third, a CAD in it's own, and so own.

I then have a binder for the Feds, one for the Klingons, one for the Romulans, the Gorn, the Kzinti, etc...
The ISC, the Orions, and the Vudar all share a single binder.

While this works well for me, I wish I had gone with the Rabco sheets to start with. Unfortunately, I am too heavily invested in Fed Comm at this point [2 or 3 copies of all products] to even consider trashing what I have and buying a new storage system.

Now, that being said... if anyone ever wants to buy my binders and sheet protectors, I might consider changing horse in midstream...

Scoutdad wrote:I've posted this before, but it bears reiterating.

I use the half sized (5.5 x 8.5 inch) sheet protectors and binders from Staples.
I keep each variant... yes, variant... in it s one protector, so there are 3 CA's in one protector, three CC's in another, 3 CA (middle years) in a third, a CAD in its own, and so on.

Ditto. I also order them by number within each empire's ships. Makes it much easier to find stuff

Mine are arranged alphabetically , by ship class.

I have been playing since SFB was in a zip-loc baggie, I'm used to referring to everything by its designation... CA, CL, FF, etc.

Huh. Just to show everyone is different, I order mine by relative combat power. So, start with dreadnoughts and go down, putting tugs last. It ends up being:
DNH -> DN -> DNL -> BCH -> CC -> CA -> NCA -> CW -> CL -> DW -> DD -> FF -> Pol -> Tug -> LTT

This is, admittedly, a subjective order, as who is to say whether a CA or NCA (for example) is more powerful? But, it works for me!

just goes to show you...
Ask 14 different people how they arrange their ship cards, and you'll get 15 different answers.

And all of them will be right, too.

Just not as right as mine...

Y'all are breaking down my resistance to ordering from Rabco.

Gonna be fun tomorrow with all those cards and nothing but a box to store them in, though.

I'd have gone to Staples by now but no good mass transit available and the only car we have out here in the boondocks is in the shop.

I use the Rabco protectors, in binders and organize them in a manner similar to Mike West's, in roughly descending combat power. It puts the most-used ships (cruisers and destroyers) right "at the fold" in the middle. It's also just fun to flip through.

djdood wrote: I use double-pocket protectors from Rabco (their MC50 size), in binders.

They can hold about 5 laminated ship cards, per-pocket and are quite thick and tough (much thicker than the office store kind).

Okay so I was thinking about ordering Rabco but I noticed the MC50 protectors are 5 1/4 x 8 1/2 inserts and the ship cards are 5 1/2 by 8 1/2, which looks to me like what they have for MC50 now is slightly too small to hold ship cards.

I can't seem to find any that are 5 1/2 by 8 1/2 on Rabco's site.

I don't know if they've changed them in the interim (it's been about 10 years since I bought mine) and I don't have them handy to measure.

However, if you look carefully at the photo, you can see the cards sticking up about the discrepant 1/4" above the edge of the pocket. It actually makes them a lot easier to slide in and out.

That's helpful. If they stick out a little on the side, that is.

Now I just need to inventory my cards when they arrive.