Packing completed models to move house

[Neil]

We are putting our house on the market next week and house hunting this weekend - hope we can find what we want because we are moving from Birmingham to the North East so no little move. All properties to be viewed have man-cave potential.

Now I don't have many models that I've completed to such a standard I want to keep them all but there are a couple I would not rather spend ages redoing again, luckily both are 1/72 fighter aircraft so nothing too big. The rest can be binned as experiments on the way to improvement so no great loss. Oh, and the largest is a 1/48 A10 - not complete but wings/tails all attached.

My question to anyone who has moved, what did you do to move already completed models?

Thanks,

[Thorbrand]

I cant say i've moved plastic models, but i have done a lot of packing in the past and my advice is to use one box per model and put poly chips in the box underneath and all around the item and pack it fairly tight. I wouldnt use newspaper and i would make sure there's a good couple of inches worth of chips surrounding the whole item. That should absorb any small impact and prevent anything sharp from doing too much damage. Air bags wont be any good either as they are too dense. The chips can be a bit pricey but you get a better price ordering direct from a packaging supplier like Kite packaging if you are in the UK. Don't buy them from ebay or Amazon because you will get ripped off

[Guest]

When I moved house many years ago, I carefully wrapped my kits up in kitchen rolls and toilet rolls, I found this to be perfect as the paper is soft and cannot do any damage, then I carefully placed them in boxes.

[PaulTRose]

what i have done several times (cos im a cheapskate ) is to go to Morrisons and ask for banana boxes since they tend to either put them at the end of the tills for people to take or have a pile out the back for recycling....ask and they will keep them for you to collect........they make great boxes for moving anyway cos they are strong, not over large and stackable......when we moved last year we had over 80 of the things!.....removal company loved them cos they were so easy to handle

then i would put newspaper through a shredder (i know alex said he wouldnt but its worked for me for several house moves).....put a layer in the bottom...model on top of it.....another layer on top....its even possible to have 2 layers of models if you are careful

at the other end take them out gently and i use a soft brush (mines actually one of swmbo's unused blusher brushes but dont tell her ) to get any dust off

just make sure you write on the box whats in side as well as a big 'FRAGILE!'

you just have the problem of going to the tip to get rid of all the boxes once you have done lol

[Thorbrand]

I think shredded newspaper is a good idea. Didnt think of that, i was thinking about crumpled newspaper but shredded makes more sense. Plus you get the bonus of making use of old stacks of newspaper

[Guest]

Neil, aircraft are a problem when it comes to packing them! I've sold a few on ebay and found the best way is to use polystyrene sheets.

Basically I make a cradle which supports each wingtip and the fuselage between the trailing edge of the wing & the tail.
This goes about halfway up the box.

Then I add further sections of polystyrene to brace the top of the model, which is held in place by the lid of the box.

In this way, the model is suspended and will withstand most rough handling - the ones I sent by Royal Mail survived!

Don't get me wrong, all the other suggestions are excellent, cheaper & simpler. But delicate pieces like undercarriage, aerial masts etc won't last if any kind of packing material is in contact with the model.

I've got some photos somewhere, so I can show you my technique if it's of help.

Cheers
Patrick

[Ian M]

I used the poly beads, like those in bean bags. They did a greet job of protecting my kits a few years ago under a move.
The bad news is I still find the odd polyball here and there after all this time.
Ten removal boxes of kits, two lightly damaged kits and one broken antenna mast. Not to bad.

[Thorbrand]

Heres a thought, if you drive then maybe you could put a few of the ones you really really dont want to get broken with you in your car