Beyond The Sprues
Modelling => Tips, Tools & Techniques => Topic started by: GTX_Admin on December 23, 2013, 03:01:09 AM
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...seriously though, it's just hat 1/72 is better for shelf space! :)
Bah! Do what I am doing…Quadruple the size of your house to accommodate everything.. ;)
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...seriously though, it's just hat 1/72 is better for shelf space! :)
Bah! Do what I am doing…Quadruple the size of your house to accommodate everything.. ;)
Yeah, right. We can tell you live in Oz and not the UK! :)
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...seriously though, it's just hat 1/72 is better for shelf space! :)
Bah! Do what I am doing…Quadruple the size of your house to accommodate everything.. ;)
Funny you should say that... I have to move at the end of January and will probably have to downsize because I need/want to live entirely on my own for a while. Now to figure out how to package all these finished models without having them smashed in transit!
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Yeah, right. We can tell you live in Oz and not the UK! :)
Its actually worse than that - the current house is slap bang in the middle of 5 acres... ;)
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Funny you should say that... I have to move at the end of January and will probably have to downsize because I need/want to live entirely on my own for a while. Now to figure out how to package all these finished models without having them smashed in transit!
For our house move back in 2007 I had to pack 250 built models, I had to figure out how to pack them with that thought just in mind, plus they would have to be stored for a while (which they still are :-X )
A solution:
Like this in top two pics or like the bottom two pics, I used both methods
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Ooh, I like that! I think the top method could work very well for most of my models.
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I used 3/4 styrofoam board (from Home Depot, packs of 6 IIRC), I glued the side verticals to the box. First though I sorted my models so that for any one box, they all had a similar wingspan. I then sliced out thin wedges deep enough so the wing tips could slip in but only as far to keep the end of the model off the box bottom by about 10-15mm. The wedges should only be wide enough at the top to be able to slide the model down without interferance and that it's deep enough at the sharp end so it will grip the wings.
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Ooh, I like that! I think the top method could work very well for most of my models.
This one you might like to see though:
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I've got to try that for the next move (hopefully a long, long time off) or as a method of long-term storage. That is brilliant!
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This one you might like to see though:
Phantoms and Clunks and Sea Vixens, oh my! <3
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Very nice ............. :-*
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...seriously though, it's just hat 1/72 is better for shelf space! :)
Bah! Do what I am doing…Quadruple the size of your house to accommodate everything.. ;)
Funny you should say that... I have to move at the end of January and will probably have to downsize because I need/want to live entirely on my own for a while. Now to figure out how to package all these finished models without having them smashed in transit!
I can advise you how not to do it :(
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I've got to try that for the next move (hopefully a long, long time off) or as a method of long-term storage. That is brilliant!
Thanks Mate!
Notice that I've deliberately made the styrene extend to the top of the box, this becomes a natural support for the box ends to fold down onto and also prevents the ends from collapsing should something heavy get stacked on top of the box afterwards.
I've had these packed away like this for nearly 7 years now and they went through 3 house moves in an 18 month period. I've recently had a look inside the boxes because I was curious to how they survived. I can tell you I have only found a couple dislodged models amongst the whole 250 I packed up (I think the wingspan was too short so the tips were only just being gripped by the styrene), with not a lot of damage to those that did dislodge. I also had to make a decision to remove some wing pylons from some of the models so I could pack them in a similar way, anything which had a pylons all the way to the wing tips for instance. I'll re-glue them on once I get my display cabinet built.
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I asked Greg to make this a new thread --- Thanks Greg.
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I asked Greg to make this a new thread --- Thanks Greg.
See! Proof that I sometimes listen to you peasants the membership…sometimes…maybe...
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For the small models you can see what I did, for the big models (1/72 B-36, B-52 and some other I had to do it differently. The first problem was finding a box big enough, the moving companies have boxes which you can buy from them but they're a set size (designed to load into trucks, vans or trailers exactly)
Finding a box for the B-36 I had built was the most difficult (the biggest I had built up to the move) -- at the beginning. I needed something about 34" square. You can get boxes made to suit however -- but it is very expensive so don't go that route. There are places though that have plenty of spare boxes, which they just throw away. There's Leon's, The Brick, Sears ----- see where I'm going --- Not long before we decided to move we had bought a new washing machine, it came in a very big box, placing the B-36 on top of the machine I found that it was just a little smaller that the machine top, so I called Leon's to see if the had a box I could buy. This was when I found out they have hundreds of boxes of all sizes which come in very handy for packing things in, flat screen TV boxes for instance make very good picture frame packing boxes. Anyway I went to Leon's and saw the manager of the shipping section and he 'gave' me a whole load of boxes.
Next was figuring out how to store the big models in the box, sometime ago, me and my Dad used to make flying gliders and they were stored in frames to keep them secure, I decided to do the same only using the styrofoam boards. I carefully measured each model and then made a bottom frame and a top frame out of these boards. Then I got some cheap 1/4" plywood which was then cut to fit as snuggly as possible in the big washing machine box. I glued the bottom cradle frame to a plywood board after cutting out half circles or half chord shapes so the fuselage and wings would sit in it, then doing the same to the top cradle frame. I used long construction nails to hold the top cradle to the bottom cradle. So I didn't waste space in my box, I cut strategically place openings in each plywood board so tall bits (like fins etc) could poke through. In the pics below you can see the result
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After I had built up the stack of boards I then made a couple of lifting handles out of rope (which looped around under the whole pile), then carefully slid it into the box.
Bottom pic is of the taped up box.
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For the medium sized models I used the same method but used some of the standard packing boxes. Again you use the styrene boards to support the box ends and to prevent anything heavy from collapsing the box ends.
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The small models were packed in regular packing boxes, some had two levels of models
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I am impressed by your first class packing technique and all those fine looking models :)
Thanks for sharing.
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Thank you for sharing that! This is excellent. Luckily the only 'big' model I have finished is a 1/72 CP-140 (and I built that at my previous residence and kept moving in mind, so the wings aren't actually cemented... ;) ), but the foamy method for smaller ones will come in very, very handy!
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No worries guys, I'm sure most of us have had to do this at one time or other. I'm sure too, that there are other ways that people have used but this is what I came up with for my stuff.
Another thing I should mention for the big box, make sure it's sized so you can get it through doorways ----- ;) and make sure the box ends are thoroughly taped up, to prevent anything that might come unattached going AWOL .
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I am impressed by your first class packing technique and all those fine looking models :)
Thanks for sharing.
They are all very dusty because I had them hanging from the ceiling, unfortunately I didn't have time to clean them up before they went into the boxes at the time of packing. Something I'll do when I get the cabinet set up.