transporting a built model

[redstang423]

how do you guys reccomend transporting a completed model so that it doesn't get scratched or broken? its a gift that must survive a 5-6 hour drive back to college!

[Whumbachumba]

I would say, get a shoe box and fill the bottom with toilet paper and kleenaxes. Then set the model in, and fill in around and above it with toilet paper and kleenaxes. And, if bye some chance you have to go during the trip, you have tp readily available.

[g00eY]

big box full of packing peanuts, then the model right in the middle of it.

[gasman03]

I recommend a shoe box, line the whole thing with a bunch of paper towels. then just place the model in the center of the box, you be surprised at how little it will move. I've already driven 9+ hours with 4-5 models in a large show box, and none of them moved an inch. and thats driving at 80-90 MPH basically the whole way

[SonyMobile]

Originally Posted by g00eY

big box full of packing peanuts, then the model right in the middle of it.

Thats the way I do it, works like a charm too, you can pack more than 1 model in aswell, just make sure you reallly pack in the peanuts

[modder]

i would pack it like if im going to ship something.........like bubbled wrap......i got em from my bro buying car parts and i save em to send out things..........

[Hawk312]

Originally Posted by redstang423

how do you guys reccomend transporting a completed model so that it doesn't get scratched or broken? its a gift that must survive a 5-6 hour drive back to college!

I do it a little differently....
If I can have the model sitting in the seat beside me while I am driving, I usually take a model display case, place 4 strips of masking tape doubled over on the base where the tires of the model line up on the base, and place the model on the base with the tires lining up on the masking tape. Believe it or not, this has held models in place for better than an hour drive for me. Gaffer tape would probably work even better than masking tape.
The last contest I entered, I ended up taking 6 models with me. None of them came loose during the half hour ride over rough Pa roads and in my Firehawk, which rides about as smoothly as an old wooden roller coaster....off it`s tracks.
For me, wrapping the model usually ends up in a mirror or two coming off the model.

[RallyRaider]

I do something similar with masking tape when transporting models in the car. Difference is I actually place the tape (Tamiya masking tape of course) loosely over the model and around the base so the car can't move. When the top is placed on it tightens up the tape and really locks things in. Two pieces of tape does the trick. Do it properly and you can hold the case upside down and nothing will move. I'm always careful where I place the tape, away from delicate parts and decals.

Done this several times on 6 hour plus trips to shows and back. Nil damage. Loose parts are similarly taped down, either closed or to the base by themselves.

I don't know what I'm going to do when I have to move my models interstate in a removal truck though. I've had limited success in the past wiring the models to the base of a display case.

[willimo]

Don't use packing peanuts! I've discovered, the hard way, that these styrofoam peanuts can eat paint as they gas out. It's not always the case but I'll never take that rist again. I pack my cars in white cotton t-shirts and tuperware.

I moved 20 built models from Baton Rouge to Boston a few weeks ago, that's a three day drive, 8hours a day. What I did was get a big rubbermade container and cut two C shaped holes in two opposing sides of the container, a lot like a baby seat, so that I could buckle the container in the front seat next to me. Then, I laid a t-shirt down in the bottom, and started placing my stouter cars in the bottom, lifting a fold of cloth between each car so they wouldn't touch. Once that layer was done, I placed another t-shirt down and repeated the process, leaving the cars with aeriels and lights on their roofs to go on top. 24 hours and 1500 miles later, two mirrors that I had attached with white glue (a good trick I've learned from those pesky ACME guys - allows mirrors to come off without wrecking paint) had fallen off. That's it.

Then one of my girlfriend's friends knocked the lights off the top of my black Hilux that evening. D'oh!