Monday, December 7, 2009

Entry Dated September 9, 2008 - How To Move With Models

How to move with model kits? Well, folks, our time at this location has come to an end and I'm able to get back my modeling space. Of course, that entails a move. One of the things that a lot of scale modelers hate is moving. Especially when they have to individually pack up their displays. Invariably builds get given to friends as parting gifts or donated to a military museum of some sort if there's one in the general area. Otherwise it's packing each individual model in it's own box or if you buy foam mattress core, it's a pain-stakingly painful process cutting each form to fit the model's general shape. It's always a good idea to label the foam core as you can use it for future moves (if you're a constant mover like me (9 moves in 8 years??? Yes, we've moved all over the Lower Mainland in the last 8 years, this will be our 10th move in 8 years; after this we're remaining planted for the nex 5-7 years).

Remember to label the boxes that you stick the foam cores and lovingly bundled models into as "FRAGILE-DO NOT CRUSH, DROP OR BUMP! CARRY INDIVIDUALLY" The boxes can feel deceptively light and if other movers are involved, they tend to want to take multiple boxes at a time if they are light. And that is the last thing you want them to do. Picture two words "crushed models". Better yet, take them over yourself via your own vehicle.

Our move this month is at the end of the month, and most of my stash is unbuilt so moving is relatively simple. Just get a few cardboard boxes and put my unbuilt stash into them. A tip is size your box to the largest kit that you plan to put into that box and then fit your other models around them. A good rule of thumb is to get a box that fits two Tamiya 1/32 F-14 Tomcats (unbuilt kit boxes) sitting flat on the bottom of the box. Then you can put the rest of the kits around and fit them. If one of your favorite video games is Tetris, you'll be good at this.

Currently I only have three kits in the midst of being built. And what I use to transport that is a container filled with packing peanuts. However the best way is the foam-core cut-out form of packing as the friction from the foam core and the form fitting cutout will prevent the model from moving around. Over the course of the next few weeks, I'll be taking pictures to populate this blog on how to effect a move with multiple kits. I do have a MiG 23 that I will be stripping the paint from (once I get there and redoing) so I'l pack it with foam core and do a step-by-step on that process. Watch for an edit to this post.

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