I may have to take my 1/48 scale collection and move it to a new house. Whats the best way to pack and store plane models for moving?


...Best thing i thought of was open boxes with crumbled newspaper, placing plane belly up to avoid landing gear breakage, 1 box per plane.

I moved 10 airplanes recently (1/48 scale) without a scratch.

The system involved:

a "plate" of expanded polystyreen of 2 cm thick.
Many toothpicks
some long wooden sticks as you would use to make brochetes for the bar b que.
a few cardboard boxes.

cut the polystyreen so that it fits exactly in the cardboard box.

Brake off several small pieces of polystyreen, fix it with the toothpicks on the plate of polystyreen in such a way that the plane can rest on the polystyreen pieces without the wheels or anything to delecate can brake of.

take more pieces of polystyreen with toothpicks and put this around the plane to keep it in place. Make sure that there is only contact between poly and "solid pieces of the plane.

Waw, dificult to describe but it seems to work, i did not brake anything.

on the other hand, a moving company vcan brake anything so move your babies yourself

For what it's worth, I have mailed models to as far away as Japan without damage using the following method.

Good size box, A small layer off foam peanuts, lightly Wrap model in Toilet paper(the fluffier the better) wrap from nose to tail the twist and wrap wingtip to wingtip. Place model or models on foam layer add another layerof peanuts and start again( not to exceed 3 layers)

I moved several planes 1/32 to 1/72 from Kentucky to Arizona, thence back east. Not one broke or had anything knocked off.

How? Sturdy boxes. Poke small holes and insert bent to "S" paperclips. Stretch rubber bands between them. Put the wings and fuselage through the rubber bands, shield the model from rubber with wax paper.

Leave enough room for bouncing. If you fear for some part(s), remove them and glue them to the box with white glue.

I have also packed them in peanuts. Some antennes came loose, and gear doors. Otherwise it worked OK.

Consider that the peanuts can compress. The rubbers just flex.

Rowan gave me this great idea, I was having to move a number of models to a show and was in the process of packing each one individually. His suggestion, which is not only very easy but works wonderfully well, was to support the models by their wing trailing edges. You will need deeper boxes for this and of course they need to be resonably strong. I cut 1" thick by 6" or 8" wide lengths of polystyrene packing, to fit, tightly, down the long side of a box. 2 for a narrow box, 3 for a wider one and fitted this in the box. Take the model and place it, on it's wing trailing edge, bridging 2 pieces of packing (the packing at the sides of the box is spaced from it using other pieces of packing). Use a pencil and mark, on the edge of the packing, the wing taper and angle. Remove the model and cut out the marked portion to a depth that will enable the nose to clear the lid and the tail not to foul the base of the box. You will get 3-4 models in a "narrow" box, for the wider one, with 3 pieces of packing, you will get one less on the other side. This is because the wings of models on both sides use the centre packing. Or you can arrange it so that there are an equal number of models on both sides.
I hope that makes sense. If you like the idea but don't quite understand what I going on about I can pack some models and take a pic. Mmmm, maybe an article there?
Mal

Hi there

I wish I could claim the idea for the vertical storage method as my own, but it was shown to me when I made Blueprint Models many years ago by the chap who ran Toad Resins. We used it to take display-models of our products to shows and shops.

All the best

Rowan