Cang the Implacable shipping issue

[dr willetts workshop]

Hi, I'm painting "Cang the Implacable" for somebody and was wondering how on earth am I going to ship this. The piece is really high and I worry about the wings. I live in the UK and will be shipping to Switzerland. Anybody else had to deal with this, any help or comment welcome? Thanks in advance.

 

[kittykat23uk]

A large box and lots of good packing material, bubble wrap etc would be my advice. You should be able to wrap the wings and tail to protect then in transport. Good luck!

 

[oistene]

And mark as glass, not as fragile. Increases the odds of careful handling.

 

[SkelettetS]

for gods sake dont mark it as fragile! people are in general assh*les :/

 

[Bloodhowl]

Crating. While not on the same scale I would think you need to do something similar for R/C Planes that are pre-built and shipped:
http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/article_display.cfm?article_id=241

I would secure Cang to the bottom of the crate with some screws and then foam/bubble wrap the beejeebers out of him.

 

[Avelorn]

You can make a special foam box for it, using the kind of foam where you can either cut or take out little squares.

 

[StarFyre]

what i've done is create a kind of holder or bolt in at the bottom of a large box. Idea is to keep the model in the center. Teh rest of teh packaging should be Cotton. I do not use bubble wrap except maybe around the inner lining of the box. TONS AND TONS of cotton. It's so soft and a lot of it, will take the force of a model being bounced around a bit.

then careful instructions to open the box and take cotton our slowly as they slowly uncover the model.

I would say for something that size, the model should have 3-4 inches of pure cotton on all sides and make sure there is cotton in the gaps between the wings, underarms, etc.

 

[SkelettetS]

box-in-a-box is also a good idea for bumper.

 

[dr willetts workshop]

thanks everybody for solid advices.

 

[Avelorn]

It depends how heavy it is as well. Cotton works for plastic but it is better with stability and flexibility than that the material is very soft. Cut out foam provides a reasonably soft surface but also creates a lot of stability as it flexible. Cotton just gets compacted and it creates a pocket where the miniature can move back and forth which can create enough momentum to break things apart. Bolts are very good except that the shock of impact is translated into the miniature. If you drop something with foam around it, the foam will take much of the impact provided it is thick. If you drop it bolted the miniature might for example come off from the base (from personal experience).

So foam, tightly packed so that different parts of the miniatures won't come off would be my best suggestion. However getting the miniature in and out of the foam needs to be done slowly and carefully. It's going to be a chore regardless because of the size. In working hours it might be cheaper to just fly there in some cases...