Transporting Figures

[Bailey]

I was curious how people like to transport their figures. I've been putting holes in my bases and tapping them so I can screw the models onto a board for transportation. Since the shows I've been to are all within driving distance I just lower the board into a plastic tub and away I go. Not a great solution for air travel though... I need to come up with something more secure. So, how do you deal with transporting your figures to shows?


Figures all loaded up and ready to go. The pillar in the center is a small table leg. Makes getting the figures out of the tub a lot easier.

 

[housecarl]

Toolbox and fasten them down with Blutack.

 

[Gary D]

I can't speak for air travel, but when driving to a show I transport my figs in a rectangular plastic tub or cardboard box with a cut sheet of Styrofoam on the bottom. I place the figs on the Styrofoam and hold them in place using those round toothpicks. It works great.

Gary

 

[megroot]

A wooden box and figures tacked to the bottom with Bluetack.

marc

 

[Steve]

I once hauled eight figures and vignettes from Germany to Oklahoma using exactly what you describe, Bailey. Not a scratch.

 

[Tecumsea]

I have seen boxes lined on the base with velcro and the opposite velcro faxed to the base of the figure-Dave Maddox I think uses this method and manages to get to MFCA without any mishap. The important thing is to ensure that the velcro is pinned to the bottom of the box-that way it doesn't lift when you pick up the figure.

Keith

 

[Blind Pew]

I use velcro as well and I think I did copy Dave in that. Basically, I put the spikey bit of the velcro on the bottom of the box, and the soft velcro bit on the bottom of the figure base. Bob's your uncle.

 

[JonP]

Dave put me onto using Velcro too

This is self adhesive Velcro tape and the 75mm mounted figure has covered quite a few miles without coming adrift. You do have to make sure the figure is securely attached to the base though!
Also the Velcro does have a liking for cat fluff as is all too obvious here!!

 

[Mark S]

I recently took some figures to a show on board a flight as hand luggage.
The airport staff, despite my pleading otherwise, seemed to see the whole experience as a fun opportunity to turn my bag through every possible axis including upside down!....and then still wanted to open it and see if the figures were hollow and potentially containing a prohibited substance.
Luckily they didn't bang them on the edge of the counter to see if they were hollow.
I had a spare roll of tape with me to tape the boxes up again after the show was over for the trip home..... when that tape was discovered at the airport,the emergency stop button was hit and the conveyor belt was suddenly still. Every passenger's head swivelled and looked on concerned and pissed off at the same time. The offending item was held up high to alert the other staff who quickly gathered around to view the contraband and the cowering offender, and the security guy asked me to stand back and warned me not to touch him at any point during the rest of the search......a thought which I can safely say never occurred to me.

The tape was unfortunately, maliciously destroyed before my watering eyes, and I was warned not to bring such offensive and dangerous material through an airport again........once I gained enough courage to speak, I asked why my tape was an offensive item please sir,and I was told I could tape up the pilot with it if I was of a mind to do so..............I had to agree, I don't know what I was thinking.

An image rushed through my mind of a crazed hijacker armed with a roll of tape rushing toward the cockpit with one end of the roll in his teeth whilst screaming flight crew dive in all directions yelling "Oh my God he's got tape, and its 3M masking!!"

Anyway back to how I packed the figures which survived some rough handling.
I make individual boxes from FoamCore, an art/craft item which consists of a core of foam(varying thicknesses) sandwhiched between two sheets of thick card...commonly used as art backing board and in art framing....each figure has an individually custom made box.
The figure base slides into the box and is held in place by extra pieces of foamcore adhered to the sides around the base.

Anyway this is how they look, I know through direct experience they can handle anything an airport can throw at them

 

[Tecumsea]

The very reason I have given up having anything to do with Planes or Airports-I only go where I can drive, this crap just drives me potty, congratulations on holding your temper Mark.

Keith