Part of the challenge...

[dhanners]

...of card modeling is figuring out how to transport them when the need arises. I'm entering some of my models in the local IPMS chapter's annual contest (Twin City Aero Historians - NordicCon 2010 next Saturday and although the contest site is only a half-hour's drive from my home, I can't just throw the models in the car and go.

So I wound up fashioning boxes with cradles for three of the models, and here are the photos. The boxes are the ones that reams of copying paper come in (I get them at work) and I cut down a couple of other boxes to get the cardboard to make the cradles.

The solar arrays on the ATV were longer than the standard box, though, so I cut the end off one box, cut another box in half and then grafted the two boxes together to make one long box.

Once I got the cradles glued in, I punched holes near the edges of the openings the models go in so I could thread pipe cleaners through them. The pipe cleaners provide a nice and low-stress way of securing the models during transport.

Since the 1/96th-scale Orion and Orion Deep Space Vehicle both had built-in ways to carry them (the holes for the docking tube that joins them) I just glued extra sections of tube to a box, then stuck the models on the tubes.

I'll take an extra box to carry all the stands, the removable solar arrays and my emergency repair kit (X-acto knife, super glue, accelerator, Sharpie, etc.).

All I can say is thank goodness for the hot-glue gun. And I'm glad the contest only comes once a year.

My 1/96th-scale Aries I-X -- which is over 40 inches tall -- will be wrapped with bubble wrap and then placed in a big mailing tube.

[SCEtoAUX]

Looks good.
I am glad for you that you found some pipe cleaners.
I was looking for some pipe cleaners once and found out they are now called chenille stems.

It is like looking for something brown. It ain't brown, it is mocha or chocolate or coffee or some other @!&#!. :D

[Texman]

I can see where this packing method would apply for others, please let us know how they travelled. Looks pretty good.

[Ashrunner]

Dave...you planning to release those boxes as a kit? 8v)

Seriously...great work on a way to transport to built models.

[dhanners]

Originally Posted by Ashrunner

Dave...you planning to release those boxes as a kit? 8v)

Seriously...great work on a way to transport to built models.

These boxes are pretty much the apex of my design abilities. I can build but designing is a whole other matter....

[airdave]

I was thinking of designing a set of really small boxes...

I'll call them "KoolBoxez"

but they will probably only be good for Ray's models!

[Darwin]

The more things change, the more they stay the same. This same conversation has been going on for decades in the stick-and-tissue freeflight community. You should see the packaging that was used for the old peanut scale postal contests.

[SAustin16]

Dave, That is card modeling at its best. They look well-engineered. I second Texman...let us know how your jewels travel.

[jparenti]

I've had to do stuff similar to this, but mine never look so nice. Those paper boxes really are wonderful for ferrying models back and forth.
My rule is this: If it won't fit one of those boxes, it has to be built to come apart somehow so its largest piece will fit. :D

[Damraska]

I know guys who do it that way with good results. Cut foam pieces are another popular choice. I often use a box full of packing peanuts with fragile assemblies shielded off.

Good luck at the show!

-Doug