Storage and transportation

[Mark m]

Fully rigged wood ship models look fairly fragile.

 

How do you protect them when you need to transport a partial or fully complete model?

 

 

[mtaylor]

By car? Aircraft?   

 

By car, I have a PT cruiser without the back seats installed.   I have an old table with very short legs I use on my work bench.  Flip it upside down and line that with bath towels over the legs and accoss the bottom.  Fits very nicely in the back end.  I've done two moves using this and no damage.

 

  I've also done it using rolled towels (again in the back end).   Some use the towel method on the back seat.  The key is bracing with towel rolls so it doesn't move or wobble.

[Roger Pellett]

If you are going to put the time and effort into building a ship model you should plan to build or buy a case for it.  Over the years I have built 10 or so glass cases for my models and have come up with a standardized design.  When we moved from Southeastern Ohio to Northeastern Minnesota the movers put my cased models into regular cardboard moving boxes.  There was no damage to any models when the were unpacked at the new destination.

 

Roger

[Mark m]

2 hours ago, Roger Pellett said:

If you are going to put the time and effort into building a ship model you should plan to build or buy a case for it.  Over the years I have built 10 or so glass cases for my models and have come up with a standardized design.  When we moved from Southeastern Ohio to Northeastern Minnesota the movers put my cased models into regular cardboard moving boxes.  There was no damage to any models when the were unpacked at the new destination.

 

Roger

I live in a motorhome and relocate every 10-14 days, so my biggest issues are space and weight.  

For model transport, I need to pack up and stash it securely every time.  Not a problem with a hull, but tricky with a mast.

[Bob Cleek]

1 hour ago, Mark m said:

I live in a motorhome and relocate every 10-14 days, so my biggest issues are space and weight.  

For model transport, I need to pack up and stash it securely every time.  Not a problem with a hull, but tricky with a mast.

Owning a motorhome myself, I'd expect that the road vibrations wouldn't be conducive to long model life. I suppose your mileage may vary, but the guys who built my motorhome obviously had no regard whatsoever for the long-term effects of vibration.

 

[Jaager]

In respect to your living situation, I will suggest consideration of a vanishingly small segment in all this - at least when it comes to wood and sail:  1:192 scale.  For pre-1860 wooden hulls - the models are small and many can be kept in a small area.   For steel, it is probably too large.  

Cases are vital.

The masts can be stubs.

It would be 100% scratch.

The skills and techniques are much most artist based than the technical woodworking skills that most of us perform.

It is more simulation than replication.

It is perhaps the one area in all this where, if done with real skill and talent, an actual profit can be had.

 

For larger scales, half hulls mounted on a board - no spars - 100% scratch build.

[mtaylor]

32 minutes ago, Bob Cleek said:

Owning a motorhome myself, I'd expect that the road vibrations wouldn't be conducive to long model life. I suppose your mileage may vary, but the guys who built my motorhome obviously had no regard whatsoever for the long-term effects of vibration.

 

Truth there.  They use a truck chassis and go from there so "stiff truck suspension".  I remember when we had one and having to put towels between each dish in the cupboard before moving it.  I did move a model once and it was, shall we say, a bit of nighmare. The way I did it, no case, but a large box fill with styrefoam peanuts.  The box in tern, was roped down on the couch as it was the midpoint of the RV.  And the condition of many roads is also a vibration factor.

[cardensb]

Retired Army guy here so I did quite a few moves across the USA.  I custom built moving crates for each ship from scrap lumber and found plywood.  I built each case so I had 4-6 inches space around the outer edges of each model.  I built cradles for the hulls that screwed to the base and then drilled 1/2 inch holes along a line that was just beyond the hull.  Two moves, I laced paracord carefully through the model, passing through lines and making sure no line was up against anything that would break using the 1/2 holes in a plywood base as my attaching point.  Two moves I used zip ties as a different method that did not need me pulling 20 feet of cord over a railing.  The sides of the cases were often just heavy cardboard staple gunned to the framing.  I left the top open so handlers could see what moving but most moves, I packed them in my own box trailer with cushions from patio furniture as additional padding.  One year I dumped a bunch of packing peanuts inside  but did not seem to make a difference. 

My last move was more along the line of the rolled towels in the back seat of my pick up with pillows around them and did not bother with the crates.  Worked fine for about a one hour drive on I-95. 

For ships without tall masts and rigging like admiralty models or works in progress, I really just wrapped with the small bubble bubble wrap and made sure to mark this side up with tape in case I had anything on the deck that may come lose and get lost.  Those got laid into a large box with pillows and other random items from the basement.

[allanyed]

I have shipped models across the USA and to Europe with only a couple very minor problems.  Rather than take a chance, I used professional movers that knew how to handle antiques and such and they were insured.   Shop around, some are expensive, some are reasonable.

Allan

[Mark m]

On 6/29/2022 at 2:08 PM, cardensb said:

Retired Army guy here so I did quite a few moves across the USA.  … Those got laid into a large box with pillows and other random items from the basement.

Thanks for the detailed explanation!

[thibaultron]

Not quite recommended, but funny anyway. Several years ago when I was doing the RC Warship Combat, one of the members that came to that year's Nationals, had an unusual solution to bringing his ship. He had one of the large battleships, which at 1/144th was quite long, but he had a small car. So he put a clamshell carrier on top, and cut form fitting slots in each end. He placed the ship in with about a foot and a half sticking out each end, and traveled several hundred miles like that! He said he got lots of strange looks along the way!

[mtaylor]

I bet he also had a lot of bugs on the front of the ship also.