How Do You Ship Aircraft?

Timbo · Post by **Timbo** » Fri Dec 29, 2006 11:17 am

I've got a couple of 1:18 planes that are still in the box and just taking up space and was curious how you guys that do a lot of trading ship your planes. Do you find/make boxes that will fit or do you take them out of the box and repackage them?

tmanthegreat · Post by **tmanthegreat** » Fri Dec 29, 2006 11:39 am

I usually try to find a box large enough to fit the aircraft in its own packaging, and pack it well with bubble wrap or newspaper, or other packing materials. If I had to send the aircraft w/o its own box, I would dismantle the plane as much as possible, keep any small parts in a plastic ziploc bag, wrap the parts securely in bubblewrap and pack it very securely in the shipping box to avoid incuring any damage during the shipment. It is kind of tricky to find properly-sized boxes for the 1:18 planes, unless you have a box from a previous shipment. The 1;18 vehicles and 1:32 and smaller pieces are easier to ship.

As for shipping services, the US Postal Service (USPS), UPS and FedEx (I think) offer online services where you can purchase and print a shipping label, which generally saves waiting in line. The only trick is to properly guess the weight of the package, but this can be done with reasonable accuracy on a bathroom scale by comparing your weight holding the package with your weight not holding the package.

Hope all this helps

Tinman · Post by **Tinman** » Fri Dec 29, 2006 12:24 pm

tman:

Wow, I like your scale trick - never thought of that!

immeww2 · Post by **immeww2** » Fri Dec 29, 2006 4:24 pm

It can sometimes be difficult to find boxes that will properly fit the 1/18 scale planes, but I usually do come across a few when shopping at WM. Quite often, I find shopping carts full of boxes and I rummage through them to find boxes that I think will fit. I almost always find a few. If you can't get boxes at WM then your next best bet is to make one out of several boxes and tape them together. I've done that a few times without any problems.

Website · Post by **Teamski** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 7:33 am

I have to cut and tape boxes to fit aircraft. They are definately a pain to ship!

-Ski

billgiff · Post by **billgiff** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 10:41 am

Here's an easy way. Order 12" X 12" Priority boxes from the USPS web site. Assemble one box, tape the bottom closed and the top open. Then you take the second box and fold the bottom flaps into the box itself and slide it onto box one. Again having the top taped open. The third box will have the bottom folded inside of it and the top taped closed. This box you can slide on to the others and it can be stopped at the desired point or slide all the way down to the aircraft box. Any open space can be filled with plastic bags, bubblewrap or packing peanuts. The last thing to do is to tape the different seams together along with the three boxes. This is just to make sure that no boxes come apart. This sounds confussing but it's not. Your local P.O. will supply you with Priority Mail packing tape. The Priority Mail boxes are free from the USPS web site and are delivered to your door step in about two weeks. I hope this helps.

Razor17019 · Post by **Razor17019** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 12:32 pm

If you work in an office or know someone that can get you 2 copy paper boxes per plane - you are in business!
Take the lids off each box and put them aside for later.
On one end of each copy paper box, I cut straight down from top to bottom on both sides of the box. After I do both boxes, I have two flaps (one flap folds down on top of the other and fits to the opposite end of the other box) that you can side both boxes together as to create one long box. I usually take the plane box and fit it inside the box I have made and push the it to fit the plane box.
Now take the two lids you set aside. Take one lid and place it on top of the box. Cut one end that is towards the middle of the box like we did before to make a flap. Take the other lid and place it on top of the other lid. Place the 2nd lid on top of the 1st and cut it to fit making sure to overlap the 1st by a little bit.
Now- VERY IMPORTANT- Best tape to use for this next step is the duck tape with the threads running down through it. Really makes it strong and holds the box together well. (you can find it in drug stores) You can start at one end and place the end of the tape on top and pull it down and around the box to the bottom-making sure to push both ends of the box together so you don't have a gap.
Next, do the other end of the box.
Final step is to wrap the tape around the middle over the seams that were made when you cut the boxes and fit them together.
Once you get good at this, you won't need a lot of tape to fit it all together. But don't feel bad about adding extra tape as a precaution.

If my instructions are too vague or can't understand - email me: wave17019@fuse.net and I would be glad to provide you pics or more information on how to do this.
Thanks,