Recently I received a shipment of figures that had been pretty badly smashed. Some of the value that I had paid for was gone. I decided then that I must tell as many people as possible of the correct way to ship figures, so that this does not happen to anyone again. The absolute, number one cardinal rule of packing figures for shipment is that THE FIGURES MUST NOT MOVE. The damage to the figures almost always comes from the figures banging into each other or into the container they are in. The second rule is that THERE MUST BE SOMETHING BETWEEN THE FIGURES AND BETWEEN THE FIGURES AND THE CONTAINER. The last rule is that this "something" must be able to fill that space and not be more than slightly compressible. If the material can be compressed or broken, it will be, leaving the figures free to move and be damaged. Examples of BAD material like this are: tissue paper, crumpled newspaper, popcorn, and dry crisped rice. The last two are particularly bad because the recipient not only receives broken figures, but those figures are also covered with crumbs and food dust. Soft foam and bubble wrap are only usable if held down with some pressure by something else. A good material to use is foam peanuts. They compress only slightly, and do not crumble. However, you must also make sure that the figures do not move. If you have not taken care of this with some other method, such as tape or wooden frames, you can use the packing material itself to hold the figures. Stuff the material down between the figures until you cannot pack in any more. Stuff the material all along the sides of the box and then completely cover the figures. Now here is the critical part: you must continue packing the foam peanuts in until they pile up "well above the top of the box"! Then, as you close the box and seal it, you will press the peanuts down. Move the box up and down and side to side and listen for anything moving. If you hear something, open it up and pack in more material. Unfortunately, because of their size and shape, most foam peanuts do not fit well around the arms and weapons of figures, especially 15mm figures. So, the BEST packing material is puffed rice cereal. NOT crispy rice cereal, but PUFFED. This goes by various names, including Kashi. It is solid and spongy and beige on the inside, and brown and shiny on the outside. It compresses slightly and does not crumble significantly. You can just pour it into the box and it will usually fill in all the spaces by itself. Then repeat the same critical technique that I described with the foam peanuts: fill the box to the brim and let the puffed rice pile up in the middle so that you have to force it down with the box top. This pressure holds the figures in place. Until now I have assumed that the figures are standing upright in the bottom of the box. This is required if the figures are mounted in multiple rows, or have items which point off in two or more directions. If the figures are foot figures in single rows, with simple postures and equipment, you can lay them down on their backs. The stands then stick up and can be used to hold another layer of figures, after you have secured the first layer. You fill up and cover over the first layer, then lay some rigid flat material on top of the base edges and put down another layer of figures. If the figures are unmounted, they must lay down. Foot figures with simple poses could be rolled up in padded material, but they must be rolled tightly, or cinch the material at periodic intervals, otherwise the figures will move up and down the tube and hit each other. The best approach is to lay the figures down on a soft foam sheet. The foam gives way to make room for projections, but the different bits of the figure will also catch on the foam and hold the figure in place. Cover this layer with the puffed rice and add another foam sheet after laying down a new, rigid platform. For boxes, the best thing to do is to ship the figures in many shallow boxes rather than 1 or 2 deep ones. Don't try to save on postage. When getting boxes, do not use simple sided cardboard boxes. Use corrugated cardboard boxes, such as the ones you can buy from a post office or a packing store. This whole packing scheme will only work if you provide it with strong rigid walls to brace against. And leave space between the figures and the sides of the box! Do not double or triple box your figures. This accomplishes nothing except to make the box very unwieldy and to intercept shaped charge rounds. Although puncture damage is a real threat, I have never seen a figure damaged by a box puncture. It is important, however, that you buy a box that is taller than the tallest figure, unless the figures will be lying down. A common source of figure damage is from the figures bouncing up against the top of the box, and then they come crashing down onto other figures. Get as much packing material as will hold them down and overflow the box. Do not skimp on filler. Make the trip to the store for materials rather than try to make do with what you have at home, and do not ship anything until you can't hear any movement. Back to MWAN #118 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2002 Hal Thinglum This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com