Stargeezer
Sith Lord
Ok, i know a few off you are either Banned from RS or not checking that forum anymore, so maybe i can help some off you by also posting this here.
I startted this on RS as "Putting a MOC in an acrylic case" topic, but now with some updates, the How To title is much better, and how knows, maybe some off you guys have some ideas to share aswell.
Somewhere in the past i sold an 20Back R5 here on the forum. this was a MOC that i badly damaged whilst i wanted to insert it in an Acrylic display case. I scraped against the acrylic on one edge whilst shoving it in and i even made it worse when i pulled it back out.... it had scraped the surface of at one edge and made the MOC wich was an C8 before look like crap. Needles to say i was gutted....
Joe and some other contact me as they had experienced this theirselfs aswell.
Somethimes i see a MOC coming for sale or beeing limelighted with edge wear wich could be from inserting/removing a MOC from an Acrylic case, i think its to bad.
Now since that happened to me i have been using an easy an cheap trick to prevent this kind of damage in the future and i know many off you allready know this, but i just wanted to share this so less MOC's would get damaged.
I have choosen a MOC wich is not completly flat on top as these have more chance to gain edge wear from the acrylic case.
What i do first is cut 2 long pieces of paper and fold them in half. Now insert each on one side in each guider of the acrylic case.
This way you can slide your moc through the paper guiders wich protect your MOC from scratching against the acrylic.
After your MOC is in place, pull out the paper guiders and voila the MOC is ready to go on display.
Now, to remove the MOC, you can do this the same way but then reversed, just start by sliding the paper guiders in. Its just as easy as that.
Next is another good tip in case you ever recieve/buy a MOC with the footer in front of the figure. I know when you buy a MOC with the footer in front off the figure, it can save you some $$$, but right it sure doesn't look as nice as a figure with the footer underneath the figure as should.
Note, to make this pictureguide, i first had to get the footer out of place, so i could show you how to correct it, this is how confident i am, about how this solution works.
Some say you could shake a footer back in place, but this can damage your moc aswell, so here is a safer method.
Here you see an 12Back Leia with the footer before the figure. As you can see below the Moc, i allready cut 2 pieces off thin cardboard, but you actually only need one, i just made a 2nd one in advance in case i should bend it. (make sure the piece of cardboard is thin enough to slide in the gap between the bubble stem and cardback and sturdy enough to carry the figures weight).
Now slide in one off the thin pieces of cardboard and push the figure up (note all my pictures are taken with the figure lying down, but best way to do this is when you hold it up in your hand.) When the figure is up, the footer can fall to the bottom of the bubble (not underneath the figure though)
Now try to get the footer at an angle by holding the Moc at an angle so the footer, slides underneath the figure as far as possible allready. When your at the best position you can get, lay the moc down like shown in my picture.
Now the Moc is lying down, the figure will stay in the position it's in (against the top of the bubble) and you can use the thin piece cardboard to adjust the footer in place again.
Now with the footer in place again, the figure looks a whole lot better. and if you put in in an acrylic case (using the technique as described in my initial post ) it looks like it's worth a million dollars.
Lastly i want to share an packaging technique wich can best be used at an expensive MOC. This is the double boxed technique:
First securly pack your MOC in a starcase filled with packin material around the bubble (this will help to keep the bubble in place and helps to prevent the figure popping through the bubble).
Wrap the starcase in bubble wrap and place it in a small box wich is filled with peanuts around the starcase to prevent is from moving around in the box.
Seal the small box and place it in an larger size box, again make sure the smaller box is well surrounded by peanuts.
Now seal the big box and it's good to go.
I know this may look like overprotection, but for expensive MOC's this is the best way to ship in my opinion.
I hope i did not bore you guys with my long post, and maybe i teached some guys some new tips and tricks.
If you have any comments or some tips from your own to add, i would love to hear about it.
Take care,
Dennis.
I startted this on RS as "Putting a MOC in an acrylic case" topic, but now with some updates, the How To title is much better, and how knows, maybe some off you guys have some ideas to share aswell.
Somewhere in the past i sold an 20Back R5 here on the forum. this was a MOC that i badly damaged whilst i wanted to insert it in an Acrylic display case. I scraped against the acrylic on one edge whilst shoving it in and i even made it worse when i pulled it back out.... it had scraped the surface of at one edge and made the MOC wich was an C8 before look like crap. Needles to say i was gutted....
Joe and some other contact me as they had experienced this theirselfs aswell.
Somethimes i see a MOC coming for sale or beeing limelighted with edge wear wich could be from inserting/removing a MOC from an Acrylic case, i think its to bad.
Now since that happened to me i have been using an easy an cheap trick to prevent this kind of damage in the future and i know many off you allready know this, but i just wanted to share this so less MOC's would get damaged.
I have choosen a MOC wich is not completly flat on top as these have more chance to gain edge wear from the acrylic case.
What i do first is cut 2 long pieces of paper and fold them in half. Now insert each on one side in each guider of the acrylic case.
This way you can slide your moc through the paper guiders wich protect your MOC from scratching against the acrylic.
After your MOC is in place, pull out the paper guiders and voila the MOC is ready to go on display.
Now, to remove the MOC, you can do this the same way but then reversed, just start by sliding the paper guiders in. Its just as easy as that.
Next is another good tip in case you ever recieve/buy a MOC with the footer in front of the figure. I know when you buy a MOC with the footer in front off the figure, it can save you some $$$, but right it sure doesn't look as nice as a figure with the footer underneath the figure as should.
Note, to make this pictureguide, i first had to get the footer out of place, so i could show you how to correct it, this is how confident i am, about how this solution works.
Some say you could shake a footer back in place, but this can damage your moc aswell, so here is a safer method.
Here you see an 12Back Leia with the footer before the figure. As you can see below the Moc, i allready cut 2 pieces off thin cardboard, but you actually only need one, i just made a 2nd one in advance in case i should bend it. (make sure the piece of cardboard is thin enough to slide in the gap between the bubble stem and cardback and sturdy enough to carry the figures weight).
Now slide in one off the thin pieces of cardboard and push the figure up (note all my pictures are taken with the figure lying down, but best way to do this is when you hold it up in your hand.) When the figure is up, the footer can fall to the bottom of the bubble (not underneath the figure though)
Now try to get the footer at an angle by holding the Moc at an angle so the footer, slides underneath the figure as far as possible allready. When your at the best position you can get, lay the moc down like shown in my picture.
Now the Moc is lying down, the figure will stay in the position it's in (against the top of the bubble) and you can use the thin piece cardboard to adjust the footer in place again.
Now with the footer in place again, the figure looks a whole lot better. and if you put in in an acrylic case (using the technique as described in my initial post ) it looks like it's worth a million dollars.
Lastly i want to share an packaging technique wich can best be used at an expensive MOC. This is the double boxed technique:
First securly pack your MOC in a starcase filled with packin material around the bubble (this will help to keep the bubble in place and helps to prevent the figure popping through the bubble).
Wrap the starcase in bubble wrap and place it in a small box wich is filled with peanuts around the starcase to prevent is from moving around in the box.
Seal the small box and place it in an larger size box, again make sure the smaller box is well surrounded by peanuts.
Now seal the big box and it's good to go.
I know this may look like overprotection, but for expensive MOC's this is the best way to ship in my opinion.
I hope i did not bore you guys with my long post, and maybe i teached some guys some new tips and tricks.
If you have any comments or some tips from your own to add, i would love to hear about it.
Take care,
Dennis.