I have a large number of cars and locomotives currently sitting on several shelves in my workbench area gathering dust. I have decided to pack most of them away until I have a layout to run them on, but I don’t want any nasty suprises when I unpack them down the road.
What do you recommend I use to wrap them in before putting them into boxes?
I have quite a bit of bubble wrap and of course there are lots of paper towels available. Is it safe to wrap them in the bubble wrap directly or should I put a paper towel around them first? Will either of those materials end up sticking to the paint? What if the paint was recently done?
I had read somewhere that what ever the person had used attacked the plastic, I don’t remember what he had used.
When i had to pack a lot of mine, i put them in a ziplock bag, to catch any small parts that might break off. I left some air in the bag, for more protection. think with that and bubble wrap or paper towel you should be good. Dont know about semi fresh paint.
I’ve addressed this situation a number of times since the 1960s with Lionel stuff and HO.
For railcars, the trick is to keep the boxes as the vast majority will fit in there rather safely. Especially for the Athearn, etc., kit builts, I wrap them in PLAIN paper towel (no ink) and secure in their boxes. For those that won’t fit in the boxes, I wrap them in the paper towels and secure enough to fill a plastic storage box. The key in any case is to keep them from moving within the containers.
Locos almost always have very secure packaging that they can go back to.
I can’t say anything is wrong with using bubble wrap or the like, but I would not let it touch the cars/locos directly. You can’t go wrong with plain paper toweling.
I keep the boxes the models came in and put them back into those but in a few cases I’ve had to removed the Kadee’s for them to fit.
If you tossed your boxes, Spring Mills Hobbies makes long cardboard boxes with foam insert and plastic liners that you can fit quite a few models into and they are economical. I’ve picked up a few at the Timonium Train show but you can get them shipped to you as well.
I’m glad you posted it as it’s been on my mind lately as I put together some more freight cars kits on the shelf.
For locos, I really like the large Grand Central Gems boxes ($25 each) because they are set up for holding the loco upright. And for temporary storage I prefer to avoid the handling needed to replace in the original boxes, which varies. The included plastic or a strip of kitchen garbage bag is used to lift the loco into and out of the GCG storage slots. The insert strips are cut to achieve desired space between adjacent locos.
For freight cars I’ve been wondering what direction to go as my bookshelf storage is maxing out. I keep the original boxes but prefer to hang onto them just in case I give up the item(s) long term. I think the Spring Mills Depot items look great and will plan to get some. At $10 (plus some $0.40 divider strips) that hold 42 hoppers (or, I presume, 36 40-footers, they seem very reasonable as well as functional. I’ll have to see where to get them (direct?).
I’ve used both the A-Line boxes (contents stored upright) and Axion boxes (contents stored on side). The Axion boxes are lined in foam - top & bottom - and keep things from shifting - laterially, horizontally, and vertically. The A-Line boxes only have foam along the bottom.
I line all my boxes - top & bottom - with a double-layer of white tissue paper. This is recommended by Axion for long-term storage to prevent the foam from inadvertantly sticking to the paint. You can also use polyethylene but I like tissue paper because it allows the contents to breathe. It also absorbs grease and can easily be replaced. (I get a pack of tissue paper from Michael’s and it will do quite a number of boxes.)
The A-Line boxes are great for newer locomotives with plastic grab irons and handrails, which tend to bend and deform when stored on their side. I’ve had little problem with storing rolling stock on its side with the Axion boxes. That said, I’m very careful how many boxes I store on top of another.
I use mostly the original boxes, though I don’t always have boxes for everything as a lot of my rolling stock was bought used, without a box. I have managed to cadge boxes from the hobbyshop, and many cars (mostly hoppers, gondolas and flatcars) can go in boxes doubled-up.
If necessary, I’ll make boxes, usually from art- or matteboard.
For cars with a lot of fragile details (mostly those with vertical brake staffs), I place a small block of soft foam between the car’s roof and the inside of the box to prevent the car from moving within the box. All boxes get either a tissue or paper towel on which the car is placed and the boxes are stored on shelves beneath the staging yards:
Some stuff gets custom-made boxes simply because that’s what’s needed:
When it comes to storage of my delicate models with finicky paintwork and details, I err on the side of caution and spend a few bucks on archival quality polypropylene wraps. I place the wrapped models in boxes (stock, homemade, or commercial) and try to set them on their wheels if possible so there is less chance side details are broken when taking them out of storage.
I’ve stored models like this for years without issues of wrappers sticking to paint. I am especially aware of this because many models are stored in my upstairs workshop that in the summer can get hotter than 90 degrees F. Not a good combination of paint and a suspect wrapper against the surface.
I’m sure there are testimonials of paper towels being OK, but polypropylene is how I roll.
BTW: Here is a link to get some if you are interested.
This is depressing … Doctor Wayne even makes nicer looking BOXES than I can, for Pete’s sake. But like him I do double up (or more) in boxes and minimizing the amount of “empty” space in a given box can be a great help.
The one material people warn about is foam rubber. Brass and AHM engines (Bachmann too I think) used to come and maybe still do in foam rubber and it could be awful – stuck to the bodies, marring paint, etc., and the foam rubber would deteriorate into a messy, slightly gooey dust. I learned this to my sorrow. But oddly enough, before I learned this, I used foam rubber to protect some freight cars and never had the same problem. I conclude that gasses given off by the lubricants in the locomotives were likely dissolving the foam rubber. With little or no lubricant in the freight cars there is less to make the foam rubber dissolve.
Nonetheless even though some of my older cars are still doing nicely in foam rubber, I do not recommend foam rubber. I use paper towels, sometimes old t shirts, and for some delicate things where I do not want the car to shift in the box, I use cotton balls. (I save the ones from aspirin and similar bottles of medicines). However you do not want cotton balls where they can snag on delicate cemented parts such as brake wheels and grab irons and such. The advantage of paper towels or TP over cotton balls as well as fabric (old T shirts or sweat shirts) is that it is less inclined to snag. For this purpose the cheapest paper towels are fine.
If I need sheer bulk to fill up empty space in a box, a crushed TP tube or paper towel tube works well.
Gidday Dave, I use generally use the box that the rolling stock and locomotives came in, but as I’ve picked up a fair amount of 2nd hand cars without boxes I just pack them carefully in a set of drawers as is.
However with my steam locomotives I probably got a little carried away because they travel to shows, and as my paws have difficulty dealing with the teeney weeney tender plugs, and I could foresee possible tears and or unrepeatable language, I now leave them permanently connected, sitting on their wheels in heavy cardboard (a la doctorwayne) (the secret is firm not crushing!!!) and placed in a overbuilt custom made box.
Joel, I’m tempted to order the plastic sheets but I’m going to see if I can find them in Canada first. My major concern was how to wrap the rolling stock so things wouldn’t stick to the paint.
I made the mistake of throwing out some of the original boxes when I first got into the hobby, and like Bear, I have purchased many items that came in an oddball assortment of boxes that weren’t convenient for storage. I’m going to see if I can find a Canadian source for the larger foam lined boxes because shipping from the US drives the prices up considerably. The challenge then will be where to put those boxes when they are full?
I’ve found tomato boxes and various fruit boxes, those for pears especially, useful for rolling stock, as they have separate tops.
Also useful are banana boxes, but you’ll need to add a piece of cardboard to the bottom of the box portion as there’s a fairly large opening in the middle of it. A side, cut from any large, free box at the supermarket works well.
In addition to having a completely separate top, all of the ones mentioned have hand-holds cut into the ends. If the small boxes of rolling stock don’t pack tightly within the larger cartons, pack the voids with crumpled newspaper.
