Packing figures for posting

[AndrewBeasley]

More and more of my figures are being painted by kind folk around the UK and packing so far has not been an issue (15mm mainly hand weapons or solid 28mm foot).

The problem I now have is that as I move onto some of the GW LOTR figures etc all have pointy bits (Dwarves (bows and axes) / Orcs (spears and pikes) / Morgul Knights  (lance / banner)) that are thin and fragile...

Any good tips for shipping these or should I expect the odd casualty or two?

Note at home these will be magnetised and moved by car so I'm not worried about this end - just the bit in the middle...

(Sorry mods if this should be in the workbench...)

[Rivera]

I used to work in the Royal Mail parcels section and individual packets do get a fair amount of jostling (to put it mildly).  I'd suggest that you roll up the figure fairly loosely in bubble wrap and secure with a bit of tape and then put in a cardboard box with at least a good inch of space all around it which is filled with shredded paper or similar so that it doesn't move around.

It's not guaranteed to work (especially at this time of year) but it should be enough to give you a very good chance of success.

[Cherno]

I always pack miniatures in a sheet of tissue paper (the kind you use in the kitchen, similar to toilet paper) and a strip of to keep it in place. The result is a cocoon of sorts that leaves room inside for pointy bits etc. but is also stiff enough to resists severs bumping against other such little cocoons. Of course, the whole box should be packed as tightly as possible so there is as little wiggling space as possible, so use copious amounts of foam peanuts or whatever

[Stepman3]

Toilet paper and then stick several in a toilet paper tube or paper towel tube then box them up...

[Cubs]

I fold delicate stuff loosely in a bubble wrap envelope, this goes in a small box with plenty of very small bits of polystyrene all around it. The small box (or boxes) then goes in a big outer box, also surrounded with (larger) polystyrene chips or large parcel bubble wrap.   

Basically there's bubble wrap, polystyrene, cardboard, polystyrene/bubble wrap again and cardboard again between the model and the postie's level of competence. I prefer to use polystyrene chips instead of paper, because it's lighter for postage.

For some reason, a shredded newspaper never feels like it weighs as much as the original newspaper and it shocks me when I find out that it does!

[Vanvlak]

I recently received a painted single model with a sword which is quite long and exposed, and some rather delicate mushrooms on the base - travelling from the UK to Malta.
It was packed in toilet paper, placed in a small box which however left space around the model, and was padded with rolls more t.p. which served only as padding to prevent movement. The box was taped; and then placed in bubble wrap inside another, larger box, which was wrapped in brown paper.

That worked. 

[eilif]

Often times I've actually taped (with masking tape) figures with spindly plastic bits to a piece of cardboard (sometimes between two sheets) before putting then in a padded mailer and/or another box.  It's not so much a matter of padding with plastic figs (though they should have a bit of padding) as it is preventing the extending bits from being bent.

Best of luck.