Moving and storing built sets

ndisgize

I am planning on storing all my built sets and then moving, and was wondering what the best methods for storing long term or packing for a long haul would be? My biggest sets are just the recent Millenium Falcon, Republic Frigate, Y-wing type sets.
Bubble wrap? Foam popcorn? Something else?

oldtodd33

I tried doing that before, you are much better off taking them apart and putting them in storage bags. If you try wrapping them in anything, parts will fall off and you will have to try to figure out where they go, where they came from or just plain losing them altogether.

BrickDancer

My suggestion would be to saran wrap all the ships tightly to prevent movement and falling pieces. Then box them up in cardboard or big plastic tubs with bubble wrap.

yys4u

I actually did this once and just did the lazy way. I Just carefully put the completed sets in big boxes, and taped up the boxes really well so no pieces would fall out, then I put ziplock bags of disassembled sets around the build set to fill up more space, and just made sure all the boxes were right side up. Sure some pieces will fall off, but you usually remember where they go and can rebuild it pretty easily.

Jumpinbeans

KRAGLE!!!!! :-)

I'd suggest dismantling them and placing them into zip locked bags. You'll be able to pack in more sets into a smaller space.

Goldchains

Currently, what I do with the sets I am not currently displaying is to take them apart(in reverse order to keep the numbered bag process) and put them in ziploc bags. Then I put them back in the boxes for safe keeping.

However, I am running out of closet space, so I am considering either destroying the boxes or flattening them down, then putting the smaller ziploc bags in large ziploc bags and using large rubbermaid containers.

What do you guys think?

graphite

I usually break down and store in ziplocs, number the bag with the set number and store in large containers. When I moved recently I didn't want to, or have time to break everything down fully so I just went through and took off anything sticking up or that would fall off easily anyway and bagged that. Then took the bulk of what was left (for big ships etc) and put it in a garbage bag or grocery bag depending on size, tied them off then wrapped the slack around the item and taped it down. Then I just put everything in boxes. Some with bubble wrap in between depending on what it was. Even did this with the DS. Probably won't be in one piece when I go to unpack it but that is fine.

ricecake

I asked a similar question a couple months ago, but my move was just a 20 minute drive. As for me, I completely disassembled everything and put each set in a Ziploc bag. I still haven't rebuilt anything yet as we are working on prepping my man cave (where I will be displaying my sets) for painting.

Thanos75

I did a move a couple months back . I just bit the bullet and bought a bunch of the sterilite drawers with the three deep bins. I packed most of my built sets in there and taped them shut. I figured i would be using them as storage anyways so it worked out.

madforLEGO

Most of my LEGO is still disassembled for this reason. I know I'm not staying my apt forever so everything is disassembled in Ziplock bags. The only other thing I would say is go to somewhere like 'container store' (if you have one near you anyway) and grab some bigger boxes that can handle the built sets (plus they all sorts of containers that can be used for parts/sets, etc., or if you have a LOT that you are moving and all roughly the same dimensions, then grab measurements and go to uline and buy boxes, and do what others have been suggesting which is put them into boxes, which may, or may not, be cheaper than plastic storage bins.. Because you also have to ask yourself, are you going to use those bins again? Or are they going to just stack up in a corner (my guess is you are into LEGO so likely they will be used for parts in the future after your move)
My problem is I have parts in those part storage bins that have ope tops (like thishttp://www.amazon.com/Akro-Mils-10164-Plastic-Storage-Hardware/dp/B000LDH3JC/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1406903042&sr=8-3&keywords=part+bins), yeah those are going to take a bit of gentle handling so as not to spill all over.

piratemania7

I actually had to start clearing out my guest room recently and have been relocating everything to my outdoor shed. I just carefully put one or two sets (modulars) in their own large plastic tote and placed bubble wrap in the nooks and crannies whenever it fell, I didn't tape anything.

Then I carefully stacked in shed and that's it. I think it's better for the part to not be taken apart over and over again and this way I can just go back out any time, grab a set and display it if I so choose too.