Big set deconstruction question

legoleppy

i might be moving soon and will have to dismantle my 7 modular sets and 9 pirate/boat sets. Along with my star wars collection. I think for the modular sets i can take them apart by the floors and the  ships can all be in one bag. But my main question is how do I take apart the death star (the one with all the rooms 10188)?  Plus I have all the boxes. I do not plan on selling the sets. Is it worth me trying to sell the boxes by themselves or just get rid of them?
Thanks in advance. 

Kavster

I can't help with the Death Star part of your question, but if you do end up selling the boxes, someone posted lately about wanting to buy just the boxes.

http://www.bricksetforum.com/discussion/21125/star-wars-lego-boxes#latest

CCC

Do you need to take it apart? If you can find a big enough shipping box just wrap it and pack it whole. If you are using professional movers, the cost for the volume difference will be negligible.

Bricklover18

Big plastic totes might work, you could probably fit 3 modulars in each of them.

legoleppy

Thanks for responses. I do all the moving so pros won't help. I feel if I leave them whole it would take up so much space. I would like to take them apart in the easiest way to rebuild them later. Would looking at the directions starting at the end help?  The death star is just so huge with so much grey. 

nexander

Death star wise i would bag up the minifigs and smaller builds, put them in the rooms and then try and get a square box a similar for it. Flatten/sell/chuck the original box. The difference in volume between boxing it whole and putting it in the original boxes wont be much. And be sure to box it not just wrap it or it might implode during the move. Its a little bit of a hassle but less than rebuilding it.

BombTec

With all my moves(military) I use large ziplock bags, dismantle by reverse instructions, and label each with the bag number from the book.  It takes some time as I have A LOT of Lego but worth it in the long run.  I tried packing them built with extra padding in totes and boxes but depending on the amount you have this takes a lot of boxes/totes and quickly fills up the moving truck and I ended up repairing a bunch anyway.

I also fill up the empty space in large Lego boxes with the smaller ones before packing them in moving boxes.  Last tip, pack the Lego on end; I learned the hard way not stacking them flat.  I had crushed boxes when I unpacked them :o(

madforLEGO

Well if you are worried about space, dismantle them completely. If you are not worried about space then leave them assembled. I believe there are rather large canvas, or cardboard boxes found at Target online that may hold one whole Mod by itself and is not monstrous. That and I would say jam some foam in those boxes to keep the mod from moving around.
I think the biggest problem with moving a built mod around, whether across town or into another room, is likely bending up the baseplate(s) that it is built on. So you likely want to put some cardboard, cut to the baseplate dimensions, under the plate(s)

mr_benn

With the modulars I would consider taking the floors apart, removing any loose parts, and just packing the different floors into boxes as best you can - individually they're all pretty sturdyand with a little bubble wrap packing between them should be fine.

bandit778

Due to the fact I live I a small flat and display space is at a premium I have to dismantle all my sets after building and displaying for a while. Most of the sets up to 1000 pieces I store in varying sizes of plastic lunch boxes, with sets above 1000 pieces I usually reverse build from the instructions and put 2 numbered bags per lunch box and number the boxes. This saves space and also has the added advantage of the rebuild being easier.

Jern92

When I moved my city, I dismantled all the modulars and placed them into ziplock bags according to the manual, so all the pieces for Book 1 would be in 1 bag together with the book etc.