Subject:
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Re: Getting your MOC's to shows?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Thu, 17 Jan 2008 21:23:16 GMT
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Viewed:
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6109 times
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In lugnet.events, Dave Sterling wrote:
> ,,
> 1) How do most of you transport your MOC's and layouts to shows?
> 2) What types of containers do you use...if any?
> 3) How much stuff do you usually bring?
> 4) How do you determine what to bring?
> 5) How much stuff your first time exhibiting?
> 6) Does anyone collaborate on transport (i.e. multiple groups renting a U-haul)?
> ..
> 1) If you fly to an event...do you brings MOC's?
> 2) If so, how do you get them to the show (airline, UPS, etc.)?
> 3) How much stuff do you usually bring to shows you fly to?
> 4) If you bring MOC's on the airline...how do you package them?
> 5) If you ship them, what type of container do you use?
Dave-
We've been hauling LEGO around since 1995, first for contests, then
commissions, and later for small events around town. In 2001 we started doing
LTC shows and in 2004 we started attending BFs.
Initially we carried fully assembled MOCs on custom bases (wood framed mirrors,
for example). These fit fine in a VW Vanagon and an extra car as needed.
Our family stuff for our first SCLTC shows fit on 30x60 custom tables that we
slid into a custom rack in the van. We could carry up to 6 and at the show we
would just insert legs and bolt the tables together. Very quick and easy and
very fast setup since everything was nearly completely assembled.
Then we made an 8 foot high building for the NAB convention in Las Vegas. That
required taking the tower and top floor top off the MOC and putting the
remainder in a custom crate that cleared the minivan door by 1/4 inch. We got
tired of the effort required to carry and pack the large custom crate, so two
years ago we "fractioned" the building into multiple height levels and now pack
the sections in custom boxes with hand cutouts. Now 1 person can transport and
set up the 8 foot building in minutes instead of requiring 4!
SLCTC shows kept growing. In 2004 we were up to renting 24 foot long trucks for
the trip from Irvine to San Diego (85 miles) and the Orange County Fair. We
built custom crates (inside dimensions 192 studs x 96 studs, 4 feet high, on
casters, with adjustable rails (nearest inch). We pack the loaded tables in
them, mixing and matching heights of the MOCs to get the max per crate and label
the crates with the contents and the grid coordinates in the layout where the
tables belong. Some stuff goes in ordinary boxes (trains, power regualators, and
such) and other in custom containers (a wheeled cart just for poles of the rope
barrier system).
Also, in 2004 we did our first BF. We compacted our twin 192 stud log cable
stayed bridges, wrapped them in bubble wrap, foam blocks, and tape, and put them
in two large duffles. We also borrowed a huge aluminum shell case from work and
put a downize verions of our hotel with working elevators in it using lots of
foam. The baggage checkin person at Alaska Airlines was a LEGO fan and plastered
them with Fragile stickers. We used the combined free baggage allowance of the 4
of us traveling together for all our MOCs. The bridges arrived fairly trashed
while the hotel was unscathed. It took less than 2 hours for the 4 of us to
reassemble everything.
For later BF's, we have flown with a huge roundhouse that we thoroughly
disassembled and carefully packed. It took 4 of us about half a day to
reassemble in DC and 3+ hours to repack to ship back. It traveled well. Wrapping
anything you can tightly in film wrap works much better than wrapping things
loosely in foam.
Last year we got very ambitious: We took a complete (though not large) SCLTC
layout to BF. We convinced two friendly souls to cart the majority of the stuff
for us from Southern California to Portland via train after discovering a loop
hole in the AMTRAK baggage allowance (each person is allowed 3 checked bags at
no charge plus 3 more for $10 each = 12 total for 2 persons where a "bag" is
defined as no bigger than 36" x 36" x 36" -- plug full sized suitcases as carry
on luggage!). We purchased boxes from ULine and packed them carefully with
styrofoam on the bottoms and 4 sides. In the end, AMTRAK trashed some of them
while others arrived unscathed. It took 5 of us more than 1 whole BF day to
rebuild the display from 1000s of pieces, but we were sucessful. We packed
things better still for the trip back and got AMTRAK to put the boxes on pallets
so they could use a forklift rather than kick the boxes around. They arrived
back home in much better shape, except for two damaged tables I have yet to
repair.
Whatever you do, careful planning is important. It's work, but in the end you
get to make other people smile, so it's usually well worth it.
-Ted
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Getting your MOC's to shows?
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| I'm not sure where this should be posted, so I placed it in events, general, and storage. Stacy and I are planning to attend Brickworld and possibly BrickFair this year. We would like to exhibit at both, but this year will be our first time doing (...) (16 years ago, 17-Jan-08, to lugnet.events, lugnet.general, lugnet.storage)
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