Packaging REALLY fragile items

[Siye]

Now I've had my share of packaging really items in the mail, but nothing extremely fragile.

I'm puzzled, and would very much like to know HOW I can ship a very fragile cold cast statue without it breaking in the mail.
It has its original box (with the cutouts in the styrofoam) and stuff in the box too, but I'm wondering if I can add anymore protection inside to prevent breakage.
There's alot of free flying slender pieces so damage and snapping can be very easy.

I plan on insulating the retail box with styrofoam peanuts in a larger box, but I'm wondering if there is anything else i can do.

Thanks

[MrDisco]

double boxing and packing insulation between the two boxes is pretty much all you can practically do. if you have at least 3" all around that should be quite secure.

[Siye]

Ah so i guess nothing inside, eh? I wanna put some additional padding in but I'm afraid too much pressure can snap the pieces too... I wonder if I should crumble some Styrofoam too. I knwo this seems paranoid but it's a really important piece to me.

[Onegai]

So long as the pieces aren't moving about in the box it should be ok.

[jkno]

So long as the pieces aren't moving about in the box it should be ok.

You said the magic words! The original styrofoam has to be packed exactly as it was when you received it from factory. It's very important to protect the resin/cold cast statues because they are extremely fragile. I always take pictures of the statues in the original box when I'm receiving them, thus when need to put them back in box (I intend to move soon) I can do it easily.

I'll show you what happened with one o the statues I received last year. I bought a 12" Gentle Giant Darth Vader ROTS resin statue, but the seller didn't use tape on the 2 parts of the styrofoam box and the statue moved inside the box and thus parts and paint were chipped as you can see in the pics below. At least I got my money back and bought another one which was flawless.

[Siye]

Wow, thanks alot for the details and pics.

I know this is really newbie, but fitting the parts all back in properly into the styrofoam casing is a problem for me.
The pieces seem to be a little off, but taking a photo when it's freshly unsealed is really a simple/great idea.
I feel pretty dumb for not thinking of it sooner, thanks!

I have a question though, would it be wise to secure the figure even more with some tape and maybe some tin cut pieces of that spongy packing material (it's wrapped around fruits alot)?

Thanks!

[jkno]

Wow, thanks alot for the details and pics.

I know this is really newbie, but fitting the parts all back in properly into the styrofoam casing is a problem for me.
The pieces seem to be a little off, but taking a photo when it's freshly unsealed is really a simple/great idea.
I feel pretty dumb for not thinking of it sooner, thanks!

The pics above show the difference between the damaged and perfect condition statue of Vader. Also they were used to show the seller the damage on the statue. But I always take photos of the figure/statue/prop/replica etc. when removing it from box, especially if later I'd need to put it back in the original box. Some items like Sideshow's Premium Format General Grievous statue really need to know how to put back in box because they are super-fragile.

I have a question though, would it be wise to secure the figure even more with some tape and maybe some tin cut pieces of that spongy packing material (it's wrapped around fruits alot)?

Thanks!

As for using these things I'm not sure. The best way to ship a statue is in its own box which was measured and made especially for it. There was guy on a Star Wars forum trying to sell his Master Replicas AT-AT for an excellent price, the only problem was that he didn't have the original box. No one wanted to risk the shipping of that studio scale replica so he decided to sell it locally with pick-up.

[Siye]

Yeah I see the damage done to Vader, kinda surprised that would happen. Really puzzled about the base though, the paint looks like it was chemically thinned off or something.

I'm not fearing the damage to the paint but pieces snapping off. It's Epoch's 1/8 Vash from Trigun and his coat tails make me REALLY squimish.
Sorry I didn't take pictures, but I decided to cut up strips of foamy styrofoam-like wrap and further reinforce the parts... kinda like seatbelts. Sorry, I'm terrible with descriptions sometimes. The statue has been safely sandwiched between the two sides of the original styrofoam box so it should be okay. If it closed without difficulty, I'm guessing the added strips fit alright and don't add unnecessary stress. Everything is taped up and ready to go... I just hope it can travel without getting damaged.

Thank you for the help!