AFOL transport box

During our experience of transporting large scale creations in foreign countries, we developed AFOL boxes

base are 48x48 (or 32x32) plus few mm. For 48x48: 10, 20 and 60cm height. For 32x32: 30 cm height (ideal for modulars)

They are stackable and durable. No marks, so you can write on them

They open on the side, so it is easy to take creations in and out

One side should be closed with silver ducktape (durable) other with scotch tape - easy to open (using scalpel) and close (another layer of scotch tape)

This is the cheapest and most practical solution you have for storage and transport of mocs

The price you will pay is the price we pay at factory that custom produces them for us, but, for comparison: 20EUR for qty:50 48x48 x 10cm (give or take few EUR). Even for our standard, extremely cheap.

Regarding boxeshere are few pictures, of few that are in my studio literary - sorry for the mobile quality of pictures. And the mess, I am building ;)

First thing - they are very cheap

Second, cardboard is 5 layers tick, so they are very sturdy - look how I stack them to the ceiling

Third, they are stackable, 48x48 base (0.4m x 0.4m) and height of 10, 20 and 60 cm for 32x32 base, height is 30 cm

How we use them - they are delivered to us flat, here is the picture. We can literary put them anywhere, and they take little space. We close one side with silver tape (very strong and cheap, I think 50m is 4e)

Opening is on the side, so we can take the whole baseplate in and out easily (if it was on the top it would be hard to put it in because of the fingers, hands etc)

We close it with normal scotch tape - when we open, we use scalpel to cut normal scotch tape. - the scotch tape piles up, but you need to use it 10 - 15 times before it make a problem, and then we just peal it off - the box almost do not get damaged

I personally have boxes that I used more then 50 times

When they get damaged?

When we are taking stuff out of van during rain or snow. Putting very heavy stuff on it can crush the box - good thing is, when the box is crushed, you can just replace that one

Our breaking rate was 80% before we started using them. Now it is 0.5%

In our club storage area we have plywood open closets with 60 (+1) cm between shelves and 80 (+1, for fingers) cm wide (i.e. two boxes can stand near eachother)

Because of the measurements (10, 20 and 60 cm) we can stack them mixed I only have few of them in my studio, and it is a mess. I use marker to write on plywood what is on the shelves. It is easy to remove marker with oil based cleaner

note: I use same marker for cardboard boxes, but it can;t be removed - how cheap they are, it is not an issue

Our standard to-go box is 48x48 20 cm high. Everyone in club plans accordingly. We usually mix - baseplate with relief and, for example, house foundation in 48x48 20cm, and rest of tall house in 32x32 30cm tall When we setup, we usually add tall towers etc by hand - we make creations modular, and they are easy to transport, taking very little place

This is what's curently on my table - my part of big colab diorama - 4 48x48, made modular, 2 are less then 20 cm high, two are less then 60 cm high, with extra tower that goes in 32x32 box - trees are all with pins, so they never fall, branches all have extra plates, so they also never break.

We have a rule: if it is not in the box, it will not go to the event

If it helps, we keep other bricks in Curver "unbreakable" boxes, price was 20e per piece. It is amazing how much wigth they can take, as we stack them to the celling. We use white oil base marker to write on them (I do, my guys put stickers on theirs, but marker is better solution for me)

Also, the firm we are ordering AFOL boxes from has a lot of other extra offerings, like printings on the box, etc - but we don't use it, we use marker to write on the box. If you are interested, I can ask for price - or, I can connect you with them, so you can do all the talking, how ever you prefer

Our van has special shelves in it that are customized for this boxes.

We are transporting 200 m2 events all over Europe, and only time we have breaks are when handling boxes from the van to the exhibiting area

With this system and planned building (when we start building we plan for shipping and setting up also), today we can set up 350 m2 exhibit, 8 of us in 8 hours, including Play tables, workshops, banners and all

I strongly recommend using (any) boxes and the rule "if it is not in the box, it stays at home"

Ivan Angeli