PSA: Traveling with models and asking for a hand check
I'm going to put this right up front in this post: If you're flying with fragile items (like a scale model) and have to pass through a TSA checkpoint ASK FOR A HAND CHECK. Do not, I repeat, do not try to put it through the metal detector. I learned this lesson the (very) hard way on my way to the Rocky Mountain Hobby Expo. After telling 3 different TSA agents that the box I had with me (marked with multiple "fragile" red stickers) was incredibly fragile, not one offered for me to get this "hand check", wherein the TSA agent wouldn't put my box through the metal detector and would inspect it by hand. Instead, they all grumpily pushed me to stick the box in a bin and shove it through the xray. My spidey sense was tingling, but I pushed ahead. I waited on the other side of the [...]