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 xray for my box to come out and it never did. I told the agent who grabbed a pole with a hook on the end that my item was “extremely fragile, please be careful”. He grumbled something, never really acknowledging me. By the time it came out of the machine, it was irreparably beat up.

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I’m guessing that the heavy lead curtain that is inside the machine (beyond the rubber curtains you can see from the outside) caught this relatively light box and pulled it up out of the bin, thus wedging it into the machine at a 45 degree angle. Then the TSA agent just started poking at it, despite my repeated warnings of fragility.

I had made the box out of gatorboard to ensure it was light enough to carry all day and to not be so heavy it smacked repeatedly against my leg as I walked, shaking up the model. But that was probably the downfall. Too light. Oh, and the idiot agents not saying those two beautiful words: Hand Check.

I had set aside enough time to take the box back to the car if I had troubles getting it through security. So I took the whole thing, TSA bin included, back to my truck and left it until I could have it picked up so it wasn’t sitting in the Texas 100 degree heat.

On the way to Rocky Mountain Hobby Expo, Matt McDougall made an offhanded comment that set me on the road to recovery: “Well, you have an FDM printer now… you can just print off whatever’s broken”.

Cylon Raider Diorama Mk. 2

I spent last week after returning home building a base and back wall in Fusion and modifying the existing parts I’d already 3D modeled to fit. I also made several test prints to see if this plan would work. And.. success! It looks great!

Fortunately, the damage was contained only to the base. The figures, ship, and accessories are all basically fine. Hopefully they stay that way as I try to pry off everything. Using the busted base as a template made the CAD work much faster.

Despite a significant desire to completely rework the entire diorama, I’m doing my best to simply recreate as originally designed. It’ll turn out much better than the foam construction just because of how tight the tolerances will be vs. foam construction.

Stay tuned, and remember to get a hand check!~