I have a diorama that I am shipping to a friend, I have never done this before so I am nervouse of how to pack it safely. It has some delicate trees and structures--should I use easter grass or something soft to pack around it, or secure it to a base and make a wood frame around the top of it? Does anyone have any ideas, have you ever packed or recieved a diorama? Please help me out. Thanks gdog

I have shipped them before and move them every couple years since I am in the military. Here is what I do. Get a box slightly larger than the dio. Get some styrofaom, like computers, electronics, TVs, etc. come packed in. Line the bottom of the box with a thin layer first. The key is to keep the dio from moving around. Lock the dio in place with pieces of foam so it does not shake around in the box. To keep it from crushing, you can either use foam or papertowel/toiletpaper rolls to hold the box top up and lock it in the box. A final precaution is to get another box a size or so larger than the first one and line it with foam peanuts, place the first box in, then fill the voids around it with more peanuts. The inner box should be completely surrounded by peanuts and not touching the outer box. Make sure you cover it with Fragile, This Side UP (with arrows) and Do Not Crush labels/writing. Also, by mailing express or Priority mail, you lessen the chance of damage since it has less time in the system to get thrown around. Following the above procedures should get it there just fine. I have mailed a dio from Korea to Oklahoma with no damage using the above techniques. Good luck.

Gino's method is much like mine, the trick is to stop the dio/base from moving around. I take it that you mean diorama as in a scene on a base?
Another thing to mention, although it may seem obvious, is to use the strongest cardboard box you can find. I get mine (free ) from local shops, as they always have all the boxes in which they receive their shipments. This is also a good place to look for filling (like the 'peanuts Gino mentioned) as this is waste material for the shops, and they would throw it away anyway. I check regularly and grab the thickest, sturdiest ones they have. So far ( knock on wood) all I've send has arrived safely.

Cheers
Henk