Ok the box arrived yesterday from Modelimex while I was at work. The postman holds the box with the clipboard on top and has my wife sign for the package. Then he removes the clipboard and walks away. My wife looks down at the package and its crushed at one end. She calls to the postman and he just keeps on going.

I took photo-images last night and will post them later. The box was not only crushed at one end but had two punctures on the underside. The good news? The kits were ok. One of the kit boxes was damaged slightly.

So somewhere between Modelimex and Denver Colorado they must use elephants to push packages or have them trained to sit with rubber certified stamps attached to their butts and stamp parcels. This has to be the idea of some eager beaver flunky in an administrative position.

Yep, elephants.

Hello Stephen,

looking athe pictures it looks like it's been shipped through the air. I have been working in the logistics business for many years and I know that what gets shipped by airfreight has a big chance of getting damaged. Its all about getting as much goods into an airfreight container as possible. Unless you make the box very strong with styrofoam inserts it will probably get crushed

Probably the postman got the package already damaged. Since there are many parties involved during airfreight, you cannot really hold anyone liable (unfortunately) unless you have a company like TNT or UPS which have their own completely closed distribution network

Yes I know the feeling of this . I order Special Hobby kit of the Sopwith Schneider . It wasn't pack very well at all , but more or less in a enevlope one side of it was flatten and torn .
Parts did not make it . the top wing was snapped in half ! This was surface mail !
Hard to say who was at fault but , if the hobby shop did a better job on taking care of sending it this could have been avoided . As a collector the kit is useless to me . As a builder the top wing can be repaired . Maybe the elephants are working together on this and sharing notes !

I regularly deal with Colorado Miniature, The red Lanmcer and Military Miniatures Warehouse. The use postal boxes and I've never had any damage to the box or goods. I recently sent a bunch of kits from the club to Heavy Arty (GIno) and he didn;t say there was nay damage.

I also see it came from the Czech Republic, so blaming the USPS as the last carrier is quite unfair. The damage could just as easily have been done at the first drop off point.

PS You might want to go and black out your address on the picture.

I have had things smashed and basically used in some sort of game. but the stuff inside has usually come through fine, only once was it scattered in the containing box from its own box. If I have my choice though I prefer it to come via Fedx... BTW love the Macchi

Hi Stephen,
The model looks good, luckily its box wasn't damaged!
Could you post some pics of the parts/decals? I'm curious about the Austro-Hungarian insigna
Have a great week,
Riccardo

Greetings Riccardo, See it here.

I must have had over a hundred kits delivered in the last few years (!) and no problems yet, touch wood. Even the PzH 2000 that looked as if the postman had tried to stuff it through the letterbox was fine. But there will come a time, I guess ...

It's like the old joke. You send a stiff envelope with "Photographs - do not bend" written on it, and the postman says "oh yes they do" ...