I am retired Navy and want to thin my to do list of models by donating them to the troops overseas. I have five boxes ready to ship. But I need some addresses to ship them to! I still have more models to box up and ship. All together it’s 30 kits, a mix of aircraft, with some cars, military vehicles, and ships. Any help will be greatly appreciated. If you have any questions you can e-mail me at scorpr2@yahoo.com.
Thanks,
William
IPMS USA has a collection of addresses for troops overseas. Not all are in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Go to their web page http://www.ipmsusa.org/ and click on the link to Support The Troops.
Cheers,
Bill
Thanks for the ipms link. I got the address I need. The P.O.C. is now a central location you can ship stuff to and he distributes it to all of the clubs. I’m going to start mailing boxes tomorrow. Again, thanks a lot!
William
No problem, I am only too glad to help. I’ve sent a complete of boxes myself!
scorpr2 - study up on how to fill out the customs forms before you start shipping stuff. From the US, I’ve found that it’s best to get some of the big white customs forms from the Post Office and fill them out in advance, and then breeze in there like it’s old hat and you know what you’re doing. Otherwise the clerks are going to get nervous and your carefully packaged care package may get deconstructed right there at the Post Office, to your dismay and the anger of all the people stuck in line behind you [:O]
mfsob- thanks for the info. I called the USPS 800 number to get them to send me some of those free boxes for the troops and they sent all of the paperwork with them. But I made it easy on myself by not sending glue or paint. We shipped 4 boxes out the other day. And I hope to ship a few more next week.
You can send glue, just make sure it’s CA (Super) glue. I have sent acrylic paints and, to date, have not had anything returned to me, and as far as I know everything arrived intact. I think the key is being vague on the manifest, hence the “model kits and supplies” instead of “model kits, glue, paints,” which might provoke all kinds of unnecessary responses.
One thing I try to do, since I’m never entirely sure where the boxes will end up, is send enough supplies with each group of kits so that they could be built with just what’s in that box. Every box has some kits, glue, paints, brushes, sanding sticks, etc.
I’ve sent boxes of paints over seas to the troops with no problems. I sent MM enamels and got a reply of thanks from a club over there. Just be smart about it. Wrap the smaller box’s or individual bottles in plastic bags and tape them up with electrical tape. And what mfsob said, be vague in your descriptions. Call them “model parts and supplies” If a value is declared, keep it under $50 and ALWAYS mark it as “gift” This keeps Customs happy as they know you weren’t paid for them. Some have even gone as far as marking the box with “Donations for Our Troops” in hopes it gets expidited.