I probably should have been a little more serious with my last post; sorry.
Some years ago I got hired by the Coast Guard Museum, in Connecticut, to do some conservation work on some of its ship models. The CG hired a professional art-handling firm to transport the models from Connecticut to North Carolina.
Those guys really knew what they were doing. The models ranged from a training model of a surfboat to a WWII destroyer escort to a fully-rigged two-masted topsail schooner. The handlers started out by building a cardboard carton for each model, sizing the box so there was about half an inch to spare all around. Then they cut some small slots in the base of the carton. The key to the system was a series of flexible plastic straps (such as can be bought from sewing supply stores - as I found out when I had to ship the models back), with simple metal buckles. Each model got a pair of straps, running through the slots in the bottom of the carton and around the model's baseboard (or, if it didn't have one, over the deck of the model itself - paying due heed to any projecting details). The straps were then heaved taut and held in place with the buckles, and the top of the carton was sealed up.
The next step was to build a second cardboard box - this one about four inches bigger in all dimensions than the first one. They dumped some plastic peanuts into the bottom of the bigger box, set the smaller box inside on top of the peanuts, poured more peanuts into the space between the boxes, and sealed the top of the big box. (Note: no peanuts around the model. The air inside the inner box, the straps holding the model down, and the layer of peanuts between the boxes were considered to provide adequate protection.) The models all arrived at my house in fine shape; the biggest problem with the system, from my standpoint, was finding somewhere in the house to keep all those blasted boxes till I was done working on the models - and then lining up a CG van to take them back to Connecticut.
That's the most efficient system for transporting finished ship models that I've encountered. My number one suggestion, though, is to follow the advice I got from the registrar of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. When asked how to prepare Donald McNarry's model of the U.S.S. Constitution (a masterpiece if there ever was one) for transport between DC and Tidewater Virginia, the registrar's response was: "My first suggestion is - don't."
Youth, talent, hard work, and enthusiasm are no match for old age and treachery.