I was wondering how you guys transport your aircraft. I am going to use my Nissan X-terra. What i would like is suggestions on keeping it safe. Where can i buy a wing bag and if they make them a padded bag for the fuselage. I have alot of money tied up in my YA cap 232 and need to know it is going to be safe. 57" wingspan on cap and a 68" winspan on my extra 300?

Common practice it to just lay things as neetly as possible onthe back seat and floorboard of the family sedan... sometimes tuccing it in with blankets or towels to add some padding and keep any fuel dtippings out of the upholstery and carpet.

You can make "wing bags" from cheap quilting material and even make a cover for the fuselage and tailplanes. Thes do help reduce the amount of dents and scuffs the airplane gets. They are generally not used until you get a higher value aircraft though.

You can make a rack for the aircraft out of PVC pipe with the formed foam insulation to act as padding. this type setup is commonly used for transporting odels in the back of a pickup that has a topper or tonoue (sp?) cover.

I have been known to stick the assembled model in the back of my minvan... and toss in a cardboard box (empty) to keep the thing from rolling around.

Basicly... anything that keeps the plane from bouncing around and getting squashed will work fine.

If I were you, I would buy some 3/4 or 1 inch PVC pipe, some fittings, and turn on the creative side of the brain. I made one that was basically two X's about 36" apart to cradle the fusilage keeping it off the landing gear. I don't have an XTerra but you can probably put a length of PVC between the sides of the cargo area and let the wing lie on the PVC rack and hang over the back seat. I hope that makes sense.

I just recently bought a Ford E-350 15 passenger van, removed 3 bench seats, and am getting ready to design a two tierd rack system for it. In the end, I should have enough room for a couple of 82" long fusilages setting of the floor and still have seating for 6.

Financing and credit debt ROCKS!

I guy a work with actually uses tension rods (like the kind you use to hang shower curtains) to transport the wings and leaves the fuses in the bed of his SUV. It's a pretty nifty idea.

-Matt

I store and transport my planes like this. Racks come apart.

Wow that's a pretty space saving creative way to go about it. Thnx for the idea

Load them up the best you can! Two Trainers, One Slowstick, Three gallons of fuel, Three transmitters, Flight box, Two kiddy chairs, Two Adult chairs, Horse shoe game, Two kids and me! 97' Chevy Venture WORKS FOR ME!

Belive it or not this is how my van looks ALL SUMMER!

I guess that would work[X(] But i value my aircraft greatly. Spent a lot of cashola and time as everyone knows this hobbie isn't cheap. I could never bring myself to pack my babies like that .

Not a scratch or dent anywhere! If you don't bring it you can't fly it!

nbcguy

See if you can get in touch with Tmoth4. He has an older van that he did the same thing to so he could carry his planes. Maybe he can give you a few pointers. He currently has a thread going in Warbirds and Warplanes about his Don Smith ME 110 build. I have seen him pack up to three different planes in there, from mono to bipe.

Larry

Roger that. LOL i guess if ya pack it in enough stuff in there tight enough it is not going antwheres is it ? lol

I have an F150 and use 2 methods for transport of my trainer and big stick. Method one: Plane is fully assembled and I have 2 straps that I stapled together to form a loop that fits over the wing with about 3 inches of slack. I loop each of these over the wingtips and then run a shower curtain rod through the loops. The
shower rod is now parallel and over the wing but through the loops at this point. The rod goes between the side walls of the bed of the pickup and then I put some plastic clamps over the rod to pinch the loops. The plane can't move and I go 75 mph on the interstate, 2 exits to my club. Never lost a plane yet.

Method two: Both my planes have nose wheel steering, so I took a piece of plywood and cut it so that it will fit between the sidewalls of my F150. That's the length
dimension, the width is about 4 feet. I placed the plane on the plywood ( in the middle ) and marked where all of the wheels were. Then I cut some 1 inch X 1.5 inch
pieces of wood to form little rectangles that the wheels can fit into and screwed them into the plywood. Now place the plane such that the wheels are in the rectangles, now it won't roll forward or backward. I then screwed a couple of small eyelets into the plywood a few inches on either side of the plane and got some of those small bunji cords and attached one to the eyelet, over the fuse and to the other eyelet. Do this for front fuse and mid fuse and now the plane will not lift off either. I even took it a step further and framed out of the same wood ( 1inch X 1.5 inch) a place on the plywood to accommodate my flightbox as well. Since this is kinda heavy, it acts to hold down the plywood as well.