taqrc123

Hi all, I want to build a crate (box) to carry a .46 sized plane in it. I want this box to be tied on my vehicle's roof rack. Any suggestion regarding design and material, specially if someone has done it before ?... Thanks in advance for all your suggestion

AwwNaww

It might be easier, to buy a commercial roof luggage carrier and fabricate some polyfoam inserts that would hold the wing separate from the fuselage. I would be concerned about heat, however. I think anything on top of a car could turn into an oven.

taqrc123

Thank for the response.

Ready made roof top boxes are not available here around me, thats why i wnat to build one myself. Still waiting for some design/material suggestions

jester_s1

Well for a home built box unless you would want to build a foam plug and glass it your only option is plywood. I'd build it with a sloping front so you aren't pushing a flat surface through the wind and with a PVC rack inside to hold everything secure. It's not going to be convenient whatever you do, and it's going to be ugly. If you plan to get more planes soon you might consider getting a small trailer and having a hitch put on your car.

da Rock

Strength, insulation and light weight.....

I've built such with door plywood and rigid foam insulation. Never thought about making an automobile roof box, but it'd be fairly simple to do.

Home improvement places sell 4x8' sheets of solid foam insulation of different thicknesses. It's usually either blue or pink. They also sell 4x8' sheet plywood about 1/8" thick. If you glue one to the other, you wind up with sheets that can be used to make lots of things that need to be strong on the outside and more rigid than either of the two components.

Build your box with the ply on the outside and paint the sucker with decent paint.

The foam is also used to make interior supports that do 2 things. They strengthen the structure of the box itself as internal bulkheads, and when the bulkheads are cut out to hold the fuselage, wings etc so they don't rattle about, they've improved the box those two ways.

Need ideas how to carry the airplane parts securely inside the box? Next time you open an ARF, look at how it was packaged. Foam insulation can do it all.

Here is a picture of the foam scraps from a project used to make a couple of custom stands for one of my models.

Edwin

My Feedback: (2)

I would use 1/4 luann wood from the hardware store using 1x2 for the frame. I've used 1x2 for a frame and card board stapled in for a box shipped by grey hound, but I dont think that would work on a roof top. 1/4" luann comes in 4x8 sheets and is also called floor underlayment.
Edwin

atron

Homemade field or table top craddle.