Nas19320

What is the best way to ship a plane? The biggest will be a .46 U CAN DO 3D. I'm mainly concerned about the tails of the planes. Just looking for some options before I try to just sell local. Thanks.

GarySS

My Feedback: (13)

Chop the tails off, and cut the wings in half................[&o] actually it is just about impossible to ship a fully assembled plane larger than a .25-.30 size without a severe cost. Maybe the bus system if you crate it up in a solid box. Or do you know a Trucker that goes close to the destination?

I just paid $57 shipping cost for a kit where the box exceeded 60 inches by just a few inches. THis is the world we live in today.

rambler53

My Feedback: (494)

Gee I don't know, I've shipped maybe 100+ planes using cardboard sheets I shape into boxes that hold the planes, and loved Greyhound each and every time. My buyers do too, so they said in their comments. QPAC charges $8 for 2 sheets, one is the lid. I use foam filler I get free from a used electronics supply store in the next town, and never needed to crate (wood) anything for safe shipping. I never had to file a claim for any damage, and ship TWO planes a box sometimes even THREE. You can get boxes from furniture stores, plumbing installation stores that sell hot water heaters, and similar sources.

It's $57 insured for planes under 64" in length, I add for the $8 cardboard in my shipping rate, over 64" add $10 more, over 74" add yet another $10 surcharge for the length. Anything greyhound takes can be 24" X 36" X 80", if you have a box (fixed wing profile planes) 40" X 50" X 50" they will take that too. Shipping times are the same as UPS ground, with excellent handling and the same rate anywhere from WA to FL. It's really much lower if you ship within state too.

If you used UPS it would exceed $120 for the same $60 rate, and they'll bash it much faster for the premium and fight you for a claim. All things considered, Greyhound is not so bad a rate by today's standards, even using a simple box as shown. Boxing up a plane takes a big roll of packing tape, and about 1 hour labor for your first try.

Make sure you have a few inches around the rudder area, take the props off, wrap extra foam sheeting or bubble wrap around the engine so the crank doesn't pop a hole out of the box, and sometimes I double layer the end of the box where the rudder is, making it stronger from crushing. Remove landing gears so they don't dent and crack the wing or it's covering. Just some common sense is all that is required.