NATS

[Koenig, Tom]

Lance.....
Seeing you are in the part time composite 'business', why not make some Nomex ( nest of bees...hehehe) cases? If anyone knows someone in the airline maint business, used 747 floorboards which have had stilleto's puncture the nomex can be made into superb cases. Alfre Pye, one of our W/C team members did exactly that. Very light and very strong...ofcourse getting the floorboards is an issue! A side issue was that he had to paint over the beautiful carbon because the cases would have been stolen for the cases alone- never mind the planes inside!!!

Failing that, 4" sheets of Polystyrene foam can be cut to suit and then glassed on the outside, or simply lined on the outside with 1/8 ply to form the box. Another option is to build a proper roadcase 'ala' musician/instrument style. All the hardware should be readily available in the US (the stuff I buy here is ex US).

I'd pick the floor board option if you can...surley Gray has something lying around, no????

Tom



 -----Original Message-----
From: discussion-request at nsrca.org [mailto:discussion-request at nsrca.org]On Behalf Of Lance Van Nostrand
Sent: Tuesday, 22 February 2005 2:43 PM
To: discussion at nsrca.org
Subject: Re: NATS



Troy,
Do you have a link to instructions for building an appropriately strong box that is light enough not to lighten the wallet?
--Lance


----- Original Message -----
From: Troy A.  <mailto:troy_newman at msn.com> Newman
To: discussion at nsrca.org
Sent: Monday, February 21, 2005 9:14 PM
Subject: Re: NATS

Gordon,

You can ship it to the AMA. I know this has been done before. Just contact them and work out the details. Steve Kaluf has a new helper that is solely in charge of the Nationals. I forget the name just now....but he can "catch" your models and they will be sitting there ready.....

Other options

I flew back to North Carolina a few times before Jenny and I were married. I found an airline that had a direct flight to Charlotte from Denver. I then shipped my model with them Air Cargo. Costs were down and the model would arrive in short order. This was not on my flight but a few days before. I would tell them to hold for pickup on such and such a day. When I arrived we drove around to the Cargo side of the terminal...In this case is was US Airways. Picked up the models and took them to the contest. On return did the same thing and shipped them back....in both cases the models arrived about the time if not before my non-direct flight landed in Denver. SO it was drive to the Cargo area and pick up the package. 

This was perfect and would work for you flying into Indy as you would probably rent a van anyways. Check with the Airline as this was pre-9/11 but they have the details worked out and should get it done for you.

Shipping as Oversized bag was expensive....about $150 per box each way. The Cargo freight rate was about $75-90 for both boxes and was based solely on its weight about 80lbs in wood boxes.

By the way these boxes were way too big for UPS....and FedEx ground was the only other option and was about $200 each way for ground 5 day delivery.

Troy

----- Original Message -----
From: Gordon Anderson <mailto:GAA at owt.com> 
To: discussion at nsrca.org
Sent: Monday, February 21, 2005 8:04 PM
Subject: NATS


I'm thinking about attending the NATS this year. If I do I would like to fly and ship my model. Can anyone tell me their experiences shipping their models? Checking it as baggage on the airplane seems problematic. If I ship it, can I have it held for pick up some place? Are there local hobby shops where I can get fuel and supplies if I need them?

Can you guys give me some advice please? It's a 2200 mile drive so I'm favoring flying.

--Gordon



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