Thanks for the great response, I'll contact you guys when I roll in.
Is there a place to buy a Flite Streak ARF in the area? I checked and it will cost almost as much to ship mine Fed-Ex as it would buy one from Tower. I can put an engine / lines etc in my luggage, but the FS box is considered oversize for carry-on, and I wouldn't give it a 25% chance of survival if I tried to check it as luggage, not to mention the 25$ for a 2nd piece of luggage.
I want to put one together and drive down to the contest, in any case I will be at the contest- plane or no plane.
Oh yeah- the plane ( if it survives the month) will have to stay behind- a donation for teaching new comers.