Shipping help?

[peabody]

Ward's son lives in Tucson....he is not involved in control line, or any airmodeling.
He has requested Ward's El Diablo...
I have found a box that the El D will fit into so that it may be shipped Fed Ex....the issue is the landing gear....it makes the plane too "tall" for the box.
Investigating, the gear is pretty much and integral part of the fuselage and not easily removed....major surgery appears necessary.

My thought is that, since it will be a display only piece more than likely, should I cut the gear (wire), leaving stubs?

If, by a stretch, he decided to fly it, a competent modeler could reattach the gear, albeit at a weight penalty.

Or would that be sacrilegious?

Buying a mattress box and shipping it on the dog would be WAY pricey....

Thanks

[Ron Cribbs]

I don't think cutting the gear would be a big deal. Or you could bend the gear upwards and just have Wards son straighten them out. Personally I would cut them and just provide copper sleeves to the recipient so they could be soldered back on.

If you could find enough willing fellows modelers, you might could do a cross country relay. Heck, I wouldn't mind driving to NM to pass it to the next guy. It could even travel contest to contest across the US.

[Jim Mynes]

It needs a wooden box.

Putting it in a cardboard box of any kind will be a death sentence for El Diablo. It will get crushed beneath the box of bowling balls that gets stacked on it.

I've heard the wooden crate, properly braced and cribbed, sent via Greyhound bus is the best way to send a model.

[Dane Martin]

I've successfully sent models via Greyhound. Way cheaper for big boxes. I've sent mine in cardboard mirror boxes from uhaul.  But! , I make little spiral columns out of card board that hold the box up in all the space inside the box. They are much more gentle on greyhound because it goes on one bus. The mail or ups is transferred around countless times