Car choice for model airplanes

[proparc]

Do any of our members drive cars as opposed to SUV’s and trucks and is so, how do you get your planes in them.  A lot of modern passenger cars don’t have fold down rear seats, (only a small pass thru) to structurally stiffen the rear of the car. What solutions have you come up?

[Tim Wescott]

I can fit a 690 square inch Atlantis (basically a full sized Impact) into the back seat of a 2007 Ford Focus.  It's a monkey puzzle the first few times.  It goes in with the outside wing in the driver's side rear footwell, with the wings angled up, spinner resting on my tool kit which is in the passenger's side footwell, and wheels pointed toward the front of the car.

It was scary the first few times I did it, because it's easier to get in than to get out.

[Brett Buck]

Do any of our members drive cars as opposed to SUV’s and trucks and is so, how do you get your planes in them.  A lot of modern passenger cars don’t have fold down rear seats, (only a small pass thru) to structurally stiffen the rear of the car. What solutions have you come up?

   You won't like this but - mini-vans, specifically, the Dodge, Toyota, or Honda mini-vans. SUVs have very poor usable space for their size and most conventional cars (soon to mostly be discontinued) can work but only with extreme gyrations.

     Brett

[Dave_Trible]

Rule 1 is always go car shopping with your airplane!   I can get one full size 700 sq. airplane in the back seat of my old Pontiac Grand Am and have travelled to the Nats several times in it.  Couldn’t get an extra bar of soap in the car when ready to travel.  I still use it for practice ( and work) most of the time. I now have an Equinox SUV for Nats travel.  With two airplanes in it I still find no room for the extra bar of soap.  Don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t travel alone.  Likely pull a trailer.  I had a Camaro convertable about a decade ago.  Always had to put the top down to load or unload an airplane. 


Dave

[proparc]

Nats travel is what I have in mind. The Germans,(Mercedes) started reinforcing the rear of their cars with circular structural members which eliminated the use of fold down rear seats. Lexus and other luxury makes starting following suit. All there is, is just a small "ski or golf club" pass thru. I guess that's all wealthy people need lol.

[Tom Vieira]

I have a GTI, and it can fit a ringmaster, flight streak, and stiletto.  it was spooky as I hadn't planned on picking up the stiletto and the ringmaster.  but all 3 made it home ok!  it'll also fit my niece and nephew, a profile nobler, a streak, and an RST without much issue.

I really need to make a carrier for the back....

[Tim Wescott]

I'm happy with the contortions to get a plane into the back of my Ford for practice, and I have a '69 Chevy pick-em-up that's good to go to the Regionals with two or three planes.  For Nats travel I'm either going to have to bite the bullet and get a minivan, or get a trailer (with whatever extra hassle one incurs at hotels), or only go with one plane.

A Sig Twister will fit in the trunk of a Ford Focus, or a Toyota Camry.  I suspect a Nobler would, too (I should try -- I have a Blue Box Nobler that I have yet to stomp & toss).  That would let me take two planes on a long trip, but not three.  I think you could get two planes into a Subaru Outback, although I'd have to try.  Tom Brightbill drives a 200<something> Focus wagon, and can get three in the back, in a pinch, with a duffle bag and his modeling supplies.

[Perry Rose]

I have a Hyundai Elantra and with the back seat out I can fit 4 Legacy 40 size planes in the back seat area. The cushion pops out and the seat backs are held in with two bolts.  In the extreme I put 8 Legacy 40 size planes in the bed of my 04 Ram 2500 with only a tonneau cover and not a cap and one behind the seat.

[SteveMoon]

Wagon! I drive a BMW 5 series wagon. Great car and no trouble fitting
my plane in the back. The best of both worlds. My girlfriend recently
bought a brand new Buick Regal Tour X wagon. We both love her new
car. Drives great and has the convenience of a lift gate.

Steve

[Chris McMillin]

Here is how we used to do it, Milt but I'm no help now I have a Chevy van.
Chris...

[Walter Hicks]

Prius , tons of room

[Tony Drago]

Take the plane to the dealer ship. See which car it fits to your liking.

[Tim Wescott]

Take the plane to the dealer ship. See which car it fits to your liking.

When I bought the Focus I brought a really crude mock-up of a Legacy made out of 2" thick insulation foam, MDF, and hot glue.  It was ugly as hell, but if some dips**t broke it I wasn't going to cry.

[Dennis Nunes]

Warning – “Do not attempt this at home…” as the disclaimer goes. 

I have a 2013 Kia Optima 4-door sedan. I have squeezed in 4 planes into the back seat. This included a 42” Flite Streak, 48” profile stunt ship, 56” profile stunt ship and a 61” full-size stunt ship. Though the rear seats fold down, I could not use this feature as it used up too much space. The remainder of my equipment, luggage, ice chest, etc. went in the trunk. The next time I do this I need to take a picture!

However, to accomplish this, required all the planes to have removable landing gear and tail wheels, the props and mufflers must be removed. Each plane was protected with layers of foam sheets cut from an inexpensive foam mattress topper. The biggest downside is that it takes a considerable amount time to pack and unpack everything.

But you do what you have to do when you don’t have a minivan or SUV. A minivan sure would make thing a lot easier especially when traveling hundreds (or thousands) of miles to and from various contests.

This is not the ideal condition for traveling. Can it be done? Yes!

BTW, my other vehicle is a Honda Civic and I wouldn’t attempt this at all. 

Dennis

[Will Hinton]

I used my Honda CRX for 10 years for practice field transportation; only hauled one 670 sq. ship, but I have a 2008 Chevy Uplander van any more.  I fail to understand the hang up many have about owning a van - should not common sense prevail when it comes to protecting an expensive airplane?

[Gary Dowler]

I've fit two midsize planes (45" wing) into our Forester, with room for gear and a 1/2A.  Our newer 2016 is roomier yet. Will see how it goes with bigger planes this spring.

Gary

[Norm Furutani]

Honda Civic Hatchback - fold down rear seat, full hatch rear door. https://automobiles.honda.com/civic-hatchback# You can even get it in the Type R, package, 300+ HP!

I think there are hatchbacks in other brands, too.

Norm

[Steve Thompson]

Any Pickup with a bed cover or canopy.

or

If you do it TED Bundy style and take out the passenger seat, a full fuse Exi/Imitation will fit in a VW Beetle.

[Cody bishop]

I use a GMC Terrain stunt 15 planes with no field boxes about 7 with field boxes (or 10 combat planes) both have two people in the suv with this

[bob whitney]

my side kick has a full size Dodge van that we use to go to Brodaks ,we built a 3 ft wide table that go's behind the front seats 2 perkys ,2 speed ships and a 1/2 A scale, and a clown go on top .most of our flight gear go's under it .we built a rack sort of like Allen B used to have ,we can get 6 full size stunt ships and a fox racer in it.standing on end sideways with the gear off of most of them  .seems like we always need the first one that we put in

[Brian Hampton]

Here is how we used to do it,

Triumph TR2/3A?
Here's how I did it with my Jensen Interceptor. I took it out for a trial run (empty) at 100mph with no problems even with the buffeting from a semi truck going the other way. Nowadays I have a Mitsubishi Magna wagon. My other car is a Mazda MX-5 (Miata to you guys) which can hold maybe 2 chuck gliders if I pack them carefully .

[Dennis Toth]

I've had a Honda CRV for several years, with the rear seats down I can fit 3 ships in the back on a rack. But it is a little shoe horning getting them all in. I was wondering if anyone has done something with a med size pickup? It would be interesting to see how people keep ships in the bed of the pickup without a having a full walk-in top?

Best,   DennisT

[Crist Rigotti]

Honda Odyssey.

[proparc]

Here is how we used to do it, Milt but I'm no help now I have a Chevy van.
Chris...

Man oh man, cuddling that Magician-the good old days!!

[proparc]

I've fit two midsize planes (45" wing) into our Forester, with room for gear and a 1/2A.  Our newer 2016 is roomier yet. Will see how it goes with bigger planes this spring.

Gary

Test drove a manual transmission Forester. That is as good as it gets!!!

[Mike Haverly]

Pace Arrow motorhome.  Works great!

[Peter in Fairfax, VA]

That rack that DennisT shows looks like a nice setup that would be great for either my Honda Pilot or Toyota Prius, or even by 5'x10' enclosed cargo trailer.  Several questions follow.  More photos or even plans might be nice.

The rack uprights look like 1x3 wood.  The feet look to be the same, joined with perhaps a couple of bolts.  However, how is the spreader bar attached?  Like the "tongs" of the rack, especially the angle of them.  However, what type of materiel is used for the tongs?  Perhaps 1x2, or even broomstick dowels?  I guess PVC pipe is an option.  Is the raclk secured to the vehicle?  Is the same rack used to store the planes at home?

What is a good way to store planes vertically?  At present, I use a small cardboard moving box for each plane with wheels, 16x12x12, then cut a pair of wide slots to fit the wing.  I'm wondering two things: Is there a better rack that sits on the floor?  If you want to hang planes from above, how would that work?

thanks,

Peter

[James Holford]

Driving a 2017 Dodge Journey SXT.

 2 rows of seats fold down flat.

Not a whole lot of room. More than enough for a twister and Ringmaster to sit comfortable with my 3 tier field box.

 Yet to come up with a rack that way I dont have to stack planes on each other.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

[Dennis Toth]

Peter,
I will take some pictures and open a new thread "Plane Carrier". The wood is simple 3/4x3 pine, bracket arms are standard shelfing arms with track to adjust the height. They are covered with simple pipe insulation. The whole unit is angled so the ships face the main supports by ajusting the legs at the end of the support legs. This keeps the ships from sliding off the brackets. Whole thing is bolted together, could be disassembled into about 6 parts.

Best,   DennisT

[Mike Haverly]

LL~A Prius isn't a car

.                                                                                                                                                                 
    Don't tell Howard, he has two of them!

[Carl Cisneros]

I use my 2004 Chevy blazer with the rear seats folded down flat.
works a charm.

[Glen Wearden]

No one has mentioned the "YUGO".
Glen

[Tom Vieira]

my girl has a 75 AMC Hornet hatchback that'll probably make the trip to NATS with me.  Goofball of a car that is, someone in the distant past swapped out the straight 6 it shipped with for a Mercedes 4cyl diesel....!

but with fresh brakes and suspension, AM radio, it should be a fun ride out to Muncie!  and TONS of room!

[rich gorrill]

I have a 2017 ford fusion with fold down rear seats, can get three planes in if I do it right.

[Jim Kraft]

If you want to stay out of FAA control, build all your planes at less than 8 ounces and you can get a lot of them in a Crosley. 

[Howard Rush]

My other car is a Mazda MX-5 (Miata to you guys) which can hold maybe 2 chuck gliders if I pack them carefully .

Indeed.  Two chuck gliders max.  I've tried to accommodate more.

Honda Odyssey.

Got one of those, too.  Beware the motorized side doors.  They can crush a stunt plane (story upon request).

Prius , tons of room

That is the correct answer.  Mount the stunter on a 2x2 fastened to the rear seat back attach brackets with the rear seats folded down.  Works a treat and you have full vision out the back window.  It burns 100 gallons less gas than the Odyssey per Nats trip, is quieter, and has a better stereo. Walter and I have the generation-2 (I think) Prius.  The latest regular Prius is pinched in the back, so it's not as good.  We got a Prius V, which is a little roomier, but needs to have a back seat removed for serious contest travel.  The picture shows the old Prius on a three-contest trip with three weeks of luggage and two stunt planes.  We still had room for a crate of pears on the way home. 

[Dan McEntee]

   Boy Howard, a hundred gallons less than a Honda Odyssey for the trip is genuinely nothing to sneeze at! Have you ever considered a roof top carrier of some sort to hold soft and stuffable luggage? I have a roof top bag that Thule makes and it holds quite a bit for my Pontiac Vibe. The Vibe was the same car as the Toyota Matrix. When using that, I can fit up to for or five models of varying size , plus flight boxes, fuel and a small cooler.
   I have a 2008 Chrysler Town and Country van the replaced a Ford full sized window van. I could get the world in the Ford but it started to give me problems so when I had the chance to get the Chrysler and a supreme tall deal I took advantage of it. The problem with the minvans is the back entrance is choked down too small to get airplanes in wing tip first. I could not get a full sized Cardinal in mine and thought I had made a mistake in buying it.  The Chrysler is s Stow-N-Go model, and I had all the seats folded down and started to experiment with the Cardinal. I discovered that I could get it in the side door and turn the airplane every which way in the middle of the van. So I finally figured out a rack, and the larger airplanes go in front sideways in the middle of the van, and smaller models go in the back. I can get 6 to 8 models of varying sizes in that way, leave one seat up for a passenger and use the foot well space for storage and heavy stuff like tool boxes or luggage go on the opposite side. I took the rear seat completely out, cut a cover from 3/4" plywood and use the rear seat storage pit for anything that will fit. I have a trailer hitch, and got one of those cargo carriers for it, cut a plywood platform the shape of that Thule bag that I mentioned before, and attach that to the platform. All soft luggage and anything else that will fit goes in there. I have made many trips to Oshkosh with this set up and can haul three people (me included) and all the luggage and models we needed for 5 or 6 days at Oshkosh. I can haul just about the same amount of cargo for a model contest in and on the Chrysler that I could haul in the Ford! And I have been able to get two vintage dirt bikes inside to go riding also, but generally use a three bike trailer for those purposes. You just got to have a vision of what you need and want and figure it out from there.
   I know some one of you guys has taken photos of my van all loaded up and if you could please post it here.
   Type at you later,
    Dan McEntee

[don boka]

Retired from 30 years at Ford Motor Co. so naturally I drive a Ford Flex. Rear seats and passenger seats fold down and there is more than enough room for just about anything. This is my fourth Flex so obviously I like them. New one coming next month. Word is this is the last year of production.
Don Boka.

[Istvan Travnik]

In the "Golden Eighties" I have had the emblematic Eastern German product, Trabant-601 Universal (wagon, kombi).
2 cylinders, 2-stroke, 600 cubic centimeters ( round 37 cu inches), 26HP...
As I hanged outwards the sparewheel, under the chassis, my plane (HP-40 engine, 56" wingspan) fitted behind the rear seat precisely.

Here is some insane video (do not crucify me) :


 

[EddyR]

  People are always surprised when I pull two full size stunters out of my 15 year old Mustang with out putting the top down. It has no center post between the windows  like most cars. The key to getting models in is putting both front and rear windows down.  I put luggage on the back seat to get it up level with the  boot and then there is lots of room as the tails will fit into the rear window.  It has very large doors.