TRAVELIN' IN STYLE AND SAFELY WITH YOUR STUNT-STUFF

[Shultzie]

A few weeks ago..just before LEAVING the Narrows Airport Flying site, I couldn't help but notice of just how much  attention these stunt grunters...give to packing their beloved stuntwagons so that they may live to fly another day.

1. NEVER leave anything behind...police up EVERYTHING....candy wrappers..burnt plugs or empty cans of Bud (soda pop,OK?)
2. PACK CAREFULLY...in case of an emergency panic stop! (LOTS OF ILLUSTRATIVE WAR STORIES THERE
   Check Steve's truck...see what I mean?
3.ALWAYS GIVE YOUR VENUS, the softest TOP BUNK! She likes to show off how purty she is to 
  anyone stopping in line to pay the New Narrows Bridge big $$$ tole price, can have an OOOW AND AAAAAHHH! glamour glipse at her beautiful curves and finish.

4.Take a look at our Brother Randy Powell's care attention...by storing his equally beautiful ShoeString Classical piece of sky art. Notice that he stows it away....UPSIDE DOWN, just in case he forgets and tosses somethin out the window but unknowingly has that litter being sucked back into the back seat by the airstream. (Sh-t happens!) ANOTHER WAR STORIES IN THE MAKING HERE ALSO.

Packing models...has always been a challenge for ONE AND ALL! Each and everyone of us has had there share of WAR STORIES as well as AMAZING GRACE N SAVES!
Why not share a few here that just may extend the life of these AT RISK...CLPA flying machines of ours?
Infamous Ben Madsen quote. ("If you don't need it-- leave it at home!")

[John Miller]

My good friend and former flying bud, Pete has a great story, from his past, about the proper stowage and transportation of models. Since he doesn't post very often, I'll relate the story as told to me.

Many years ago, Pete had a nice Thunderbird. He was still considered a kid, it was that long ago.

He and a flying buddy, the GSO, were driving down the road, with Petes T'Bird in the bed of a pick up truck.  The GSO happened to look back, out the rear window, and noticed the T'bird was in flight, captured by the airflow, about even with the middle of the rear window. It was being "sucked" along, and just hanging in the air behind the cab.

When Pete hit the brakes, the T'Bird slammed it's spinner into the rear window, before dropping back down into the bed, on it's wheels.

Notice the layout of Pete's pickup today. Even with a cap, he also uses wheel chocks so the plane doesn't move around. Pete's a smart guy and learns real fast. 

[Glenn (Gravitywell) Reach]

I transport my planes on the floor of my pick-up bed.  I use socks filled with sand, draped over the wheels, to hold the plane.  I do have a cover over the box, so no in flight movies required! LOL

[rustler]

One of our well respected stunt fliers used to put his models in his caravan and sleep in his car!
Not any more, - we got the 'van from him. We sleep in it 

[billbyles]

A few weeks ago..just before LEAVING the Narrows Airport Flying site, I couldn't help but notice of just how much  attention these stunt grunters...give to packing their beloved stuntwagons so that they may live to fly another day.

1. NEVER leave anything behind...police up EVERYTHING....candy wrappers..burnt plugs or empty cans of Bud (soda pop,OK?)
2. PACK CAREFULLY...in case of an emergency panic stop! (LOTS OF ILLUSTRATIVE WAR STORIES THERE
   Check Steve's truck...see what I mean?
3.ALWAYS GIVE YOUR VENUS, the softest TOP BUNK! She likes to show off how purty she is to 
  anyone stopping in line to pay the New Narrows Bridge big $$$ tole price, can have an OOOW AND AAAAAHHH! glamour glipse at her beautiful curves and finish.

4.Take a look at our Brother Randy Powell's care attention...by storing his equally beautiful ShoeString Classical piece of sky art. Notice that he stows it away....UPSIDE DOWN, just in case he forgets and tosses somethin out the window but unknowingly has that litter being sucked back into the back seat by the airstream. (Sh-t happens!) ANOTHER WAR STORIES IN THE MAKING HERE ALSO.

Packing models...has always been a challenge for ONE AND ALL! Each and everyone of us has had there share of WAR STORIES as well as AMAZING GRACE N SAVES!
Why not share a few here that just may extend the life of these AT RISK...CLPA flying machines of ours?
Infamous Ben Madsen quote. ("If you don't need it-- leave it at home!")

Regarding that last photo in Shultzie's post: It might be allowable to leave the Nobler behind, but save the car and the too cool sunglasses!

[Steve Helmick]

I yam to the point of needing to find room for more models in the back of the truck. I guess I could stash one or two in the back seat, but it's a mighty small back seat. Mike H. and I are planning to take that Silver Toyota Tacoma to Tucson with his Freedom 45 and my Skylark...luckily, he says the re-nosed J.D. Falcon won't be ready to go (as a spare), because of his going back to work for awhile.

I've been thinking about making a double decker platform in there, somehow. What's in there is just 1 x 4's with 3/8" plywood screwed on top. It has to be assembled in place, and it's not much fun to reach through the rear window of the cab to screw it together.  I think I could raise the top shelf about 4" and then add another shelf about 6" below where this'n is, and get 10" between, and still shove stuff under that, like sunshade, chairs, luggage. The Canadian border guards would have a tizzy, so there's more to be gained than just airplane stowage. Steve

[Mike Haverly]

Steve, if we go to Canada first we'll never make it to Tucson on time!

Mike

[Brian Hampton]

Carting a big model around when you've only got a 2 door was a problem for me so I made this plywood box (which came to be known as "the coffin") and bolted it to roof racks on the car. I tested it out (empty ) at a bit over 100 mph and it held together fine but I got a little worried the first time I came across a semi with a closing speed around 150 mph. No problem but a big sigh of relief .

[John Stiles]

I'm studying about whether I should rent a U-Haul bob-truck.

[Randy Powell]

The setup shown in mine is just for short hauls with one plane. I have a different setup that will haul 2 or 3 planes and a bunch of stuff in a bit more secure layout. But just for a weekend jaunt to the flying field, this works fine.

[Mark Scarborough]

yeah well the Astro van can haul 3 full sized 60 plus inch stunters in the rack,( all of which are needed to survive a combat I mean stunt contest in MY world), a couple racers here and there, another full sized stunter on the middle seat,, camping gear, field equipemnt, oh and Jessica and her Ringmasters without a lot of care in packing,, to bad the crosswinds make driving such a challange!

[Leo Mehl]

Dave Royer uses old tennis shoes for wheel chocks, I fly with a guy who liked to packhis pickup with the tool boxes behind the airplanes until one day someone ran a stop lihgt and everything moved forward when we hit the guy. He used to have a rack to put his airplanes in but he broke one of his olanes when it came off the rack. Now he is a little more carful but I have to watch him. He sorta forgets he's got planes in the car.

[FLOYD CARTER]

I built a big ply box for the car top and took it to Whittier Narrows for the first VSC.  Unpacking my models, I unscrewed the top plywood and stored it under my car.  After the contest, the plywood was gone!  Some nice person decided they needed a piece of plywood, and made off with it.  So I had to drive home (500 miles) with the planes inside the car, on my wife's lap, and crammed into every corner.
I now have a van, and limit myself to 3 or 4 planes at a time.

Floyd