golf travel case or similar

[trillian]

You could also consider some of the hard cases for drum stands, a traps case. Obviously not the cases for the drums themselves. But the cases used to hold stands, foot pedals and other bits could be an option for you. It is probably the sort of thing Kev was referring to also i would think as they can be used for lighting rigs etc.

This is the sort of thing i mean. They come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. We used to have some of ours custom made so you can fit specific sizes. Some are heavier than others. This one is over 8 kg so may be too heavy. But they are pretty heavy duty. There will be lighter alternatives too. Some have wheels and a handle too so you just pull it along behind you.

Boschma Cases Hardware Case - Thomann UK

These are the ones we use with the heavy duty wheels...

Hardcase HN48W 48" Hardware Case | Rockem Music

Thanks Adam. Yeah I am aware of drum hardware cases. I have a smaller padded drum bag for 500 size helis that's very nice.

The thing is though, you end up back at pretty much the same place in terms of the size and the price.

I play keyboards and I have three Anvil brand road cases here but I'd be willing to bet they're nearly over the weight limit empty!

[trillian]

Taking your Heli abroad?

Another holiday!

I wish

'Holiday' ? I haven't had one of those in about ten years! I don't get holidays like most folks do but I can work from anywhere so long as I have an internet connection. So it's just me being somewhere else, only this time there is some flying incorporated into the equation.

[dbull46]

All work, work, work mixed with a measure of some quality flying time sound like a great idea.
Enjoy

[RichardV]

This thread came in useful, so I thought I'd pay it back.

I travelled to Las Vegas last week and used the Longridge case. I got 2 x T-Rex 700s in side-by-side with about 1cm space front and back. I removed main/tail blades, skids and canopy. Also take the lower bolt out of the vertical stab and rotate the fin 90 degrees forward so it rests on the boom support. Screw the bolt back in so you don't loose it.

Add blocks of hard foam between the frames and tail boxes. Use velcro straps around the main shafts, lower frames and tail case so the helicopters are stuck to each other.

I used foam blocks with pieces cut out for the front battery mounts and rear tail cases, and it all fitted snuggly into the golf case. Canopies went together with a towel between, and then were stored under the booms. After that it was a case of filll it up with clothes, blades down the sides with more clothes, radio wrapped and velco'd on top of booms and then more clothes. The blade caddies went under the frames to account for the curvature of the case, and a pair of jeans on top of the heads completed the packing.

The locks are not TSA compliant, so I left them unlocked and bought some TSA straps. The case was not searched on the way to Vegas, but it was on the way back. They repacked it so neatly, I wouldn't have known if they hadn't left me a card. Perhaps they didn't dig too deep.

There was no damage travelling either way, and the helis took about 10 minutes to put back together. Receiver packs went in carry-on, and I left the flight packs at home. Return flights with Virgin Atlantic was £445 and there was no extra baggage charge, as the case was checked in as sports equipment.

As an aside, I sourced a room using Airbnb for $20 a night, Turo for a car at $20 a day, Lyft from the airport at $20 and Uber back to the airport at $4. Shopping at Walmart kept other costs down and I didn't spend much more than that for the 8 days. I may have blown $100 on the raffle and not won a damn thing though

[trillian]

I just realised I never followed up on this thread back in 2015. I also ended up getting a Longridge case and it worked really well. I took a Kasama Dune along with a bunch of spares and a Trex 500, charger and TX etc, packed clothes around them and had no problems checking it on Easyjet to Alicante. Carrying it is not too bad when you can roll it. I never saw anything lighter but still as sturdy and I managed to stay under the max weight, I forgot exactly what the limit was, 20kg or 22kg, something like that. I took the LiPos in my carryon bag with my laptop.