This $29.97 Ridgid Flip Top Portable Work Support from Home Depot makes a great sailplane stand for assembly at the field.



I got the idea yesterday while reading this thread, started by jonesjj, and it didn't take very long to put it together. I used two blocks of foam wrapped in duct tape and a couple of short bungee cords. There's a detailed summary of how I built it on my website.

Here are a few pictures:

Sorry, Mike. It just doesn't look very stable, especially on anything but dead level ground. Big plane, slight breeze and over it goes. Needs a much wider base for the legs, like a tripod.

It's extremely stable. Even off balance with only one wingtip installed, it's rock solid. The stand is made of strong steel and is fairly heavy.



And even if there's a stability problem from a very strong wind, the stand can be easily lowered to compensate. The center shaft could even be pushed into the ground.



Remember, the main purpose of the stand is to assemble the plane. If you're really worried about stability, which is unlikely once you've tested it, you can always set the plane on the ground before you walk away from it.

Awesome Mike.

Andy

Handy tool Mike. Good job.

Rick

Nice job. Not that different than this one:

http://www.letmodel.cz/nahled-models.php?name=flash.jpg

and your base looks wider. Guaranteed to be more than $29.95 US

Mike

Great idea Mike.. Thanks for sharing it... Brian

I tried stands. Laying parts out on the ground still works best for me.

Well Hooray for you... Brian

Originally Posted by dephela

I tried stands. Laying parts out on the ground still works best for me.

hey Mike!
Just wanted you to know that I bought one of these...works great...built it just the way you did. Thanks for tip!

You're welcome!

A few folks commented about it at the Tangerine contest in Orlando the weekend before last.

Mike had this at the Tangerine. Really a neat set up.. The model sits at a little bit of a downward angle and it sits in the wind with no problems. Nice for sure!! Brian

Great idea. Thanks for posting it here.

The stand seems to be catching on. Jody Miller of the Orlando Buzzards came up with a couple of improvements.

One is to use wider foam blocks and a smaller gap between them to help keep your fuselage from twisting in the wind. You can see his stand in this picture, linked from this thread:




The other improvement of his, which you can barely see in the picture, is to drill through the two bottom horizontal portions of the legs near the center and add eye-bolts, through which he can drive stakes into the ground. Although the stand is extremely stable even without the stakes, this removes all worry that it's going to blow over.

I've also come up with a latch for my stand that attaches to the tow hook, removing the need to wrap a bungee cord around the fuselage.

A local fellow named Willy came up with a really fancy version of the Ridgid Work Support Sailplane Stand:



It swivels and locks into place facing different directions, can spread apart for different size fuselages, and even has a drawer to store a few tools. Here are some more pictures.