Here are some pictures. Sorry about the quality, they were taken with a cell phone camera. Batteries were dead in my real camera.
Pad is built out of four equal length sections of 1 1/2" PVC pipe, 4 end caps, and a cross piece in the center. It can all be taken apart. I drilled a 3/8" hole right in the center of the cross piece, and installed a 3/8"x 24 threaded stud, with a nut and washer on both the inside and outside. I then put a CB antenna mount plastic insulator in the hole in the middle of the blast deflector, slipped it down over the stud, and used another nut to hold it in place. The drill chuck came off one of those hand crank drills, and screws right down on the 3/8" stud. You just stick the launch rod, any size from 1/8" to 1/4" into the drill chuck and tighten it down by hand. Notice I attached a thumbscrew clamp to the blast deflector to hold the wires in place, so they don't wind up pulling the igniter out of the engine. This pad has proven to be tough and easy to use and transport, it would be easy to repair if damaged, and cheap to make another one if it were destroyed. It's not much for looks, but it could probably be painted if you wanted.
The launch control system is built out of a cast aluminum commercial electric switch box, fittings, and a plastic top cover from Home Depot. The launch button is a cheap Radio Shack momentary pus button switch. I have had a couple of these fail, and carry a couple of extras with leads already soldered on so they can be replaced in the field if necessary. Eventually I will get around to finding a better button. I used a 4' piece of regular extension cord with battery charger clips on one end to supply power from a small 12V sealed AGM battery to the box. The cable from the controller to the pad is made of two 25' sections of 1/4" audio cable plugged together in the middle. This goes into a small plastic box from Radio Shack, and the igniter leads come out the other side. This gives me a 50' distance from the controller to the pad, so I can get a better view of the launch. A safety key/light is not needed, because the battery clips are not connected until I am 50' away from the rocket and all is clear.
Both 1/8" and 3/16" launch rods are kept in the capped 1/2" PVC tube.
The launch controller, all the cables, and the battery fit into the black camera bag. I keep the battery connected to a tender to keep it charged. They last about 5 years.
Everything else, engines, igniters, glue, knife, tape, extra parachutes, recovery wadding, and a number of other things fit in the red box. I also carry a small 50x handheld telescope with me to the launch site.
On average, I was spending about $100 a month on model rocketry. I have a special table for building rockets, and a CAD program to help design them. I have collected a huge number of modeling tools and supplies over the years.
Now if I can just find another launch site......
