Display stands

[GlenP]

On the new Estes web site, if you scroll down, there is a cool background image of some of their (past&present&future?) scale kits. I was noticing the stands that these are displayed on. Does anyone here make their own stands like that for their larger rockets? Looks like a familiar mountain in the background, does anyone know where this photo was taken, or is the photographer a member here? Very nice photo!

 

[BA_Incognito]

I'm cheap, so I use what I can find around the house. I have two things that I tend to use - CD spindles and air freshners.

My original Interceptor uses a CD spindle stand. Small rockets do OK with a 10-15 CD pack spindle, medium size rockets are good with a 25 pack spindle, while the longer ones like the Interceptor do best with the 100 pack spindle.

The Nike-X is poised on the bottom half of a dried out air freshener container. These are the ones that you twist open, and the more you open them the more smelly stuff goes into the air. When they are done, remove any leftover smelly stuff, toss the top away and keep the bottom as a stand.

Back when we use to get metal coat hangers, I would bend those into shape to display the model in a near horizontal position. But all we have now are plastic hangers and they simply don't bend.

 

[GlenP]

I make my own cardstock stands for 13mm and 18mm, but the Mercury Redstone is about the biggest that can be supported on one of those, and that one might require some weight to be added to the base so that a slight bump won't tip it over. I tried to print it up in sort of flame/plume colors, you can see a hint of Mach diamonds too.

For something larger like the Saturn V, I was thinking of something more substantial. I cut a scrap piece of pine shelving board 7.5" square with 45-deg chamfered edges on my miter saw, shown here with my Mean Machine on a spent D12-5 on a dowel which was my painting stick.

I also like those routed cove edges on the stands in that photo above. I may try edging some boards on my router table with a cove bit. They seem to be thicker blocks of heavier hardwood like Oak perhaps.

 

[Tobor]

Here is one of my stands using a dowel (dia. 1"~1.125" for 29mm MMT), 0.25" plywood and an unused CR.

 

[prfesser]

I don't have an image of it, but years ago my daughter had a rocket on a display stand made from a motor case and a half-inch dowel glued into the case and glued onto a wood base. I had a can of Great Stuff foam that I'd finished using for the windows and there was still some goop in the can. She sprayed foam around the dowel to hide it, and make it look like clouds of smoke billowing from the MMT. Looked pretty cool. Probably should have painted it but we didn't go that far.

Best -- Terry

 

[kuririn]

I used a trim router, cove routing bit, and saw horses (no router table) and cut this to edge my display shelf. You could easily adapt it for a display stand. Cut a square piece of wood,route all four sides, drill the appropriate size hole and glue in a dowel. Easy peasy.

You could use two different sizes of squares and different edges. Only limited by your imagination.
Since there is nothing on the market for MMX models, I made a fast and cheap display stand for MMX:

Cereal box cardboard, 1/4" dowel, and glue.
But for most rockets, I use either the plastic Estes or fiberboard Qualmann's display stands.
Semroc makes plywood stands in 24 and 29mm. For these bigger rockets I find the legs of the fiber stands can slowly bend and distort, toppling the rocket over.
And while I have the tools to make my own display stands, I find my time is more productively used in building rockets rather than woodworking. Personal choice.
Sidebar: have you ever noticed that 13, 18, 24, and 29mm engine casings can nest into each other? So if you don't have an Estes 24mm display stand you can take an expended engine casing and convert an 18mm stand into a 24mm one. Bonus is that it can also accommodate the engine hook, while the 24mm one will have it pushed out.

l to r: 13,18, and 24mm Estes stands with 18,24, and 29mm "adapters", Semroc 29mm, Qualmann 29mm

 

[neil_w]

I have purchased unfinished wooden plaques from Michaels, e.g.: https://www.michaels.com/artminds-w..._M10213699_size=7" x 9"#q=wood+plaque&start=7

They come in various sizes and shapes (yes they do have round, although not shown in the linked website listing.) Only cost a buck or two for the smaller sizes.

Handy if you don't have a router and/or a cove bit.

 

[GlenP]

Those premade boards look like a good option.

I think I am confusing the cove bit with a beading or roundover bit, they are reverse images of each other.

I was just wondering with all the excitement over the 1969 Saturn V kit, what were folks planning to display theirs on, if anything special.

 

[Mugs914]

For my LPR stuff I use a burned motor case glued to the center of a CD. I glue two cases end to end for rockets with swept fins or other stuff that hangs behind the motor mount.

This type of stand is also great for transport since the CD is usually larger in diameter that the span of the fins and helps protect them from hangar rash

.

 

[GlenP]

very nice Centuri Excalibur, and a good use for spare CDs. I think I still have a half spindle full of CD-Rs that I will probably never burn somewhere in the house.

 

[Brian H.]

On the new Estes web site, if you scroll down, there is a cool background image of some of their (past&present&future?) scale kits. I was noticing the stands that these are displayed on. Does anyone here make their own stands like that for their larger rockets? Looks like a familiar mountain in the background, does anyone know where this photo was taken, or is the photographer a member here? Very nice photo!


View attachment 376260

The mountain in the background would be Pikes Peak. I have a slightly more distant view of it from my house

It looks like the stands were made from wooden post caps you can get from Lowe's or Home Depot. You can find them in the wood fencing/deck railing area. Some will have a hole predrilled in the center. I have made several like that before.

 

[GlenP]

I have only been to Pike's Peak once, kind of a BYOB place, bring your own bottle - of Oxygen. I got a good headache after a few minutes at the top, even a fresh doughnut did not help. To me, that picture looks like another 14k peak, with all the greenery on the neighboring hills it appears to be in a much more Rainier climate... hard to tell.

 

[kuririn]

Pike's Peak makes sense. It's about 30 or so miles from Penrose. Looking at the picture, that Mercury Atlas sure looks SWEET!
Hope they bring it back.

 

[Brian H.]

I have only been to Pike's Peak once, kind of a BYOB place, bring your own bottle - of Oxygen. I got a good headache after a few minutes at the top, even a fresh doughnut did not help. To me, that picture looks like another 14k peak, with all the greenery on the neighboring hills it appears to be in a much more Rainier climate... hard to tell.

Definitely need to bring extra O2!!
I may be wrong about it being Pikes Peak though. The snowcapped one looks like it, but from my vantage point, I don't see the other peaks on the left.
The Colorado Springs area can be very green in the spring time. That is definitely not a view from Penrose.

 

[JERRYR708]

Made these out of 3/4 in. Basswood. I've painted it since picture was taken. I want to make a ladder going up to the platform with a man standing on it and working on the engine area. I use different wire lengths to get different effects of higher lift offs to a slight leaning arc.

 

[Bryan S Snyder]

I need to make some that are more like "gun racks" so that I can display them horizontally. My floor and counter space is to valuable!

 

[JonathanOtt]

Bryan, look at my "gun rack" rocket display on the right side of this picture. I made it from Dollar Tree foam board, hot glue and some magnet hooks (my workshop is a climate controlled storage unit).

 

[JonathanOtt]

I made another for a few LPR birds.

Dollar Tree Foamboard, the cap off a can of spray glue (for the saddle radius'), a hobby knife, ruler, mini glue gun and a few glue sticks. Voilà!

 

[lakeroadster]

Resurrecting this thread..

Some really great display stand ideas here in Apogee's Peak of Flight Newsletter #597.

The only thing I would add though is for a rocket with a large length-to-diameter ratio, it's ideal for the display stand to have a heavy base.

I've been using some scrap stair step pieces I have in the woodshed, and turning them on my lathe. Makes for a very sturdy display stand.





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