Dandy Dick's Dawn Patrol Poster Stands.

Taube poster 3.jpg (60491 bytes)Over the last 10 years we've noticed at air shows that people are really interested in our planes and their history. So, to that end, we've all made informational posters about our birds that we put in front of the planes when they're on display. You'd be amazed at how many people will stand there and read the whole thing and then come over to ask you questions. They are really a crowd catcher.

Here's a real cheap and easy to build poster stands. I whipped all three of these up in an hour and they were cheap. I, as usual, stole this idea from a guy at the Cape Girardeau Air Show we flew in this year. He was flying a Russian Jet Trainer and this thing broke down easily and stored right in his plane. I made mine larger as his was only for a very small poster the size of a regular sheet of typing paper. (The more posters you have up, the bigger the crowds in front of your plane.) I use Print Shop Premier to make my posters but any good graphics program will work. The list of materials to build one of these is: 

 

1 - 12' piece of 1 1/4" OD PVC tubing. Cut into three 20" pieces and 1- 36" piece. (Lowes) 1 - 1 1/4" "T" section. (Lowes) 2 - 1 1/4" End caps (Lowes)

 

1- tube GOOP cement. (Lowes)

 

2 - 1 1/4" 90-degree elbows. (Lowes) 1 - 1 1/4" coupling. Cut in half and roughed up. (Lowes) 1 - can PVC cement (Lowes) 1 - 16 X 20 poster frame (Hobby Lobby)

 

You'll also need: Plaster, cement, sand, rocks, pipe, lead weights, etc. (kids sand box, road, drive way, junk yard, back yard, stolen ) anything you can think of to add weight to the legs of the base "U" section.

I cut three pieces 20" long and then cut one of the pieces in half. then I cemented the 2 elbows to separate 20" pieces. Then I cemented two 10" pieces to the other end of the elbow. Now, place BUT DO NOT CEMENT the "T" in place. 

Place the assembly on the floor and insert the 36" piece into the "T." Get everything flat on the floor and rotate the "T" so the upper end of the 36" piece is over the middle of the "U" formed by the base.

Mark with a Sharpie marker the location of the "T" on the two 10" pieces of pipe. Then cement the "T" in place. This is kinda tricky cause the cement sits up really fast so try to keep the base flat on the same plane.

Glue the half coupling on the middle of the poster frame with the GOOP cement and allow it to dry overnight.

I used expanding insulation foam from LOWES to plug up the tubing on either side of the "T."  After it had set up I filled the legs with sand and capped them.

These stands are very wind resistant and easy to break down and store. Click on the thumbnails to see a bigger image.

stand-1.JPG (45205 bytes) stand-2.JPG (60428 bytes)
Here's the stand broken down
into its three parts: the U, the
poster and the upright..
GOOP is used to cement the
half-coupling to the back of the
poster. Let it dry over night.
stand-3.JPG (42087 bytes) stand-4.JPG (43232 bytes)
With the 36" inch piece in the
"T," all that's left to be done is
put the poster in place
Ready for an air show. If you
want to make them even more
wind resistant, make the 36"
piece shorter.