DIY RC Plane Rack with PVC

Dec

2012

Tags: rc plane rack, pvc pipe, plane storage

Building your own PVC plane rack.

It has gotten to the point where I have enough RC planes now that storage is becoming an issue. Too many times I've had a plane laying on the ground waiting to be stepped on or knocked over. I finally got motivated enough to build my own PVC pipe rc plane rack. There are lots of different ways to make these, so the biggest thing is to just make it work for you and whatever you're storing. I chose to make a wall hanging rack since I don't have a lot of floor place to hold a stand.

Here is a quick list of what I ended up using:

35 feet of 3/4" PVC Pipe
4 90 degree elbows
10 T-joints
10 End-caps
20 feet of foam insulation covering
1 small can of pvc glue
4 PVC hanger hooks

Tools:

Hack saw / or powered saw
Tape measure and marker

The planes that I am storing range from 6 foot wing span down to 800mm, so I wanted to build something that could accommodate both. I ended up with 3 lengths of cuts to make. 10" for the vertical sections, 15" for the two horizontal, and 20" for each piece that the plane would be resting on. See the picture below for more detail.

The steps are quite simple, measure out your lengths you need, make your cuts, build your rack for a test fitting before you do any gluing. Then once you have it looking the way you'd like, glue the pieces together, taking care to glue the pieces straight! No going back once that glue sets, and it only takes 10 seconds or so. Finally you can cut the foam to the desired lengths and simple slip it over the PVC for a nice cushon for your planes to lay on. This will help stop any indentations forming in the wing foam from laying there over time.

Making a rack of this size will probably take you somewhere between 1-2 hours depending on your experience. I made it in around 2 with basically no experience at all. The cost of parts was about $35.

I've also created a small plane stand out of some extra material. It is just a simple X frame design, and it holds the planes nicely as I work on them at home or the field.

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