Dynamite Large Scale Work Stand

Make maintenance easy
The cool side of a large scale vehicle is, of course, how large it is. It demands attention from your RC friends and onlookers. Its big stance tears up the ground as you bash on the machine without a care in the world. But there will come a time where it needs maintenance whether it’s a broken part, tuning or a general look over and that’s when the cool factor of a large scale machine goes downhill. Wrenching on one of these machines is no easy feat. They’re heavy to move around, take up a lot of real estate on most benches and when you do turn the machine over or around it always seems to knock all of your tools off the bench in the process. That’s where a great work stand comes in handy.

FEATURES

The Dynamite Work Stand is not your average slap-your- vehicle-on-a-raised-platform type of device. First up the parts that make up the stand are extruded, stamped and welded steel coated in a black protective finish. A long center post has a support tube at the bottom with folding legs for support. The center post has a number of holes in it to secure the parts tray and top plate and allows you to adjust their height. The top plate that supports the vehicle is littered with holes that allow you to gain access to the chassis screws on many popular vehicles such as the Losi Five-T, DBXL and Mini WRC. Pinch clamps slide on screws with wing nuts as retainers to help secure your chassis to the top plate. The top plate mounts to a cross bar which allows you to tilt the top plate over to either side to easily gain access to the bottom of the machine. To secure the height of the plates or the tray or to secure the plate when it’s tipped over, the Dynamite stand has locking pins that slide and lock into predrilled holes. Another nice feature is that the locking pins are tethered to the stand so they are never lost.

The Dynamite stand is not just a free standing stand on wide, sturdy feet. A short post is included with the stand kit that allows  you to use the parts tray with rubber feet on the bottom as a stand base for a table- top setup. Place the tray on the table, lock the short post in place with the pin, slide the top vehicle support tray on the post, lock it in and you’re ready for working on your workbench.

TESTING

What perfect timing! I had my Losi Five-T somewhat torn apart for an engine upgrade to an OBR tuned engine when the Dynamite Work Stand arrived to check out. I was happy to get the truck off my bench and onto the stand for the rebuild. But before I could just slap the truck on the stand, the stand does need to be assembled for use. It will take you less than five minutes to unpack the box, and bolt the stand together and slip the locking pins into their respective locations. My only suggestion for assembly is to place your large scale machine on the top plate to see where the clamping posts need to be located before installing the long screws into the plate that secure the clamp posts. I easily set up the clamps for the Five and secured the truck.

The stand is very stable and wobbles minimally. With a locking  pin removed from the stop bar area you can swivel the truck around for ease of use. I wound up tilting the top tray over, however, so I could easily access the chassis screws in order to bolt my new OBR tuned engine in place. With the cutouts in the Dynamite plate, I was able to access the engine screw holes with ease and bolt the engine down. Even with the truck tilted to one side on the stand, it was stable and there was no worry about it tipping over.

The stand also works extremely well as a table-top stand. It was much easier wrenching at the table top with the truck on the stand versus sliding the truck around on the table top. But what I really liked was the parts tray that kept everything right there secured within my reach rather than parts strewn about my pit table.

So the Dynamite stand worked well for wrenching on the Five-T. I then wanted to see how it worked with one of my HPI 5B’s. I pulled a buggy off the wall and placed it on top of the Dynamite stand. I looked at the stand plate and couldn’t see how the 5B clamped to the stand. I moved the buggy around, forward, and back, nothing seemed to line up. After about fifteen minutes of futzing with the buggy on the stand I couldn’t find an easy way to secure the buggy to the stand other than just resting it between the stand posts.

WRAP-UP

The Dynamite Large Scale work stand is a quality built stand that is very sturdy and can be used in a variety of positions in order to work on your large scale machine. I found it adapts to Losi based vehicles easily and secures them well, but it may not secure all large scale machines on the market. When not in use, the stand can be folded up to take up less space in storage. The stand is well thought out and will make a great addition to many large scale owners’ work areas.

By Greg Vogel

Link
Dynamite, dynamiterc.com, (800) 338-4639