can someone point me in the right direction for a display stand that attaches to the plane in it flying state? dont even know what to call it I would like to purchase or construct one.

Dave,

Here are a few links for you:

http://www.warplanes.com/black-plain-stand-805.asp
http://www.motionmodels.com/about.html#access
http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com/tnt1/101-200/tnt161-bases-Middleton/00.shtm - hate to give a link off site but this article over a ARC is good on how to construct your own.

I like the ARC reference..will go with that,thanks so much

I have been thinking about stands recently. I read this article:
http://www.scalespot.com/reference/stands/stand.htm
Using a square hole makes sense, but I probably would combine this with a clear plastic support.

I have also been thingking about stands that use a vertical back plate, from which the model can be supported via a wing (the wing tip could almost touch the back plate, so only a very short section of clear rod would be needed).

I also thought about ways of supporting models from above (hung on monofilament line), but I've not thought of a way of making the stand look attractive using this method.

Ben, Scott Murphy (he's had several articles in FSM) has done a few displays using the vertical backing plate like you want to do. I believe they were aircraft refueling scenes. I can't find a working link to his site or a picture on google though.