Don’t need that new fangled stuff!
Just 4 jackstands, string, a string level, measuring device, and some mechanical savvy. No toe plates, no steering wheel lock.
I am not an advocate of selling one’s tools either, unless there’s an obvious reason to do so… But side plates, how many times has any home/shade tree mechanic need them…
And judging from the questions asked by the OP, I have a feeling he would need to buy every tool needed for the job… Money better spent having the car fixed correctly.
The last time I swapped out the Tie Rods on my '85 Corolla, I tied the steering wheel straight to the front seat. I then fastened a couple of yard sticks (yeah, I’ve got more than one and I consider them “tools…”) with a bungee cord to the front tires and then adjusted the tie rods until the yard sticks pointed right down to the sidewall of the rear tires…
I told the alignment specialist how I adjusted them myself and he laughed and said they were not that far off and a lot closer to spec than a lot of cars the come in just to have theirs checked…
And my yard sticks are good for a lot more than a set of side plates…
Besides, in 40-years you will need a “flux capacitor” to align the Anti-Grave Drive… L 
L . . .
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Done that many times on bigger fork lifts, and on vehicles… lol
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Would you? They’re unnecessary. The only reason I kept using it is habit and stubbornness–resistance to change.
I did have one guy who was the absolute best alignment tech I’d ever worked with. He used neither WinToe or a steering wheel lock. He also didn’t use the graphing functions/arrows/red and green indicators on the screen. All he would look at was numbers on a screen.
What if you were specifically told not to use it and use the WinToe function on the Hunter alignment machine?
String lines are perfect for squaring up the car. Zero thrust angle, center the steering wheel and then use a simpler technique for making front toe adjustments.
I use 2 tape measures and a straightedge across the tire face. Use a long one to avoid the bulge. And, of course, to keep the steering wheel straight, use the jam nut flats as reference… one flat (60 degree turn) each side changes toe and keeps it even. Mark the nuts and tie rod with a white paint pen to keep reference.
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Obviously many will do DIY alignment. I only did it once, but just to get it to a shop. If just doing a tie rod, I do the old “count the turns” method to then get me to the shop. But I went more “whole hog” that once after replacing a rack. But I still did that just to make sure I could get it to the shop without undue tire abuse or serious tracking problems. I guess I’d rather just trust a pro with the “fancy” equipment and cough up the $100 (or whatever it is now).
I doubt a diy’er could $$-justify the time-expense of doing a home alignment. But if the diy’er found that sort of thing an interesting challenge and had spare time to do it, then it could be just another fun job. I replaced the inner tube on my wheelbarrow’s tire the other day. $$-wise I’d have been money ahead to purchase a complete new wheel & tire, already assembled. But I had fun, so it made sense for me.
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I am a DIY’er and have done my own alignments for 35 years.
The first was my 84 Corvette in 1989. The car seemed to drive sideways the thrust angle was so large. The rear orbited when it bounced. But once it was in alignment, changes were quick and easy.
Same with my Saturn race car.
I’ve adjusted toe with my truck and measured camber angle. If it goes straight, caster measurement isn’t necessary. My measurements were comfirmed very accurate with a check on a Hunter when I bought tires.
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In high school, the shop teacher told me I couldn’t use the alignment equipment to align my car. The reason: rust and the car appeared to have excessive negative camber that was beyond correction, so I went home and set the toe using a tape measure. The alignment didn’t need to be perfect, just needed to get through high school with the same tires.
I have never paid for a wheel alignment. When I didn’t have access to an alignment rack, I set the toe using a tape measure. With the older cars this was good enough for 2 to 3 years before another part needed to be replaced.
That’s it, practice wheel alignment on the easy vehicles first.
Same. Never once paid for or had a professional alignment. Quite a few restorations with complete disassembly. My tires last as long as they would otherwise and vehicles track straight. I have had to argue with places changing tires to not even check the alignment. Keep it off the rack and don’t touch anything! but, but, but… 
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You know very well there are different levels of DIY’ers… I would say Jay Leno is a DIY’er and I do not believe anyone would disagree… However, I once saw a video of Jeff Bezos flick a leaf off his car, so who can deny that Jeff is also a DIY’er? L o L . . .
Most low-level DIY’ers would never have a reason to buy a Compressor, an Impact Wrench and Impact sockets. I was cheap for a long time, until I needed to remove the Clutch on my '84 Harley to replace the Alternator Stator installed behind the clutch. Me doing “chin-ups” on a 10-foot breaker bar did nothing to loosen the Crank Shaft Nut, but a friend brought his compressor over and the impact wrench clacked only about two times before the nut was free…
I cannot say I use it much more that balancing the tire pressure on my five vehicles (and my Wheelbarrow…) and I still have two hand pumps, just as @Nevada_545 wrote, never sell your tools…
Some tools are keepers, and some need to be returned to the “universe” to serve other “DIY’ers”
Now you know that you really had mostly broke it loose, it just needed that one more attempt, you know, kinda like when you strain your guts out trying to get the lid off the pickle jar just to sit it back down and your wife (1/2 your size) picks it up and just pops the lid off like it was nothing in one try…
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You clearly don’t hang out with friends like mine! 
For most of my gear-head friends, their first major tool purchase was a compressor! Then impact tools. I have 2 friends with side-post lifts in their home garages and one with a 4-poster. Several more with those portable hydraulic lifts that slide under the pinch welds because their garage ceilings are low. All have large toolboxes. Several with trailers, open and enclosed.
A few could be classified as “low level DIYers”, but most not. 
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I’ve got a small compressor and impact wrench, use the compressor inflating stuff, swapping out wheels for winter in Anchorage, and (slowly) running a nail gun for deck replacement. New(ish) neighbor has one of those big vertical tank compressors, I’ve never seen him use it. Wonder why he has it.
You sticking with that story?
Along the same lines- I practically pulled a groin muscle raking away on a pull starter for an RC car. Once I was exhausted and wore down to a nub, I sat down and my wife went over to it. She said, you need to wiggle this, turn that, push this up and down and speak to it nice (as she poked and prodded various elements). Then one pull and it started. Figures. Have never lived that down…
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You are right, I have not developed friends like yours since I entered the Air Force in 1971, served over 30-years. I had 17-changes of assignment and served in 9-different countries on 6-different continents (never made it to the Antarctic…)…
The military is not very obliging to move items that are not clearly common household items…
I have had friends have to leave drill presses, band saws, table saws, and yes; even compressors behind because the military will not move your “commercial” equipment and supplies. I was a computer programmer and I had a limit of one computer per family member plus one…
If the military deems your items ineligible for shipment in your household shipment. The items are shipped separately, still with your shipment, but under a private bill of lading and you are responsible for all costs…
My Harley cold be shipped with my household goods, but in the same shipping container as the refrigerator, washer, dryer, sofa, beds, etc… No special packing, other than moving blankets…
When I moved stateside, I moved it myself. But when going overseas, it stayed behind in the states with relatives…
So while you and your friends were collecting your lot of tools, my friends and I were keep the world safe so you could live in peace and safety…
Here is old posting of mine of just what it’s like to drive around our “Neighborhoods…”
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Thank You for your service! And your sacrifice.
Even if you had auto hobby shops on-base, that would be tough to ship your tools from base to base.
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If the DIY approach is the only way to get a proper alignment, and indeed it may, then the contrary would be true, it would be hard to $$$-justify paying for a pro-alignment. Like you, I’ve always checked my vehicle’s alignments using diy’er methods, only adjustment I’ve ever needed to make was for the truck’s toe. I was just attempting to say that shop alignment prices seem pretty reasonable, so it would be hard to justify taking the time-expense for a diy’er alignment. But that logic is base on you ending up with a proper shop alignment.
I vote to quit indulging Yoshi. He is incapable of just fixing something with out over thinking EVERYTHING. Remember the 10mm socket debacle? He does the same crap on ToyotaNation, but with a different screen name, MrSmith something.
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I second the motion to ignore Yoshi .