For anybody that has display cases over your models, how much “buffer space” (for lack of a better term) do you have between the inner wall of the display case and your model? 1" inch?, 2" inches, or more?
Using the below pic as an example, how much space should there be around the circumference of the carrier? Let’s assume the brown rectangle is the display case. Should the display case be a bit longer and wider so that there’s a buffer zone so to speak between the case and the model? If the carrier model were 38" inches long x 11" inches wide, then what would be an appropriate sized display case? I was thinking maybe 44" inches long x 16" inches wide?
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In my humble opinion the distance around the model, or spacing would be upto the modeler. I like 1.5 to 2 inches all the way around.
There maybe a time you will have to custom build one in that rare event you cannot find the proper dimensions for your build or diorama.
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Good question to start my day with and get my brain working. I’d want at least an inch to two inches for safety to the kit. It would depend on the kit’s size and whether or not it was attached to a base or a stand. As I get ready to start my “large scale ship kits” this is going to become an issue especially with my sailing ships.
As glass / plexiglass can cause some distortion when looking through it, I think you would have to size each display as required to get the view you want. Looking at your carrier example, the area around the island structure might be a little difficult to see the fore and aft side when viewed from the close side, like below…
The rest of the ship should be mostly able to be viewed well.
If however the cover is merely for protection from dust, fingers, pets, while being stored and can be removed for display at shows, then having it sized to tighter tolerances would save you storage space.
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This^
I have been in museums that have their displays very close to the glass (probably to save space) and seeing what was in there was difficult due to the glare from the lights and reflection from the room. Items in back a bit were clear as day since your eye wasn’t trying to focus on the glare instead of the object. An inch would be the very minimum I would want because of this.
Frozin, you’ve brought up a point that I’ve wondered about for years. Are models, especially ships, allowed to be placed on contest tables to be judged while in their display case?
That question deserves a way better answer than “it depends”, but that’s about all you are going to get. With all the different types of shows and contests, judging rules, etc, each event having its own rules, it does just depend.
The show that we put on here has no requirements either way, in fact we have no specific rules at all. Scale models of pretty much anything, in any material, are accepted.
Others like IPMS (just an example not being critical) have a set list of guidelines, judging criteria, and the like which may or may not affect a models’ ability to be properly judged at the event.
It’s probably not a fixed number, but a proportion of the thing in the case. For a ship, the horizontal space probably will be related to the vertical height of the model, in the case of a carrier, from bottom of keel to top of flight deck.
For sailing ships, the rule-of-thumb was half the width of the mainyard all the way around, and then the length of the royal, sky, or moon yard (depending upon which one the ship had highest up) above the top of the main mast. (The half the main yard dimension is what C. Nepan Longridge used for the case for his 1/48 scratchbuilt HMS Victory.)
Battleships & cruisers, back in the day, would use the height from keel to topmost mast over two as the “add to” amount.
So I went out today and got a wood plank to use as a display base for my 1/350 carrier model. In the first picture below, does it matter whether the acrylic display case walls are on the inside or the outside? And how thick should the acrylic case walls be? 1/4" inch? 3/16" inch? More or less? I’ll be saving up money to get the acrylic case made by a plastics company near me.
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Looks like it will be an impressive display when finished. I can’t really answer your questions, but I might be able to give you a couple things that may help your decision.
-As for the thickness, you might want to consider flex of the acrylic. The top being 16”x48” could create some sag with thinner material. The long sides may be affected to some degree as well, most likely by bowing or bulging outward at the bottom. There may also be an issue with bonding surface area using thinner sheets, the place where you get it built should be able to provide guidance on these issues.
-For the base design, in my opinion it would be an aesthetic choice, what looks better. However, if you go with option 2 that would prevent outward bowing of the longer sides. It would also leave a cleaner appearance inside the case, especially considering how you want to display the aircraft examples near the front of the base.
This is what I do for my builds that get an acrylic cover. I’ll add a molding to the base edges with a dado that’s @ 1/32" wider than the thickness of the acrylic I’m using x 1/4" deep. The molding is glued and clamped so no fasteners interfere with my dado. The molding also hides the edge of your base and gives things a finished look.
As for the acrylic cover, your pieces are fairly big so, like Frozin said, the sides should be 3/16" thick with the top being 1/4" so you don’t have any sag in the top.
