So I have been collecting models the past few months. I am getting married on 1-11-11 and then I am moving into my fiance’s house. She has a nice man’s cave for myself with a finished rec room. Has a full bathroom and I nice big workshop AKA the model room. Well I am working on the work shop and gathering all the tools and supplies that I need so when I move in I am ready to rock. I cannot believe the models I have already started gathering. I should be busy for a year.
Question is I was wondering if I was able to see what different displays there are out there. I would like to see your displays. Whether they are glass shelves, inclosed plastic cases, book selves. I just need an Idea. Many of the models will be in diorama form. Some not. I was thinking glass shelves. Let me see some Ideas so I can be prepared. I dont want to build 10 models and not have any where to go with them.
Auto, welcome to the forums and congratulations on your upcoming wedding. I don’t have a picture of it as yet, I’m at work right now, but I can explain it, 'cause its simple.
In our dining area there is a hutch built into the wall. Its rather large, stands about 7 feet tall by about the same measurement wide. It was a pre-built fixture in the house before we moved in and it has a combination of both glass shelves enclosed in glass doors as well as standard shelving along the sides. So I store my built models on either the exterior shelves or within the glass doors. I’ll post a pic later.
Well there is a few ideas that I have but I was wondering about leaving the models in the open environment? Factors of Dust. I will not have to worry about fading because the area I am looking at will be in the basement. If I put something that you have which sounds amazing in the dinning room… Well lets just say I wouldn’t hear the end of it.
I saw this video on youtube and I wish that I would have saved it. this guy had an all white wall displaying 1:32 model jet fighters. The shelves were glass and he had little led lighting on them. It was a clean look and it almost gave the affect of the models hovering in the air. Kinda a neat touch.
I just hang shelving… Most of the shelves are 18" wide and run from 6 to 8 feet in length… I also have a couple of hollow closet doors that I hung from the wall… They’re about 28" wide and are mounted against the wall at about 36" high, with the 18" shelves above them. I used the doors because I can get just about any diorama I wanna build on them without a problem, plus, I use the space underneath the doors for storage… I just ran a curtain around the perimeter to hide whatever’s under it, usually boxes of models awaiting salvage… Well, sorta a curtain, it’s actualy a GI Shelter half… The 4 bookcases I used to have took up too much floor space, this set-up allows rough three times the number of models in about the same space, and without a “footprint”. Also, with open ended shelving, I can get more into the area because I can let wings over-hang the edges… It’s cheap too… The doors were free at a demolition site and the shelf mounting hardware was about 10.00 at Ace, just ordinary “L” brackets… The shelving, I ripped each one from a sheet of 1/2" plywood…
Here’s a rough sketch:
It’ll never make “Archetictual Digest”, but it works fine…
Here are mine, half of my basement is finished,the case with the planes is a simple curio case,and the other two are from gemodisplays,a little pricey,but i like them.
I build mostly 1/48 scale jets… I have some el-cheapo wall shelves from IKEA I display most of my models on… I hang the big ones from the ceiling. I am in negotiations for airspace in another room for 1/72 models so I can display my tanker collection.
Thank you for the options with the older posts. I am liking the IKEA ideas and it seems to be a hit. Plus they are visually pleasing.
Paintsniffer,
I am going to be doing a lot of 1/35 builds for armor and 1/48 scale planes. I take it your using the 4 shelf glass IKEA case? If so how much room do you have in there? I know an F-14 is pretty big would that be the make or can you go bigger.
Also let me know how the negotiations work out for you lol.
Thanks for opening my horizons. I am going to love this IKEA store.
Sounds good but over time dust will drive you crazy,you gotta put them behind glass or you will be cleaning them every couple of months,which will increase breakage chances.
Mine are all out in the open, knowing what I know now, if I could go back, I’d have built things a little differently!!! I do have to dust every few months, I always bust an antenna or something, and I curse loudly for my dumbassery!!! Anyway, here’s what I got.
Built in shelves with cabinet underneath for the stash.
I am probably very late in providing you with some aditional info on displaying your models but I thought you might like a different approach. I build only in 1/72nd scale and like large aircraft. None of the standard display cabinets or shelves really provide for models of that size without also exposing them to dust. My solution was to build a custom display case that is 3 x 4 feet and 6 plus feet tall it has 5 glass display shelves plus the base and the top. Two sides are sheet glass. One glass side swings out on a continuous hinge. I bought most of the wood from the Home Depot and the glass from a local glass store. I estimate a complete cost of $500 and about three days of labor. The real tricky part is building the various parts and then assembling them in the room where it would be permanent. Mine is in an upstairs office and therefore I needed to test assemble it in the garage and then dis-assemble it before moving it up stairs in pieces.
If you would like some pictures of the fully assembled case write me at matsman@cox.net
Watch for any retail stores going out of business. Many of them have a lot of equipment that they need to get rid of. That’s how I got my display case. Also, IKEA has some decent case setups. One I was looking at was a tall, narrow style, and cost about $80. You’d probably want to have someone weld in a couple more shelves, though!
I just have regular wall mounted shelves… The IKEA shelves are a little more pleasing to the females than a board on top of some holders and for what IKEA charges its hard to argue with. Yes, the noses stick out a bit.
Forgive the lousy pictures… They are the best a blackberry camera can do on short notice. For the stuff that won’t fit on the shelves I build it gear up and hang it from the ceiling.
This may sound crazy but I was thinking of trying to locate an old section of an aircraft wing. Remove the skin or fabric and set it up verticaly. Then using the ribs as shelving cut out plexiglass shelves to fit on top of each rib. Just an Idea would like to try it someday. [:D]
