Displaying Large Models

[Adam Poultney]

Well... As some of you may have noticed I'm ever so slightly fond of the V Bombers... And 1/72 scale... Especially both together...

That has become a problem as I now have more V Bombers than I currently have display space, but I've got the space to have a couple of new display cases. As these will be displaying things up to the size of a 1/72 Victor (the largest V Bomber), they will have a few requirements:

• At least big enough to have a 55cm wingspan * 55cm long model in there (the approximate size of the Victor in 1/72) 
• Space for at least 5 models (I have space for two display cabinets)
• Glass shelves and front, preferably 3 sides glass (4 in including the top which I will treat as an additional shelf)

 

To make these myself, I'm looking at £400+ of glass alone for a 5 shelf cabinet, or £200 with an appropriate substitute for glass, add framing and the necessary tools and it gets pricey very quickly. Unfortunately most reasonably priced display cabinets are either ~60*33 or ~120*33 it seems... 

The other option I'm looking at is a glass TV stand, these are open sided so wouldn't stop my models from getting dusty, so not only would be cheaper, but also I wouldn't need one as large as wings and stuff can go over the edges with no issues... 

 

So what I'd like to know is how does anyone else display models of this size other than hanging them up?

[CT7567]

Fortunately (?) I've only dealt with this as a theoretical problem thus far, as all my "heavies" are in the unbuilt stash, but I have a few ideas that may be of some help.

 

If you can acquire a TV stand or other pre-manufactured shelving that suits your needs except for glass/clear acrylic, why not buy it and add the enclosure yourself?

 

Another trick to display larger models in a case with only limited shelf area is to mount them vertically on the rear wall of the cabinet.  Obviously this takes a bit of unconventional thought about the weight and strong (or weak!) points of your models, and whether/how often plan to change up the display, but it gives you some versatility and variety.

[Adam Poultney]

2 hours ago, CT7567 said:

Fortunately (?) I've only dealt with this as a theoretical problem thus far, as all my "heavies" are in the unbuilt stash, but I have a few ideas that may be of some help.

 

If you can acquire a TV stand or other pre-manufactured shelving that suits your needs except for glass/clear acrylic, why not buy it and add the enclosure yourself?

 

Another trick to display larger models in a case with only limited shelf area is to mount them vertically on the rear wall of the cabinet.  Obviously this takes a bit of unconventional thought about the weight and strong (or weak!) points of your models, and whether/how often plan to change up the display, but it gives you some versatility and variety.

I've considered vertical mounting, but I'd prefer not to as I like to move my models around a lot. I'd probably do that with any further old tool Airfix Vulcans I buy that don't get converted to Vulcan B1s though since the new tool is much nicer and I have other planes I can mount things on the wall.

 

Adding the cost of glass or polycarbonate sheet (the substitute I would use) to the pre made TV stand or whatever I buy would run into the original problem of a prohibitive cost.

[Wafu]

Phil Flory has a novel way of displaying his large scale and large 72nd models he builds of his website, he hangs them on his wall via their tails. This may sound odd but I do admit he’s right in saying they are like pieces of art hanging on the wall.

 

I build helicopters with their rotors folded where permissible and Naval jets with their wings etc folded.

[andyf117]

I also did the hanging on the wall thing - simple picture hook on the wall, and a humble paper clip opened up and bent to fit into the front of a nosewheel well, with a piece of wire twisted into a figure eight connecting the two. It's easy enough to just lift them off for dusting, or to swap around, and depending on length of wire used, the hanging mounts can be almost completely hidden. At our old house, on the large landing wall directly above the stairs I had a KC-135 at the top with a B-52 positioned underneath - if they hadn't both been 'gear down', extending the tanker's boom would have made the display a vertical mid-air refuelling diorama!

 

Also back at the old house, I had a large open display unit which SWMBO always complained was a dust trap - I eventually enclosed it using large clear acetate sheets, which were glued on at the rear and sides, but attached with stick-on Velcro strips at the front, to allow removal to change the contents, etc.

[malpaso]

Wall hanging a 1-72 Vulcan is small beer, several drivers have old F1 cars on the wall.  Here's an example https://pin.it/5ybQDbW

Of course the hanging brackets and wall need to be a bit more robust even for a lightweight racing car!

 

Not sure if old F1 car on the wall is so common nowadays, as the values have gone up now that there are historic racing series for them...

[John R]

Can you cut glass? If so a useful source is old double glazing units which usually just get chucked into a skip.

[JOCKNEY]

I have been trying to work out the same conundrum, one of the options I'm considering is 2 standard Ikea display cabinets, join them together for double depth, change the shelves for perspex or glass depending on price

[bobsyouruncle]

Hi Adam,

I had a similar problem last year, wondering how I was going to display my Airfix 24th scale Typhoon when completed.

I decided to 'kit bash' the Ikea Pax wardrobe.

Sorry Adam that it's not got glass on three sides but it is big and deep and you can get the lighting for it (and my Mrs thought it fitted in enough to be able to go in the dining room, so that was a big plus for me).

 

What we've got here is an Ikea Pax wardrobe, 2.02m tall, by 1m width, by 58 cm deep. The interior dimensions are 96.5cm width by 58cm depth for each shelf.

I fitted 3 x Sindvik 60 x 64cm doors on the left and an Oxberg door 192cm by 40cm on the right.

The glass shelves are part of the wardrobe system, as are the LED lighting strips.

I need to finish more models to fill the shelves (the unfinished Typhoon is in there as it's somewhere dust free to keep it whilst I can't work on it) and obviously you could fit more shelves in, if you didn't put part of a Tornado in there.

 

 

For interest only, other items in there so far are:-

Top:- R. side forward gun bay door from Tornado GR4 ZA412 (Dambusters special tail)

Part completed Airfix Typhoon 24th scale (handy for showing model scale with wardrobe)

Bottom: Harrier T4 PCP unit from XZ145, Tornado F3 ZE790 Ram air valve, Lightning Eng bay 2 fastener, Altimeter Tornado F3 ZE164, Mark 3C lying Helmet plus Oxygen mask.

 

Cheers Bob.

 

 

[Adam Poultney]

On 09/06/2020 at 21:23, bobsyouruncle said:

Hi Adam,

I had a similar problem last year, wondering how I was going to display my Airfix 24th scale Typhoon when completed.

I decided to 'kit bash' the Ikea Pax wardrobe.

Sorry Adam that it's not got glass on three sides but it is big and deep and you can get the lighting for it (and my Mrs thought it fitted in enough to be able to go in the dining room, so that was a big plus for me).

 

What we've got here is an Ikea Pax wardrobe, 2.02m tall, by 1m width, by 58 cm deep. The interior dimensions are 96.5cm width by 58cm depth for each shelf.

I fitted 3 x Sindvik 60 x 64cm doors on the left and an Oxberg door 192cm by 40cm on the right.

The glass shelves are part of the wardrobe system, as are the LED lighting strips.

I need to finish more models to fill the shelves (the unfinished Typhoon is in there as it's somewhere dust free to keep it whilst I can't work on it) and obviously you could fit more shelves in, if you didn't put part of a Tornado in there.

 

 

For interest only, other items in there so far are:-

Top:- R. side forward gun bay door from Tornado GR4 ZA412 (Dambusters special tail)

Part completed Airfix Typhoon 24th scale (handy for showing model scale with wardrobe)

Bottom: Harrier T4 PCP unit from XZ145, Tornado F3 ZE790 Ram air valve, Lightning Eng bay 2 fastener, Altimeter Tornado F3 ZE164, Mark 3C lying Helmet plus Oxygen mask.

 

Cheers Bob.

 

 

I'm liking this idea! This will get more display space for amount spent than anything else I've seen. It looks like something like this will cost around £350 for all the display space I need, with the only real drawback being only one side glass. 

I also had a look at Tornado parts for sale and it looks like there's gun bay doors available for around £150, and I remember a while ago there were some nose cones going for £400-500 each... Gotta say I'm tempted! 

[Adam Poultney]

Having realised I do in fact already have one IKEA Pax wardrobe, I can confirm that a 1:72 Airfix Vickers Valiant fits very comfortably with plenty of room to spare, and that's with a part with a divider down the centre. Perfect!