This is not meant to be a show-n-tell of my hobby room, but a near term dilemma: how to display my models when completed? While I have many shelves, about half of them are filled with my stash. Yes, I could temporarily move them to a hidden closet somewhere, but I’m likely to forget about them. That HAS happened in the past!
So I was over at a friend’s house lately and he was describing his philosophy on display: 1/72 goes on a stick, 1/48 on its wheels. But he does not mix scales on the same shelf or even the same cabinet. So as he approaches the same challenge of “where to display and how” his solution is to shift to a “1/72 on its wheels and 1/48 on sticks” approach. His idea is that he can fill in above the 1/48 scale subjects, and fill in below the 1/72 scale. What a brilliant idea!
I’ve purchased some acrylic rod in 1/8 and 1/4 inch diameters — this stuff comes in 6 foot lengths! I also have some display stands I’ve picked up over the years just to have on hand for some projects I had not thought of yet. I now need to start planning for some “in flight” displays. As my Airfix Firefly V shows, one option is to ignore the cockpit and just paint the interior, the other is on my Airfix Spitfire VI, where I found a pilot and gave him a proper uniform.
The likely path forward is a mix of both, obviously, and I think I’ll focus on cockpits only in the more modern kits that actually have a cockpit…presuming I have a suitable set of aviators to sit in the seats. Since my collection of kits is made up of about 50/50 old/new kits, that’s not going to be that hard. I also have a bag of aircrew in various sizes laying around somewhere…
Thanks for looking…
6 thoughts on “Space”
Tim: Whenever I see photos of other modellers' display cabinets, I seem compelled to ask where they got them from. My three main cabinets and about 6 little display areas are maxed out and I am going to have to do some reshuffling and cabinet purchasing. Where you got them and maybe roughly how much they cost would be appreciated. TIA!
Hi Kevin. The taller/wider cabinets are IKEA Billy. http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S59017838/
I think I got two of the linked sets, plus optional glass shelves and glass doors. I use the narrow corner unit for references (keeping the wooden shelves) and the others are for model display…well and also stash storage at the moment.
The shorter one is also IKEA but much older and no longer available, which is why I went with BILLY.
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Thanks for the info. My only remaining question is about the glass shelves and door. They don't show on the online ordering form, so I assume this was something you ordered in person at IKEA?
The shelves and doors were in the store. I initially chose Billy because it had the doors…hopefully they are still available. The shelves were an impulse buy while I was there.
I'm glad to know I'm not the only person concerned about displaying models. I'm always worried about running out of space – even though its never happened yet.
I always cull the collection before I get there – even though I would theoretically like to keep every model I have ever built, in actuality, they've only got a 5 year-or-less shelf life.
I am digging the glass doors on your displays.