How do you display your BIG models?

Hey Eric,

Ceiling would be the easiest I think, and as a kid, I had not one, not two, but THREE levels hanging from the ceiling in my room!  Now I have seen some people mount them to the walls!  Looked pretty cool!

Eagle90

Eagle,

I'm thinking I'll have to go that route as well.  It's funny how you can get metal landing gear for these big kits when there simply isn't the room to set them down anywhere!  LOL!

Back when I was a kid, I could barely see the ceiling due to all the models I had hanging down.  I didn't have three levels (now that's organized!), but there were definitely enough planes to make my parents wonder if the drywall was going to sag.

Currently I have an unfinished basement where I hang my planes, most of which are a two or three decades old.  As I've gotten older and my skills have improved, I like to display my finished kits on the display shelves in the living room.  I'm lucky to have a wife who encourages me to do that but as time goes on, I'm simply running out of room.  I guess I'll have to go back to the practice of hanging them up in the basement.

I would hang them on the walls but I'm worried about my nephews using them for target practice.  

My 7 year old daughter wanted me to hang my latest 1/48 B-17 from her wall.  I did that because HER I trust!

Eric

I hear ya!  I have all the big Mono kits (actually I have at least 2 of each I think!) and I get asked the same thing all the time....where you going to put those?  The metal gear is for the weight the kits end up being!  

When I was a kid, my dad made me a display shelving unit out of one whole wall in my room!  Then, when that was filled up, it was to the ceiling they went.  I had the bigger ones (1/48 B-36, B-17, B-24, C-130, and my 1/72 B-52's-yes multiples!) then the medium sized ones came down a little lower, then the little ones below them.  As a teenager, I had about 8"-12" of head clearance! 

Yes, it is good to have a wife that is understanding when it comes to our passion for plastic! 

Target practice!!!!!!!!  That would happen once!  LOL!

Too funny, I had my little girl (10) do the same thing.....but she wanted the planes to be painted pink!!!!!!  Ya, I did a couple for her in pink!    I've started to hang some in my boys room (3 yrs old), of course he thinks they are play toys! 

The only time my models are on display is at model shows , the rest of the time they are in air tight plastic boxes to keep the dust etc away .

Eagle, that's great that your dad built you a set of shelves like that.  As a young teenager, I made a rough set of shelves for myself out of cinder blocks and wood planks.  The only problem/design flaw I had was that I had an odd number of cinder blocks.  I set that one in the middle of one of the planks and then I balanced the last remaining plank on top of that.  So basically I had a set of shelves with a "T" shaped shelf for the very top.

I should also mention that I had a cat at the same time.  Cat.  A "T"-shaped shelf with models balanced on top.  I think you can picture what happened.  Said cat jumped on top of said shelf.  I lost a lot of models that day.

I also had a 1/72 B-1 that my mom let me hang from the upstairs hallway ceiling.  One day my older brother was getting dressed when our cat (a different one), started chasing him and clawing at him.  Yeah he was a psycho cat.  My brother took off running down the hallway with his arms up in the air while in the middle of trying to pull his shirt on.  His flailing arms knocked my B-1 down.  That was the end of that model, too.

Stonehead (great name by the way), after reliving these memories, the thought of storing my models in secure boxes is really starting to sound better and better now!  Ha-ha-ha!

Eric

WOW!  Sounds like cats are your models worst enemies!  I had to laugh.  As soon as you started talking about the cinder blocks and wood, I too had flash backs!  That is why my dad made the shelves for me!  I did something similar and I was devastated by the mass destruction it left behind!  So I feel your pain.  Now I have a 3 year old that is just as bad as a cat!  

Eagle90

LOL!  The destructive power of a 3 year old = cat.  That pretty much sums it up.  It seems like my kids skipped the "terrible twos" but saved it all up for when they turned three.  Here I was thinking we dodged it all.  Boy was I wrong about that!

Eric

PS.  Sort of getting back to the original topic, you guys have convinced me to just hang all those wonderfully big Monogram models from the ceiling.  The gate has been lifted and I will now go out and purchase those large kits.  You guys are better than professional therapy!  

Eric

Unfortunately, large aircraft tend to be hard to set on shelves, to display on walls, unless they are very short wingspan planes.  Ships and cars, however, are narrower than aircraft, so work better on shelves.  The only real way I know of for large aircraft is hanging it from ceiling. I had the Lindberg Graf Zeppelin hanging from ceiling till one of the support threads gave way. :-(

The display problem with large scale aircraft has caused me to stop building them. In fact, I am doing more 1:144 and 1:72 aircraft lately.  Also, I don't have room for any more shelves, so I am looking for ways to get rid of some of my ship models, so I can re-use some of the shelves they are on.  Worst display problem was a ship, le Real, a French galley.  Didn't realize, when I started building it, that it was 16 inches wide when finished!  Too large for wall shelf. It is sitting in a big box in basement.  Trying to find a new home for it!

echolmberg

LOL!  The destructive power of a 3 year old = cat.  That pretty much sums it up.  It seems like my kids skipped the "terrible twos" but saved it all up for when they turned three.  Here I was thinking we dodged it all.  Boy was I wrong about that!

Eric

PS.  Sort of getting back to the original topic, you guys have convinced me to just hang all those wonderfully big Monogram models from the ceiling.  The gate has been lifted and I will now go out and purchase those large kits.  You guys are better than professional therapy!  

Eric

Yeah, he thinks they are toys and that hey can handle ANY type of throwing around! 

Glad we could help!  Now be sure to get at least 2 of each! 

Eagle90

Don Stauffer

Unfortunately, large aircraft tend to be hard to set on shelves, to display on walls, unless they are very short wingspan planes.  Ships and cars, however, are narrower than aircraft, so work better on shelves.  The only real way I know of for large aircraft is hanging it from ceiling. I had the Lindberg Graf Zeppelin hanging from ceiling till one of the support threads gave way. :-(

The display problem with large scale aircraft has caused me to stop building them. In fact, I am doing more 1:144 and 1:72 aircraft lately.  Also, I don't have room for any more shelves, so I am looking for ways to get rid of some of my ship models, so I can re-use some of the shelves they are on.  Worst display problem was a ship, le Real, a French galley.  Didn't realize, when I started building it, that it was 16 inches wide when finished!  Too large for wall shelf. It is sitting in a big box in basement.  Trying to find a new home for it!

You got that right.  The larger scale builds are not made to the shelves for sure.  I see that advantage of the 1/72 and 1/144, but man, even with the optivisor, it can be a challenge for me.  But man can I put a lot of 1/72 ones on a shelf! 

Eagle90

Don,

I built the Revell Titanic a couple of years ago for my daughters.  You're right.  Ship models are definitely more shelf-friendly than large aircraft. I think that was the first ship I had built since I did the John Paul Jones back in the early half of the 1980s.

Such a shame your Fench galley ship is in a box waiting for a home!  We've got a nice three day weekend coming up.  In honor of veterans everywhere, I think your task for this weekend is finally designate a display area for that model of yours!

I'll make you a deal.  You take care of that this weekend and I'll get two 1/48 B-29s per Eagle's orders.

Eric

echolmberg

Don,

I built the Revell Titanic a couple of years ago for my daughters.  You're right.  Ship models are definitely more shelf-friendly than large aircraft. I think that was the first ship I had built since I did the John Paul Jones back in the early half of the 1980s.

Such a shame your Fench galley ship is in a box waiting for a home!  We've got a nice three day weekend coming up.  In honor of veterans everywhere, I think your task for this weekend is finally designate a display area for that model of yours!

I'll make you a deal.  You take care of that this weekend and I'll get two 1/48 B-29s per Eagle's orders.

Eric

2 1/48 B-29's!!!!!!!!!  Now you're talking!  You'll have to get clearance form the local airport to walk into your basement when you get done with those big beautiful kits! 

Yes Don, please find a good home for the ship!  You should post pics of her.

Eagle90

Here's my 2 cents on displaying large aircraft:

The prefab'd ones in the photo are probably too small but it can't be that hard to make these.  The triangle shelves are much more accommodating to large wingspans than the traditional rectangle.

Thankfully, most of the models I built as an adolescent  didn't survive. Other wise I'd be way out of room. But then most of the kits I built as a child weren't much to look at anyway.ha!

I am one of the guys that mount all of his kits flat on my walls. Here's the thing, they are safe from my Cornish Rex and also, I find they are not as susceptible to dust. I've been doing this for some time now and I am really enjoying how they look. I got the idea the first time from Canadian Airborne museum in Petawawa, Ontario. They posed aircraft on the walls and I was always inspired. I use a push-pin and various lengths of rubber bands to secure them. No probs yet. Have over 100 1/72 planes/heli's done up.

i wish i could find it.   there is an older post here that shows aircraft models mounted to the wall very much like a picture  real nice

Rob Sherman, Any pictures?

Sure, here's a sample (Yup, Star Wars Collector too, LOL):

Hi :

One word - Carefully  .I have to make sure they are not to close to the ceiling fan . In the case of ships , I have to make sure the cat can't reach that shelf or shelves . No , I won't remove the cat . She's my cardiac recovery buddy .Tanker-Builder

Rob - I am green with jealousy. The display looks great, but the SW figs really took my fancy.

Hah, thanks cml...I have about 1200 of 'em, LOL. I have several shelving units full of loose figures.

I'm currently in the process of deciding which set of display shelves in our house is the most cat-proof. Currently in the lead is the bookcase beside my computer desk. I'll need to get a couple of extra shelves and some of those metal pin stud shelf supports and then I'll have four shelves for displaying models. I thought about hanging my planes from the ceiling but they're just too high in our house and I don't trust myself on a tall ladder any more.

Thanks for the question. It's so interesting to check out how people are dealing with this issue. I had the same problem for a long time. Eventually found an elegant and non-trivial solution 

I had a small appendix in my room, so I put up a bookcase with a secret door and put all my models behind it! Something like this: https://www.secretpassage.co.uk/hidden-spaces/

Now I can surprise my guests and my wife doesn't have to worry about all the models around the house.