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INTRODUCTION & HISTORY
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MY DIECAST VEHICLES COLLECTIONSHELVES & DISPLAY CASES
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CREDITS, REFERENCES & LINKS |
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First attempt: M2 Machines Auto-Lift Displays In late 2019, once I had twenty or so vehicles, I started looking for ways to display them. I knew already that some collectors keep their models in the original packaging, but that did not appeal to me. I wanted them out where I could see and enjoy them. |
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Then somehow I ran across these "stackable" displays. I loved the way they looked, and the fact that they could be stacked, so I started looking for sources. Individually they cost a fortune, but the 5-packs shown could be purchased in quantity for fairly reasonable prices. I didn't think I would need that many :-) |
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My obsession with these lasted two or three months. Once I started using them I realized they were made for M2 vehicles, and did not work well for other brands. First, each one has two mounting studs in the middle, intended to hold screws into the base of the toy, which is the M2 Machines standard - all their cars have holes for the screws, and many are sold with a lift. Any car that does NOT have those holes won't sit stably on the shelf. So I started laboriously breaking those studs off. That still didn't work well - the treads for the wheels didn't fit all my cars, so I had to tape some into place. Not fun. And I was rearranging things daily, so that got to be a huge drag. Second, the racks supposedly lock together top-to-bottom to build those stacks - I found images of elaborate stacks ten-high! The best I could do reliably was three-high, since the locking was very iffy. Again, I was rearranging things daily, and the moment I touched one of the stacks it would tumble. Again, I had to use tape and glue to get the darned things stacked up. Ooof! So I abandoned these. They are still available if you collect M2 toys or just want to try your own luck. They do look cool. |
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Second attempt: Large Black Plastic Shelves from China I found these on eBay, from China, and tried a set of three sets of three. They were advertised as for Hot Wheels and other 1:64 toys, but I found they were sized for larger, 1:43 size toys, as you can see from the image. I guess you could get two of the smaller cars on each, but then the height is wasted, and I am all about economy of space. They arrive in three pieces each that snap together easily, and they stack reasonably well, but I had to invert them to get a stable arrangement. The price at the time was $19, including shipping, for three sets of three, or nine shelves in all. I'm not sure why I did not buy more - I don't think I had a lot of the larger vehicles then, so maybe decided I didn't need them. Or perhaps the price seemed too high - two dollars per shelf. I do not see them on eBay now, but I may not have chosen the proper search term, always a problem. Oh, look - they are available on AliExpress, and quite cheap! "Black Plastic Display Shelf Toy Model Car " |
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Third attempt: Laser-cut grid shelves from eBay seller zoozoo_5 - SUCCESS! I found these on eBay, from seller zoozoo_5, a great guy in Jersey, who cuts them to order in his garage, and is still selling them. I started with two, to find out if I liked them, and kept buying them. They come in several sizes, but the ones I use are 3x6 and 3x8, so you can get 21 cars on the smaller size, using the top shelf, and 27 cars on the larger. They arrive in pieces with slots that fit together easily to make the grid. He used to make them in wood, white plastic, and clear plastic, but all I see now are the wooden ones. With shippping the cost per slot is about $1.20. They can be hung on a wall with a couple of nails (second image), or if glued or supported, set on a flat surface. By trimming the sides a bit I can fit two or three, side-by-side, on shelves as shown in the third image, and they fit tightly enough to be self-supporting. I like these a lot, and have twenty sets, some of each size. PROS: Good price per slot, good quality, attractive. CONS: The slot size is a bit small for my taste. Regular Hot Wheels and Matchbox-sized cars fit, but anything taller or wider than usual does not, so for displays like the ones I show, of items all the same size and theme, they are great, but for mixed displays, not so much. |
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Fourth attempt - JACKPOT! Greenlight 55012 6-car display cases I bought my first set of four of these in December of 2019, from www seller TroysToys. His price at that time was $10.99 per box, which was expensive even then, but what attracted me to them was the large slot-size, and the flexibility of the 2x3 boxes, plus the covers that keep the cars dust-free. They come with wall anchors and screws, which I consider massive overkill and a complete waste of time and effort. Just a couple of medium sized nails work fine. ALSO, they lock together either top-to-bottom or side-to-side. The side-to-side makes no sense to me, but I use the top-to-bottom a lot. I have connected up to five that way, suspending all from a couple of nails at the top. I now own 140 of them, so you can guess my opinion. PROS: attractive, flexible arrangement, large slot size - you can fit most larger 1:64 items - even 1:50 - and several smaller pieces in one slot. CONS: Price! The average cost per slot of the ones I now own is almost $2, by far the most expensive of the ones on this page. The cheapest price I can find today (5/12/23) is $14.55 each. But I have no regrets, and if I had not run out of wall space for them, I would buy more. BUYING TIP - Do not buy these on eBay - the prices there are high, and the shipping cost outrageous. Buy them from one of the large www sellers like 3000 Toys or Diecast Direct. They have a fixed price per shipment of $8 to $10, so the more you buy, the cheaper they get. |
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Fifth attempt: 6x10 wooden grid from eBay seller in Poland. I bought one set of these right before a huge personal crisis, and set them aside unopened. I paid $50, including shipping from Poland. When I got around to putting them together a year later, they were no longer available. I would have bought several sets more, as they were so cheap I could have cut them down to smaller sizes and still had a good deal. They are much like the zoozoo_5 shelves above, wooden grids. The slots are smallish, fine for standard 1:64 cars, and perfect for 1:87 vehicles (shown). The border pieces make them completely stable stand-alone. Alas! |
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Sixth attempt: Daiso 9-slot boxes I found Daiso in mid-2019, when I saw some of their Petit Block toys on eBay. It turned out they had three stores near me, two in San Francisco and one in Concord (where I live!), so I visited those to get a better price, and found these boxes, wooden 9-slot grids with plastic covers. I bought some on a whim, then realized they were perfect for displaying micro-machines, as well as for storage of small items. I ended up with 25 of them, and would like more, but they stopped selling them! Like most items at Daiso back then, these were $1.50 each! Their price soared to $1.75 for the last few. 😀 Granted, they are cheaply made, the dividers are not straight, and they are unpainted, which some might not like. I love them, and hope they will bring them back. Please!
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Seventh attempt: Individual cardboard shelves for large items These were an experiment that was meant to be temporary, but lasted for a couple of years, until I got tired of how tacky they looked. I purchased the black metal braces on Amazon, and cut pieces of cardboard to glue on top. Double-stick tape sort of held them in place. Call it a test of concept. |
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Eighth attempt: Handmade Basswood shelves for 1:87 vehicles. Having missed the boat on those shelves from Poland, I decided to try making some custom-sized shelves from strips of Basswood purchased at Joann's. I am not the crafty type, as you can see from the cardboard atrocities above, but with a box-cutter knife, a lot of missteps and patience, lots of Aleene's Sticky Glue, and several cut fingers, I eventually produced the two shelves shown here. They look crude up close, but not so bad from a few feet away, and they do the job. And they were super-cheap - I doubt I spent more than $10 on both. |
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Ninth attempt: Carboard grid shelves for large items. I decided to try replicating the grid technique of the zoozoo_5 shelves in cardboard, large enough for 1:32 items. Again, these are crude, but I can live with that. They were easy to make with just cardboard, a metal ruler, and a box-cutter. I was able to custom-fit them to my own taste. I intended to paint them white, but haven't gotten around to that. And until now no one but me has seen them. |
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Tenth attempt: Individual Basswood shelves for large items. I decided to replace those cardboard atrocities above (seventh item), and made these from basswood. I went all the way - painted them, used wooden supports and lots of double-stick tape. Not bad. And again, super cheap. |
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Eleventh attempt: Free-standing or wall-mountable acrylic cases from Amazon The large size of these limits their uses, but they work well on shelves, and the price is right - about $1 per very large slot, which holds items up to 1:50 easily. I bought six sets of two, and have all standing on shelves.
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Twelfth attempt: Free-standing, stackable acrylic cases from Amazon Smaller slots than the prior item, and doors that I removed, You get four boxes, each 2x4, and a price of 1.25 per slot. The box size makes these more flexible than the prior item, but they do NOT have holes in the back for wall mounting. The doors are a nuisance unless you plan to fill them and never open them again, so I removed them from all of mine. I bought four sets.
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I have run out of money to buy more cars, and space to display them, so that's the end of my search for the perfect display shelf.