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28/02/2013 11:50 am
Forum members, do you take your models out of their display cases?
Graeme Ogg brings up an interesting point. Keep 'em in or take 'em out?
I'm a collector from way back, and if you had asked me this question ten years ago, I would have said, "What, are you crazy? Of course I take 'em out, handle em, put 'em by my other cars, play with 'em. You gotta just feel your models sometimes! Run your finger over the finish. Only fancy elitists don't take their models out for an airing!"
But I've got to say, in my case, times have sadly changed. Here's a Christmas anecdote.
My sister got me a Spark '59 Cadillac Fleetwood Sixty Special for Christmas. "Oooh, thanks, sis, this is so great," I said, staring at all the details through the display case.
"Well, c'mon, Scott, let's open the case and give it a spin around the coffee table!" she said.
"Waalll, you know, these things are very fragile, and, uh, well, maybe we should just keep it in there...boy, look at all those little chrome strips!"
"You mean, you don't PLAY with your models anymore?" accused my sister.
"Well, I don't really play, exactly, I just sort of ADMIRE..."
"Yeah, through the glass, like you're looking at a monkey in a zoo!" she says.
Ouch, out of the mouths of babes (or non-collectors)!
It's true, a combination of cautiousness about all those fiddley bits and maybe a little laziness means I don't take my models out of their cages, err, cases very much anymore.
No doubt, it's safer for the models, but it's very good to put them in dioramas, compare them side by side with other models, and photograph them occasionally.
And yes, even take 'em for a little spin sometimes. Brummmm, brrrumm!
28/02/2013 12:11 pm
Well Scott, I have models that do not have a clear display case ......
they are mounted on a base and just dropped in a card box. These include Marsh Models, Midatlantic etc..
A good thing about these boxes is that they are the same size and very easy to store.
Chris
Autominologist residing in the Robin Hood County
Nottinghamshire England UK
28/02/2013 12:26 pm
Never. Can call me crazy but no.
28/02/2013 12:26 pm
I take mine out (pic).
photo no longer available
28/02/2013 12:29 pm
I'm torn between leaving them in and taking them out.
Leaving them in the clear cases keeps them cleaner and avoids the danger of lost trim bits, but then I read where people say to take them out because the screws (or spring-loaded screws) will flat-spot the tires or cause the tires to react with the base and weld the two together.
So what to do? Lately I've been leaving them in the display cases but I keep thinking I should take them out or at least remove the models from the bases but perhaps leave the cases over the cars.
Sometimes it's nice not to have to make the choice, as with Brooklins (like the lovely Packard 400 hardtop which arrived yesterday). All of them sit on glass shelves in my display cases, and I've never had a problem with the tires sticking to the glass. I have had a couple of cheaper models melt themselves into the plastic base, however.
Danged if you do, danged if you don't.
28/02/2013 12:37 pm
Oh no - how did this happen Chet?
Autominologist residing in the Robin Hood County
Nottinghamshire England UK
28/02/2013 12:49 pm
Well, I was moving the car from a lower shelf to...
a higher shelf in my DM display case. I was using two hands... holding the car gingerly between the thumb and index finger of each hand. As I raised my arms up to place it on the higher shelf, the back of my left hand caught on the corner of a shelf and I lost my tender grip. The car fell and hit the corner of a small refrigerator below the case and cracked open like an egg.
Just goes to show you, no matter how careful you think you're being, things can still happen.
(And I really do STILL take them out of their cases. I just like them better that way.)
28/02/2013 2:35 pm
Depends on the model
Diecast or diecast with plastic baseplate - yes generally.
Resin - generally no, because the screw tends to take some resin with it. Reattaching the model later on may result in a weekened anchoring.
Neo/Automodello/Ilario - On the resin models wth spring-loading, I back the screws off a bit on receipt to minimize tire flattening. This can be usually done without removing the plastic cover.
Most white metal models are not affixed to a base.
28/02/2013 5:35 pm
I take them out but even if I didn't I'd back the screws up a bit to loosten the models. Especially the NEO models. A chemical reaction occures when the tires are left contacting the plastic base and they'll melt together.
01/03/2013 6:00 am
They're all on display either on my father's layout (or one of its "satellite layouts") or...
...displayed on shelves. I do however keep every box.
01/03/2013 9:51 am
Somewhere around 3500 1/43 scale models in my den, and less than 20 are in their original cages. Yes, they get dusty, and yes I ocasionally dislodge a small part, but they fit in the big display cases much better without the individual case. And I like them that way, which should be the determining factor in what you do with your models-- whichever way you like them.
Wayne
01/03/2013 12:12 pm
Dust....
By the way, out of curiosity, how does everyone else whose models are on open display handle this? I use a very simple method: I take the little blower from a soldering iron and quite literally blow the dust away. Dad tried reversing a vacuum cleaner a while back, but that's never really worked, unfortunately. While the little blower from the soldering iron works incredibly well, it's also murder on your hand after doing, say 30-40 models. Someone recommended one of those canned duster sprays, but I feel extremely uncomfortable using that since it's not just air. Anyone else use a mechanical method?
02/03/2013 6:24 am
dusty models, John I use my wife's make up brush
( no not on my face ). It works a treat on my models removing dust and any other particles that seem to fix themselves, just be extra careful when brushing over fragile and photo etched parts.
02/03/2013 12:47 pm
Thanks very much!