OK OK now lets say I have a couple of dios, and I would like to display them(soon to be true). Short of putting them in a plastic bag and locking them away, how do I display them and keep them from all the dust bunnies I have living at my house? Any homemade display Ideas out there? Glass/plexiglass what do you use?


thanks
Bruce

Wel, plexiglas and glass cases are there to protect your dios from dust. It will also protect your dio from damage from unwanted hands.

I have a dio that I'm working on that needs to be protected. For that, I cover the dio with a big cardboard box to protect it from dust. When I'm ready to work on it again, I remove the box.

Angela

well for permanent inside use plexiglass is ok since is not directly hitted by sun rays otherwise will turn yellow in 3-4 years
Glass is also nice and when cleaned shows really perfect but its abit thicker and more heavy and there is always the danger of breaking and injurie.
Here Plexiglass is so so expensive that u have to pay the dio expenses once more to get the box for it !!!!!!

Slug, I am working on a home-made display case, when I finish it, I will make an article on that. I hope it will be next week. It is cheap and easy to build, but only for a single model/diorama. I will post it soon, just a little patience.

Of course, if I succeed...

Regards.
Cagin.

I purchased these cabinets in IKEA. They are for cd's and dvd's, but are quite usefull for models too.
It might be dificult to fit a dio in these cabinets.

I have an IKEA high book shelf with the double glass doors. This does the trick nicely and costs about the same as one model, tracks and PE. After all the work and effort put into a model, its nice to keep them clean and safe. extra shelves can be bought also, so you could have 8 in total. The shelves are not the widest, so it means dio sizes are a bit limited, but this could be a hidden advantage. As all my living room furniture is IKEA it fits in perfectly ... even the wife is happy with it.

It will be quite an investment in money and space to totally enclose your dioramas.

I've seen lots of examples of what are aleady presented above. Some other ideas are old retail sales display cases (sold at auctions). Curio cabines/China cabinets etc

You could try to get hold of an old aquarium. It would need to be cleaned thoughroly, but they are the right shape for longer dioramas, and made sturdy as they were meant to hold a considerable amount of water. You would off course use it upside down....

Hi Slug!

It's a matter of:
Available space
Number of Dioramas/Models to Protect
Money

If you'll have availlable space and could afford to buy some cabinets (Ikea or others) great!
If you are only interested in protecting one particular dio, then, the plexiglass/glass case would result best,
specially because it is custom made to fit!

Myself have three cabinets with glass doors, so that the models/dios can be seen (but not touched by the cleanning Hurricane!!), but even with this protection some very fine dust enters, so a maintenance in some of the models is needed, say... every three years

Skipper

IKEA also , many solutions there and for cheap. That costed i think 74 euros

Often, my job as a handyman/remodeler requires us to remove and dispose of interesting and useful items that people no longer want. I've come home with some incredible stuff.

Such as:
4- 2' two-tube flourescent light fixtures.
3- 5 blade, 4 light ceiling fans.
2- 4' x 2.5' countertops, white.
1- corner countertop matching the above (5' from corner in both directions.
and...my point here...
1-6' x 2' x 2' Oak cabinet used to hold an over/under oven setup in a fancy North Shore home.
Nice, huh?
Don't get me wrong, it is going to take some work to get it to display condition. Trimwork, a door with glass, drywall, corner round, lights, Etc.
My point is that garage sales and moving sales and resale shops all contain these kinds of options that, with a little imagination and a screwgun, can accomodate most simple storage and display problems.
I have two plexi cigar display cases I got for ( I think ) $25.00 each. Each holds about 12-1/35th scale tank models.
Oh yeah, on one job I brought home a totally awesome entertainment center that would hold the T.V., stereo, video/ DVD/ playstation2 and about 50 models as well as a 5'x2' diorama or trainset! But, as soon as it got home, the better-half confiscated it for the living room and said absolutely NO MODELS! It looks really good in the L.R. so I relented. Someday...

Look around for real wood cabinets and shelving units before you go to IKEA or WalMart. Melamine looks OK for a while, but it just doesn't last in my opinion.

Hope I helped,
Cuhail

I don't do a lot of dios so I just live with them in a small cabinet. I have my individual tanks and vehicles in clear plastics storage show boxes. Everything stacks nice and neat. I cut foam padding I bought at the fabric store and custom fit each tank inside the shoebox so they don't slide around. Of course for those of you who read my Godzilla post you know that even such protection doesn't keep them from getting squashed!!

Hey Thanks guys for all the replies. Some good ideas there, Cagin I'm "patiently" waiting for your writeup, I look forward to seeing your ideas

Another thought I had for displaying, is to take a good set of pics of each model/dio and display them on the wall , meanwhile store the real thing in a box, would be good in a limited space situation. I guess it all depends on how understanding your spouse is.

Bruce

I have the same problem with dust as well Slug, when I'm done a dio, I go to my local Home Depot, and pick up a small sheet of acryllic plexiglass, it's not too expensive. I measure the dimensions of the dio base, and mark out on the glass where I want to cut. I run the plexiglass through the table saw, using a very fine tooth blade, and go slowly. Once all the pieces are cut, I put them on the base, one at a time, and use a hot glue gun to tack the corners, followed by running beads all the way down the glass to secure it.
I then add a piece of thin wood for the top, and hot glue it as well. They're not the prettiest cases to look at, but for me, not dust gets in, and that's what I want.

Simple yet effective Kelly. Would these be stackable? Maybe making their own display case as it grows. I think any display case thats grows up instead of out would be a positive.

Lots to think about need to do my research/thinking

If I come up with a good idea I will share!


Bruce